How to Write a Blog Post That Engages and Captivates Your Readers

If you’re thinking about starting a blog, one of the main questions you’ll have to answer is what your blogging guidelines will be. This is especially true if you’re setting up your own blog rather than writing posts on an existing platform like WordPress or Tumblr, as most platforms already have their own guidelines that they expect bloggers to follow. There are many different kinds of blogging guidelines out there, but this particular guide focuses on providing you with some general tips and strategies that you can apply no matter what kind of topic or angle you want to approach on your new blogging venture.

Step 1

Create a list of topics you want to write about. Make sure these are topics that your readers will be interested in reading about. List as many topics as you want, but try not to exceed 10 total. You’ll find that there’s nothing worse than deciding what topic you’re going to write about when you only have one left on your list. Don’t let that happen!

Step 2

Understand your audience. When writing for business, it’s essential that you have a firm grasp on who your target market is (if you haven’t done so already). Why? Because whether you like it or not, business blogging is about targeting an audience. If you don’t know who you’re writing for, then how can they?

Step 3

Read all of your articles out loud . Reading it out loud helps you identify any sections that sound awkward or wordy. Ideally, you should be able to deliver these sentences with ease and without stumbling. If they are hard for you to read out loud, rewrite them so they sound more natural. When choosing words, look for precise language like neither, either, or this. You want each sentence in your posts to be easily understood by your readers.

Step 4

Proofread your content. Read it aloud, if possible. It's much easier to catch mistakes that way. As for grammatical issues, there are countless guides on that topic online that I won't go into here (just search grammar guide in Google). Additionally, you might want to consider using Grammarly , which can be found on most any major blogging platform.

Step 5

Define your audience. Who are you writing for? Start by asking yourself these questions: What do my readers want to know?, What would be helpful for them at every stage of their journey? And, most importantly, What do they need from me so that I can help them achieve their goals? This information will help you structure your content in a way that your target audience finds compelling.

Step 6

Grab Attention with an Opening Hook : Whether you’re writing a query letter, sales page, or book proposal, your opening hook needs to quickly grab your reader’s attention. You need to hook them in immediately—and not let go. Not every idea lends itself well to lengthy introductions, but if you feel like yours does, try something along these lines: A year ago, I stumbled upon my grandmother’s old quilt collection stashed away in her attic.

Step 7

Brainstorm topic ideas. Come up with at least 20 ideas of what you could write about. Be creative. Think: What's trending? What will people care about? Try to cover as many angles as possible in different formats, such as videos, e-books, guides or infographics.