CHAPTER 5
Succeed in the Body of Your Perfect Blog Post
Your readers are there, impatient and eager to read what you have to tell them. So don’t disappoint them!
Whatever format you choose and the nature of your topic, here are
7 essential principles to keep in mind for writing relevant, engaging, and quality content that will captivate your readers from start to finish.
PRINCIPLE # 1 – Keep your paragraphs as short as possible of aperfect blog post
Is there anything more disheartening than clicking on a compelling headline and being faced with a wall of text like this:
Google Autocomplete
Here’s a great excerpt from Facebook’s privacy policy. Hard to resist, isn’t it?
In short, nothing like this discourages your readers, who will find more digestible content elsewhere. It is no coincidence that the terms and conditions that you are often asked to accept are worded like this: it is simply to discourage you from reading them!
We, therefore, recommend that you opt for writing paragraphs of 1 or 2 sentences maximum and for paragraphs of 3 lines maximum.
Airy content is much more enjoyable to read and will hold your readers’ attention longer.
PRINCIPLE # 2 – Keep it simple: short sentences and simple words
The longer the sentences, the more effort they require from the reader, and the more likely the reader is to abandon reading.
Keep sentences as short as possible to make them more impactful.
The same goes for your vocabulary: stay sober and don’t use complicated words when you could use simple words.
PRINCIPLE # 3 – Titles and subtitles to guide your readers
In the world of SEO and content marketing, one statistic is well-known:
80% of your readers read your headlines, 20% read your paragraphs
When writing a blog post, your titles and captions are crucial. Content creation is not a game of chance: organized and structured text is clear text.
Do not hesitate to divide your content into sections and subsections and to punctuate each one with a clear title that follows the same principles as the title of your perfect blog post (see previous section).
Ideally, a section should be no longer than 150 words – beyond that; it should be partially subdivided with each title to ensure optimal readability.
You should note that these headings should be as specific as possible – they should clearly tell the reader what the paragraph they are about to read is about.
PRINCIPLE # 5 – Favor the active voice over the passive voice for a perfect blog post
Also, to keep the interest of your readers, you should always prefer the active voice to the passive voice.
For those who missed a few grammar lessons, here is an example:
Passive voice – “The method has been successfully applied by one of our clients in the region.”
Active voice – “One of our clients in the region has successfully applied the method.”
The active voice makes the story more dynamic and also lightens the syntax.
PRINCIPLE # 6 – Choose a font size between 16 and 22 for a perfect blog post
The larger a text is written, the easier it is to read, and vice versa.
Below 15px, the text requires effort to decipher and will interfere with the smooth reading of your blog post.
It’s that simple!
PRINCIPLE # 7 – Write as you speak for a perfect blog post
Writing a perfect blog post is not an exercise in style or an academic essay.
Your readers want to read what you have to say to them: if you disguise your style by borrowing bombastic grammar or a tone that is unlike you, the text will ring hollow, and you will lose readers.
This is obviously easier said than done, but here is a little advice: In general, the beginning of your text will always sound more “artificial” than the rest because you will have relaxed and will write more freely about what happens to you, through the head.
Once you get to the end of your perfect blog post, read it again and rephrase your first paragraphs as you would have worded them orally.
Don’t hesitate to use humor, either: a wit – even if it falls flat – will always make your text more alive than a cobblestone that takes itself too seriously.
PRINCIPLE # 8 – A picture is worth a thousand words for a perfect blog post
Images, graphs, statistics, diagrams, infographics etc. It’s all good to think about lightening your text by punctuating it with graphic elements.
These images allow your readers to catch their breath while supporting your point.
And remember, sometimes a picture is worth a long speech: if something is easier to explain with a diagram or a map, then don’t hesitate to include it.
Use your own images!
It was recently discovered that Google tends to rank better on pages that use unique images (i.e., that you made yourself, which are not available anywhere else on the Internet).
Conversely, images from image banks or which have been reused a large number of times on the Internet do not benefit from this bonus.
When possible, try to illustrate your words with your own photos, make your own explanatory diagrams, or use screenshots.
BONUS ADVICE – Emphasize your keywords and lexical fields
In order to assess the relevance of your perfect blog post, Google attaches great importance to the keywords and linguistic fields of your perfect blog post.
Before writing your blog post, try to identify as many words and concepts as possible that revolve around your key topic (take a look at the Google tips in Chapter 1).
Then, make sure that as many of these keywords as possible are present at least once in your SEO content.
This is one of the fundamental editorial rules for a quality editorial strategy.
Ex: For our perfect blog post on SEO, we made sure to cover all the key concepts (audit, SEO, SEO / SEA, etc.) to optimize our perfect blog post for search engines.
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER FOR PERFECT BLOG POST
Assuming that your content is quality, it is often the shape of your text that will or will not convince the reader to go to the end of your perfect blog post.
Lighten up your text with short paragraphs interspersed with captions and images.
Use active voice and a font large enough to streamline your content.
Remember to emphasize your keywords and explore their lexical fields.
Your perfect blog post is taking shape and is almost complete. You can be proud of yourself! Your readers will love it.
We will now have to conclude this beautiful and perfect blog post, and why not take the opportunity to transform your readers into subscribers or even into customers?
Next Page
