by 
Source: dotbenjamin
Blogging is designed for the fast-paced world of the internet; blogs are quick reads that someone can spend a few minutes perusing and expect to gain a chunk of valuable knowledge. The blogger’s goal is to hook their readers, enticing them to return to the blog multiple times. Taking a closer look at some time-honored methods and strategies used by print authors can help bloggers in their quest for a loyal readership. After all, a successful novelist knows exactly how to pull the reader into the story, gripping their interest tightly enough to make them keep turning the pages into the early hours!
Keep It Concise
Readers won’t keep turning the pages if they are bogged down in meaningless, superficial words, seemly there for no reason. After writing a blog post, go back and edit out all fluff words. Get rid of as many as possible, leaving the essence of the information. As a rule of thumb, try to cut at least ten percent of your initial writing before publishing the post. This way, you eliminate the risk of reader boredom, and they will return for more of your snappy writing.
Divide the Writing into Small Chunks
Novelists use chapters, effective bloggers use paragraphs, short paragraphs. Internet readers have brief attention spans, and breaking information in small, digestible chunks keeps the reader interested. Skimming is abundant on the internet, so expect the middles of large paragraphs to go unread. Research shows that the beginnings and ends of paragraphs are the most likely to be noted, so if the paragraph is brief, most of it will be absorbed.
Build Excitement and Anticipation
What makes people keep turning the pages in a 500-page novel? The author doesn’t just hook them on the first page, he continues building excitement and anticipation about what is coming next. Bloggers need to do the same thing. Want your readers returning day after day? Then provide them with an enticing nibble of an upcoming post, giving them the incentive they need to become loyal readers.
Visual Imagery
A great novelist creates strong sensory imagery in the minds of the reader. Their own personal movie is reeling through their heads as they read. Due to the attention span problem with internet readers, the use of gripping adjectives and verbs helps make the written word real, but the use of striking, relevant pictures will really draw their attention. Graphs, diagrams, and images used wisely enhance the blog, making it of much greater interest.
Personal Stories
Nothing can be more enticing than a well-told tale with plenty of human drama. Now you will have not only the readers’ senses active but their emotions as well. An engrossing personal story makes the reader empathize with the narrator; they will want to know what happens next, and they will keep reading and come back for more.
Write What You Know and Love
This is the essence of superior writing, this is what assures your readers that your content is not only interesting but reliable and accurate. They can feel it; you are telling them something you have personally experienced. You have not only unique knowledge but a personal perspective; you are an expert. Being passionate about the subject matter of your blog draws readers like a magnet.
Focus on Your Readers
With all the buzz about SEO writing, some bloggers are forgetting that the ultimate goal is to entertain and educate humans. The highest search engine ranking won’t keep a loyal following if your blog is packed with keywords, situated willy-nilly throughout the post. You’ll get hits, but you won’t keep a human readership. Writing created for search engine robots isn’t the reason you created a blog, at least hopefully it isn’t! You created it to share what you love with a global internet audience.
Recycling and Rejuvenating Content
How do authors of novels write a series of books and keep their readers’ interest? Same characters, same writer, but there is a new infusion of action, emotion, drama, and information to make the familiar characters hold the reader’s interest. Bloggers can recycle and repurpose material by looking at old posts still having a lot of good, solid information and jazzing them up with some current points or information. Some information is just too relevant to let it end up buried in the archives.
Write Like a Fiend
The best way to learn writing is to produce writing. Produce, edit, refine, and revise until you have it perfected. Each time you write, you are learning. Don’t waste money on expensive workshops and university courses; there is plenty of top-quality information on content writing available on the internet. Read it, internalize it, and practice it in your writing. Keep notebooks of tips, vocabulary, and strategies, and put them to use in your writing.
Read Voraciously
Read everything from novels to advertisements. Look for what to avoid and what to include in your own writing. What is it that makes a bold and memorable impression on the reader? When you find it, incorporate it into your content.
Print existed for centuries before internet content, yet successful techniques, long used in print, may be just the spice that makes your blog irresistible.
