How To Write Attention Grabbing Blog Posts

Chris Nosal 3062 Views, ,
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Writing a good blog post isn’t just about writing great content… it’s about a creating a complete and compelling picture that capture’s your reader’s attention, imagination, and connects them to you and your topic.

Writing truly engaging and exciting blog posts is an art form that involves storytelling, emotion, and creating an immersive experience for your readers.

In this post I want to share 3 tips you can use to enhance the appeal of any post you write, and make it incredibly engaging to your readers.

1. Use Emotions

We connect to things that have emotional content; using emotions is what holds a person’s focus.

For example, think about why a book, television, and conversations can hold your attention for hours on end.

Is it because you’re learning, getting intellectually stimulated, and have a logical purpose for doing these things?

Why do college kids get distracted while writing a research paper by Facebook, YouTube videos, and texts from friends?

Because these things stimulate our EMOTIONS.

If you want to really engage your readers, and stand out from other bloggers, speak in things that create emotions.

We only pay attention to things that are INTERESTING, and if you can’t be interesting, just like a college textbook, you can be the most informative, enlightening, beneficial thing in the world, but you’re still going to lose out in the competition for people’s attention if you can stimulate the person’s feelings, and get their imagination engaged in what you’re writing about.

Which brings us to the next step; how to get their imagination and emotions involved:

2. Build Pictures In Their Mind

The key way to hold a person’s attention is to get them involved in whatever you’re talking about, and the way to get a person’s attention, and stimulate their emotions, and get them personally involved in what you’re talking about is to build pictures in their mind.

This not only serves the purpose of connecting them with what you’re talking about (through images, and emotions), but you’ll also notice that people pay close attention and connect with the thoughts going on in their head, so writing something that really captures their imagination

dog-christmas-tree As humans we think in pictures; if I say house, bear, hot fudge sundae, house, dog, we all think in pictures, we all have emotions connected with picturesand, as we talked about earlier in this post, emotions are what hold a person’s attention, and get their brain focused on whatever you are talking about.

However, if I just say “food”, your brain just sits there reading the content, but there’s no emotion or immersion in the topic, and it’s just a bland article to you; there’s no real connection, no passion, and no emotion behind the article that is connecting you to the content, and driving you to want to read it.

3. Build A Story

Think about a movie where you feel emotionally connected to the story, and want to read more, or a news story where they hold your imagination through the commercial break, and get you to continue watching the news by giving you half the story, and leaving you’re wondering what’s going to happen next… that’s the kind of emotional and psychological impact you want to have with your content.

And, to do that, you couldn’t just say, on a news story for example, something vague like, “a local man did something counterproductive today” versus setting up a story in images and pictures, which describes a real story and says, “a local man snuck into the home of two total strangers, and you’ll never guess what crazy thing happened”; give your audience something to imagine, something that gets them wondering, and something that really gets them involved, and makes them want to be part of what you’re talking about.

No matter what you’re writing about, who you’re writing for, or what you’re hoping to achieve from your writing, these simple tips can help you to write content that makes you readers feel powerfully connected to you, passionate about your writing, and gives them something they will want to share with others to get thoughts, opinions, and ideas.

So no matter what you’re writing about, make sure you use these simple tips; they will instantly transform your writing from just another blog post or article, into a totally immersive emotional experience that captivates your readers, and keeps them coming back for more.

Chris Nosal

Chris Nosal writes and does consulting at his blog www.chrisnosal.com. Visit his site to download his free eBook, read more of his free articles and advice, or get private one-on-one consultation with him.

40 thoughts on “How To Write Attention Grabbing Blog Posts”

  • Some great points here. I think some other important points are a great title and explaining your thoughts in as few words as you can. When I say that I don’t mean a few sentences put if you have 4 points to explain and you can do it in 4 persuasive paragraphs, your reader will be more likely to read the article the whole way through. Don’t just write to write or to just fill up space.

    • It comes down to focus. Decide what you want your reader to know, and what your focus is before you write; meaning pick one word or topic sentence to define your whole article, and make sure everything you write is responding to that topic sentence.

      Then choose about 3 topics to focus on surrounding that topic, rather than 10 or 20, so the reader can easily digest and retain everything (you’ll notice my writing has a topic supported by 3 main points, each supported by 2 main sub-points and a concluding sub-point).

      I’m a firm believer that, as Da Vinci said, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, and when you have something to communicate pick what you want your audience to know, and remove any clutter that is not in direct line with communicating what you want your audience to know, and if you have a lot separate it in a clean coherent fashion.

      If you look at my blog layout you’ll notice there’s a small enough amount of stuff on the page, that your brain can immediately take in all the options without having to work hard, or waste time going through effort to find what you’re looking for, and even the articles are in VERY specific, well-defined and separated categories.

      All in all, all that matters is creating a great experience for the reader, because that’s where ALL the meaning and value is; and about approaching building your blog as if you had to come to it looking for advice, and you had to use it yourself.

      Thanks so much for your comment too.

      Always appreciated! 🙂

  • Nice tips Chris
    Even I never thinking about your first point about emotions.
    Oh ya, maybe it’s worth added for the next write 🙂

  • Yeah most people tend to forget that while people want to be informed they also want to build relationships and connect with another human being; And when a million other bloggers are writing about what you’re writing about, the emotional connection is what separates you from the rest of them; My work is all about teaching people how to inject human relationships and bonding, which is incredibly powerful and effective, into their marketing and writing, Which builds a relationship with their readers and customers, and instantly makes them stand out from everyone else… Thanks for your comment by the way! 🙂

  • I really like this post.You have shared such a nice article, I got so much useful info from this post.Thanks for sharing such nice post.

    • Thanks. My goal is always to innovate new ideas that haven’t been written about anywhere else, I’m glad my post helped you… go to my website, I’ve got a free eBook you can download too!

  • I have read many articles with similar or the same title, but this is the first time I see it written from sales point. Definitely experienced sales manager would try to explain how to market particular product the same way.

    • My whole life I’ve always made connections between completely different things like socializing and business (it’s a natural talent of mine), and been able to connect what gets results in one area like relationships to something where people take a totally different like selling products, or branding a business.

      Thanks for taking the time to comment! 🙂

  • Hi Chris,
    I love your first point. use emotions. I think it is a nice point to incorporate when writing a blog post. It’s worth trying.
    Thanks

    • Yeah, all the time I head, “write great content” or “content is king”… but I don’t often see people talk about what makes great content great, or if they do it’s all about the logical side of the content. There’s a reason people read Harry Potter far more than some “routine maintenance manual”… you need to also make your content a fun, engaging, emotional experience!

      Thanks for taking the time to comment too! 🙂

  • Chris,
    You’ve hit on some important brand-building points here. I work with left brained clients and I often tell them – speak to EMOTIONS because people don’t understand financial terms but they do understand what financial freedom looks like. I’m going to remember to use your phrase “you’ll never guess…”

    • It’s interesting you say that because I was left-brained growing up, have an IQ of 147, and can analyze the hell out of anything, but around 19 years old I began studying a lot of concepts in philosophy that forced me to listen to seminars over and over and over (sometimes for 6 months or more) in order to understand the meaning behind abstract concepts, like the spiritual statement “you were never born, and you never died”… so I taught my brain to take left-brain ideas and look for the emotional/artistic impacts/effects behind them… one of the best things I’ve learned is the importance of incorporating aesthetic beauty into my blog (clean design, etc.), and making them look like a work of art to connect with someone on an emotional level, while they enjoy and benefit from the content on a logical one.

  • Please clear me one thing, which kind of title is important? a title based on top searches in search engines, or a title which can attract users?

    • Depends on the situation; ideally you want both obviously. If your goal is to make an article go viral on a blog post then attracting users would be most important. If your goal is to top search engines then a title to top search engines would be important, and that depends on your PR and influence in Google’s algorithm. But I don’t see any reason you can’t create both titles in one with some good strategy.

      I actually wrote a post about this a while back:

      http://www.applemarketingsecrets.com/how-to-write-a-perfect-headline/

      But here’s the “cliff notes” version:

      Good titles do 3 things:

      1) Generate curiosity to make the reader want to click to know more (ex: “The Most Powerful Marketing Secret On The Planet”)

      2) Promise a benefit gained from reading the article (learning the most powerful marketing secret ever)

      3) Giving them some human personality makes them stand out to a person flipping through a list of articles.

      On my blog I like to create titles that are both SEO, generate curiosity, and have human personality to them like, “Sell Your Products With Sex Appeal” .

      But also remember your content is just as important as your title; less traffic coming into highly focused and targeted content can in some cases be better than trying to get as many people as possible too.

  • What is meant by going viral? I have heard about viral marketing but don’t know what its is.

  • 1 more question, i have a list of websites where i link my articles and everytime the backlinks are from same webs for different articles. Please tell me how much effective is this strategy? and if i link 90 articles per month on these website which are almost 20 in quantity, is there any danger of been penalized by google or not?
    Note: all the links are for different articles not for same anchor and also not for same URL.

    • Going viral: An image, video, advertisement, etc. that is circulated rapidly on the Internet

      Multiple backlinks form the same website don’t really hold that much additional weight with search engines. In the old days it was easy to do stuff like this, but with how smart Google is getting because of modern software sophistication, especially after Penguin and Panda, I try personally to stay away from those sort of techniques.

      For example, Google has heuristic learning that can analyze natural language syntax and tell when computer spun articles aren’t written naturally; If you’re not putting out uniquely written articles online that can be a problem. It’s fine to put multiple links on a website or webpage; Google uses the first link on any page to your site for anchor text and doesn’t really use the others.

  • This post was a great way for me to reevaluate my blog and my progress. I’m happy to say that I’ve already started to implement most of these tips. I think adding an exercise for my readers would really make my posts pop! Thanks for sharing your tips!

    • It’s definitely a good idea; modern internet is all about social connections, putting the human social/relationship experience online, and making readers feel as much as possible like they’re part of a conversation/experience with you.

  • Great post.You always share great content to read, good content will attain more attention.Its really important to write quality content.

    • Most definitely. If you were writing to machines it would be fine to send them data (that’s what a computer programmer does). But as humans we crave an experience, something to remember, something that has an emotional impact on us, and something that makes a difference.

  • An attention grabbing blog post is a mixture of valuable content and a catchy headline that is able to have a deep impact on its readers. It has the capability to build a picture in the minds of its readers and explain them what the writer wants to convey. The purpose of writing the blog post should be clearly understood.

    • That capacity is what connects us to others as people, and you’re right, what makes a great headline is building an image of a promise to fulfill the results and create the idealized image they have in their head, and your headline is to grab their attention by promising the information that will get them the pictured result.

  • Blog titles also have a great impression over your readers!Something as simple as your article title can mean the difference between an online hit, and an article that gets ten readers a month.

    • One thing I tell people all the time is that Skinny Bitch, a book written by a former modeling agent, outsold THOUSANDS of books written by experts in nutrition and weight loss with years of evidence and research because the title appealed to people’s core desire to be skinny, and to feel like they’re the best.

  • Headlines are really important, take an example of newspapers we read the articles based on the headlines. I really like this post.You have shared such a nice article, I got so much useful info from this post, thanks for sharing.

    • I read somewhere that headline writers are some of the highest paid in the news industry, because you use headlines to make quick judgements among thousands of options a day what is worth your time… and you’re welcome! 🙂

  • The best way to develop a loyal online following is by posting useful content that readers will benefit from and share with others.At the same time it is important that we do not publish overly self promotional things but rather talk about your expertise.Finally it is important that we make the most of social media.

    • While talking about your expertise is extremely important, the thing that really stands out and connects you with people is talking about your shared passions, life stores, etc… it’s about thinking about what’s best for others, rather than the traditional model of “how do we get more for ourselves”.

  • Nice post.I have found the best way to grab attention with my blog post by inserting some humor elements into them and in this way the readers do not get bored.I also feel that the blog post should be useful to the readers and they should get to learn something new that they were not aware about before.Thanks for sharing this article.

  • I find that many successful blogs have a story in every post they make. It makes it more entertaining, and makes people remember what the post was about. This gives the reader another reason to share the post, and the blog gets more exposure. I’m always trying to improve my content, and I hope that I’ll be able to get my content to that point.

  • I love using emotions. I find it adds personality to the post, and the more personality your post have, the easier the reader will remember it. I also like writing attention grabbing headlines. I take my time to chose my headlines, and I make sure they get to the point, and tell the reader what they’re going to find out in my post.

  • It takes many efforts to build your brand name and attract customers.I think pictures are a great way to grab the attention of readers but at the same time it should be relevant to the content that we are sharing.We should include some social media buttons or icons on our blog to allow sharing.Finally keywords play a very important role.

  • Writing on controversial topics will really help out, Writing blogs on current issues proved worthy for me. I’m always trying to improve my content, and I hope that I’ll be able to get my content to that point. Good useful post, thanks for sharing.

  • People like bloggers who are smart and knowledgeable yet humble. No one really likes someone who thinks too much about himself. People should try making friends not enemies. Writing good articles and having a healthy discussion is what people should aim for.

  • Creating a great title is key if you want people to click on your blog posts. There is a load of good advice in the post. I personally like to use words such as “ultimate” and “secret” in blog post titles.

  • Good Post. I think a blogger’s mind matters a lot. If a blogger thinks about the usefulness of his content, then he will be king, that is what I try to follow on my own blog and also when I write for others.

  • The first point is really very interesting and i think this is the best way to build an impression on our audience.Story telling is another aspect which is very exciting for everyone and it will keep them stuck to our blog post.Finally we should interact with our readers.

  • Loved your Article especially 2 points( Humans thing in picture) actually i never thought in this way. I’ll keep these points in mind while writing my next post..

  • Hello Chris…
    grabbing attention ,this is what every blogger wants and needs too.Ya you are right ..without emotions in writing ,it is difficult to get attention of the readers.It is obvious how reader get attached with your content when you not write it with attached yourself to it .And this is what I say is all about blogging.Thanks for nice tips for grabbing readers attention.

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