There’s an old saying in journalism that a story must include the answers to 5 “Ws”: Who? What? Where? Why? When? In truth, however, there is a little known 6th “W”: Who cares?
If you have a blog, whether you are getting much traffic or not, that 6th W will make the difference between growing your audience and leaving your efforts on the vine to die. If your goal, on the other hand, is to grow an audience you will need to give your readership a reason to keep coming back, and that is best done by giving them something compelling to read. Creating writing that will engage your audience is the purpose of this article. If you follow these ideas, your blog will quickly go from an also-ran to a winner that people will visit again and again.
1. Write conversationally.
Nobody wants to snuggle up with a company. That’s the charm of being a blog fan. It’s like having a heart-to-heart with a friend. And when a blogger writes like he or she is having a conversation with their friends, you are inviting the readers of your blog to have a friendly chat with you. Writing conversationally is your invitation to doing that. Creating blogs with this tone is the main purpose of firms like Orangesoda, which specializes in creating captivating blogs.
2. Use metaphors.
Have you ever read the book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance? It was a wonderful book that was written years ago about management. In the beginning of the book, the author informed the reader that the book had nothing to do with Zen, and further, nothing to do with motorcycle maintenance either. Zen and motorcycle maintenance were just metaphors that were used to illustrate the more complicated ideas of the book, to make them simpler and easier to understand. That’s what keeps a blog simple and easy to understand too, and that’s something readers appreciate and enjoy.
3. Inspire Your Readers.
By creating a blog you are putting yourself out there as an authority on a particular subject. As a result, your readers will come to you with the express purpose of learning something and becoming inspired. When you fulfill those needs, you make the reader want to come back for more.
4. Create a Common Enemy.
As tempting as it is to want to give readers good news, giving them bad news is also a good idea. Readers want information that will help them, but contrary to what many people believe readers also want to know that a blogger dislikes the same thing they do.
Did you ever read something that was written by someone that you were convinced didn’t care about what they were writing? It was easy to tell, wasn’t it? The chances are very good that you were right too. Readers of your blog won’t keep coming back to it if they think you don’t care about what you are writing. That’s why it’s important from the very beginning, when you determine the subject for your blog, to care deeply about what you are writing about.