This is a guest post by Vanessa Burke from PollDaddy.com.
The number one reason most blogs fail is simply because they aren’t interesting. The blogger has nothing interesting to say, and well, it’s pretty obvious that no one wants to waste their time reading something they couldn’t care less about.
You don’t need to incorporate online survey tools into your repertoire to figure out that people don’t want to read a blog post that they can read on every other large blog.
They want a fresh angle, a new perspective, or just a different bit of information – but above all, they want it to be interesting.
So how do you keep your blog relevant without ripping off others and still drawing a crowd? Easy:
Be Yourself
Don’t ever pick up the opinions or even phrases of a blogger or personality you adore. You are your own person, and your blog should express that, even if you share similar thoughts and opinions as several others. You need to have a different perspective, because everybody’s life experience is different. Don’t be afraid to let your blog show that.
Also, there will always be a noticeable difference between some who is writing genuinely about their passion and a person who is trying to write about a fictional life that they think is more interesting than his or her own.
The most interesting life stories are not always the most glamorous. In fact, many readers would prefer someone who they can relate with and do not live a life shrouded in mystery, either, and will enjoy a unique perspective on everyday life. Write about what you know.
Be Persuasive
When you state your own opinions, you’ve got to back them up. By backing up your opinions with different facts or experiences, you are persuading your audience to accept or adopt your opinion. People like to have their beliefs systems challenged, and a persuasive post is a great way to get people thinking and posting on your blog.
That doesn’t mean you should be ridiculously controversial just to draw a crowd; it simply means that you shouldn’t be afraid to state what you believe and why you believe it.
Without your opinion or interpretation of facts and experiences, you are offering nothing that a reader could not find in many other places on the internet. It takes your passion and persuasive argument to make the post your own and to draw readers to your site and convince them to continue to return, which is the most important aspect.
When a headline is on the news, how would you like to have your readers’ first thought to be to wonder what YOUR opinion would be?
Be Informative
When you stay informative and consistently so, you become something of an authority over a subject. When you become an authority, readers are more likely to return to your blog again and again to hear what you have to say about whatever your specific subject is. Remaining informative and backing up your posts with hard facts is a great way to keep the attention of readers.
Being yourself, being persuasive, and being informative all lead into being interesting. People read blogs to have their opinions challenged or to find a like-minded comrade. They want to feel as though they are a part of a community.
If you aren’t yourself, persuasive, or informative; your blog isn’t going to be interesting at all – even if you are detailing the events of the most recent world crisis. So challenge yourself to be a little more interesting and experimental with your blog posts. You’ll be surprised with how quickly your blog traffic increases.
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• how to make a blog interesting • how to have an interesting blog • how to keep your blog interesting
These are a great list of helpful tips! Though good content is sometimes not enough, making your blog attractive and easy to navigate makes the readers read your post and comeback for more.
I believe that the number one reason why a blog doesn’t seem to be interesting is because the blogger chosen the wrong niche for him/her. Choosing the right niche where you are interested in can be very helpful for a blogger to express lots of knowledge, thoughts about the topic. Otherwise, written post won’t turn to be great.
I think the one I have to work on most is being persuasive. I usually put facts out there and let my readers decide, but I think I might take your advice and take a stand on what I believe will work. Thanks for giving me new ideas to make my posts more interesting!
I think the key to keep your blog interesting is to make a conversational mode. Readers would like to see something that is an easy read as well. Eliminate technical jargon or explain them if possible.
I agree that being yourself is probably the most important. Be honest and be transparent and the readers will come. People see thru the bull so don’t try to fake it. Most of all, just get out there a blog about something that you are passionate about and that will make it easy to write.
These are precise points of an coming up with an interesting blogs with entries that readers get glued on. These are pretty basic too – maybe problem arises when we try to sound like our favorite authors or bloggers instead of drawing inspiration from them to write our own ideas.
Choosing a niche which interests you the most will help you create a blog worth reading. It gives you the edge among others. Why? Because in writing a blog with a niche on your favorite topic, you have so much to share. You can explain it clearer because you have broad knowledge on something that interests you.
Being informative is the strength of my blog, fortunately my niche has an abundant amount of information to provide. I will however take heed of your suggestion to be experimental Vanessa.
Hey Vanessa Burke, thanks for your nice article. My opinion is – You don’t need to incorporate online survey tools into your repertoire to figure out that people don’t want to read a blog post that they can read on every other large blog. People like to have their beliefs systems challenged, and a persuasive post is a great way to get people thinking and posting on your blog. If you aren’t yourself, persuasive, or informative; your blog isn’t going to be interesting at all even if you are detailing the events of the most recent world crisis.
Sometimes its very difficult to make my blog informative but one thing base on my experience I make my blog interesting because of the news that I post and sometimes I leave an open ended question so that my readers will be able to share their thoughts and with that there will be exchange of point of views where the conversation start.