9 Things Every Blog Post Needs

When you write blog posts, you usually do it with the hope that readers will love it and continue to come back for more! But did you know that there are certain things that every blog post needs to make it reader friendly, generate tons of views, and keep people coming back for more?

Read on to discover the 9 things that will make your blog posts stand out among the rest, and help you build up a following of readers who return for more!

9 Things Every Blog Post Needs

This post may contain affiliate links. You can read more about affiliates in my disclaimer.

An eye-catching title

The title is the first thing your readers will see, and it’s what will determine whether they’ll want to read your post or not. This is why having an attention grabbing title is one of the most important things every blog post needs.

And while you do want your title to be exciting, you also need to make sure it’s accurate, your post needs to deliver on the promise the title gives. Nobody likes click bait, and although click bait may get people to go to your site, it certainly won’t make them stick around or come back.

An easy way to create an eye-catching title that isn’t click-baity is to use power words. Power words are persuasive words, that typically invoke emotion. Power words can make readers fell excited, angry, or even curious. This emotional response will actually make people more inclined to want to read more.

Some power word examples:

• Need
• Must-Have
• Free
• Easy
• Simple
• Proven
• The Best
• Transform
• Shocking
• Amazing
• Life-changing
• The Worst
• Breathtaking

Just google “power words” and you’ll find hundreds of them, some sure to fit your needs! You can also scroll through Pinterest and pay attention to the words that grab your attention for inspiration!

A good introduction

Not only is a good introduction important for your SEO, it’s also how you’re going to hook your reader in and briefly tell them what your post is about.

Your introduction should be a happy mix between short and long. Introductions that are too short aren’t good for SEO and they don’t offer enough information on what the post is about.

Introductions that are too long aren’t good either, because readers might get bored. If you’re going for a longer introduction because a post requires it, break it up with headings and images, or bold important words. It will be much easier on the eyes for readers, and they’ll also be able to quickly skim to get the point.

Headings + sections

You ever go to read an article or blog post and it’s a giant wall of never ending text? Probably one of the worst things to come across. There are a couple of reasons why you want to break your blog posts up into sections with headings.

The first reason is because it makes your post easier to read, which is super important. Many people will go to your post when they want to know about a specific thing or to find an answer to their question. If they’re met with a super long screen of text, they might not want to go looking for the answer on your site.

The second reason is because headings make your posts look more attention grabbing. You’re basically saying “hey, look at this!” and your readers eyes are automatically drawn to it. Headings can also be a part of your overall posting style. Your readers who come back will no where to look for specific things within your posts.

Third, SEO. Search engines actually prefer posts that are broken up into sections with headings. Headings make it easier for a search engine to find relevant information, which means you could actually rank higher for searches when you use headings!

Keywords + a search engine optimized post

Good old SEO. SEO stands for search engine optimization, and it’s how your post shows up when someone searches for something through a search engine. So many things come into play when it comes to ranking on a search engine, but keywords play a pretty big part in it.

Depending on your post, you’ll choose a keyword or key phrase that relates to your content. You’re going to want to have this keyword in your title, in your introduction, in some of your headings, scattered throughout your post, and in your image alt text.

The thing you’re not going to want to do is go keyword crazy. Don’t put your keyword(s) in every sentence or paragraph, it will look obvious, make no sense, and actually hurt your SEO.

You also want to get familiar with SEO as a whole. Although keywords are important, SEO is much more than just keywords, and a variety of different things come into play with whether a post ranks on a search engine or not. Your site load speed, your internal and external links, and the readability of your content and ease of use of your site are a few of the things to remember when doing SEO.

Photos/Images

Going back to that wall of text, that’s what it looks like when you don’t include images in your blog posts. Images help readers who need more of a visual demonstration of something. Having images or photos in your blog post also makes it look more appealing.

You don’t have to have images throughout, in fact, it depends entirely on what your post is about. If you’re doing a review on something, you might want to include a few different photos, so readers can get a good idea of what the product you’re reviewing looks like. If you’re talking about a number of different products, you might want to include at least one of each product mentioned.

Make sure your photos are clear, the lighting looks good, and they’re the right size. Also make sure they relate to the written content, photos are always great to include, but not when they have nothing to do with the content in your post.

And if you’re not confident in your photography skills, you can always get creative with some graphic design or use stock images in your posts.

Pinnable Images

Pinterest is another great way to drive traffic to your blog! Not only do you want to promote your content on Pinterest, you also want to make your content easily shareable on Pinterest.

If you have pinnable images in your post, readers can easily share them to their own Pinterest feeds, which can help generate lots of views!

Include at least one image that’s pin-worthy in your blog post. Pin-worthy means a vertical image that’s has a 2:3 dimension ratio, (longer, not wider and ideally 1000 x 1500).

Then download a Pinterest button plugin that allows readers to easily share your pinnable images directly to their own Pinterest feed!

Need help with Pinterest? Sign up to The Pinterest With Ell Course! Ell is a true Pinterest master and this course teaches you every single thing you need to know about how to successfully grow your blog with Pinterest! Sign up for the course here!

Call To Action

A call to action is how you typically end your post, it’s also how you get your readers to do more on your site. A call to action is generally used for sales, but it can be used for a number of different things.

You can tell your readers to sign up for your course, have them sign up to your email list to receive a freebie, or simply ask them a question related to the post or ask readers to follow you on social media.

Your call to action will typically differ between posts, but should always relate to the content in that specific post. If you’re going to offer an email freebie, make sure it’s something your readers would want.

Wording also goes a long way when it comes to a call to action. Make it bold so it stands out against the rest if your text, use power words to really get people to complete your call to action.

Links to Your Other Related Blog Posts

This one is a biggie. Many blog themes are set up to include other posts at the bottom or on the sides of pages. But, you want to know what has a higher conversion rate? Including links to other related blog posts directly in your post.

You always want to link your other posts when they relate to what you’re currently talking about. This is good for increasing blog views and for SEO.

For Example, if you’re writing a post about foundation tips, and you start talking about foundation types, you can totally link your best drugstore foundations post right there! It relates to the content and it also offers readers another solution to a problem they might have, finding a good foundation to test their new found foundation tips with!

Another way to incorporate other blog posts into your post is to include a “more on this” heading. Just link a few posts below the heading that might benefit the reader as well. You can include this in the middle of your post, or at the end.

I always recommend sticking one at the very end, it’s basically a second call to action, and it allows the reader to stay on your site longer after they’ve finished reading your post.

Share Buttons

Don’t underestimate the power of the share button. Share buttons can help bring in loads of traffic that wouldn’t have been generated otherwise!

Basically share buttons are the little social media icon buttons on blog posts that allow readers to share your post on a number of platforms. Readers love them because they make sharing so much easier!

You can choose what your icons look like, where they are on your blog, and which social media platforms your readers can share to.

You don’t need to have every platform sharing option, that could look messy. When you choose which platforms you want to include share buttons for, look at your target audience and which platforms they spend their time on. Don’t waste space with a Reddit share button if your target audience doesn’t typically use it.

Don’t forget to sign up to the Blogging Babes email list to get access to my list of blogging success tips and the ultimate list of blog post ideas for every niche!

Read More:

+ Major Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Blog

– 7 Things You Need To Start A Money Making Blog

– The Best Apps For Bloggers | 5 Must-Have Blogging Apps