Always Write

It’s not just what you write in your blog that counts. It’s also what your blog looks like.

NOTE: This is Part 5 of the “mouth-watering blog posts” series. You have come up with a superb idea and a headline to match. Your writing is superb and you’ve added some attractive images. There’s one last piece of business to attend to.

Have you ever noticed how effective a plate of food is on a menu? Studies show that people tend to order the items pictured much more than those that are included just as text.

In fact, they tend to order things that look appealing. Never mind that looks have no bearing on taste; looks have every bearing on whether people expect the dish to taste good. [Read more…]

Stock photography makes your blog look uninteresting. And it fails to deliver the most important marketing results. Here’s what to do instead.

NOTE: This is Part 4 of the “mouth-watering blog posts” series. You have a great idea and the ideal headline, and ooh-oooooh is your writing ever magnificent. Let me paint you a picture of what you’re still missing. [Read more…]

How you write your blog posts, in plain language and easy to read, will determine whether anybody reads what you write. Here is how to keep people reading.

NOTE: This is Part 2 of the “mouth-watering blog posts” series. You have a great idea and the ideal headline, but you’ll need a bit more than that.

How you write is not as important as what you write. For instance, the quality of your writing is not as important as the what your headline says.

But if you come up with the best idea for a blog post and give it the most deliciously seductive headline, all that work will be wasted if people leave your page after a few seconds. [Read more…]

Your blog post headline says only one of two things: “Read me” or “Don’t bother”. Here are six ways to make sure that your headline says, “Read me.”

NOTE: This is Part 2 of the “mouth-watering blog posts” series. You’ve found the perfect idea for a blog post. Now , that idea needs a headline.

The headline or title of your blog post fulfills several functions, all of which lead to the same thing. The goal of the headline is to draw the reader in.

The actual functions are: [Read more…]

There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of blog posts on every topic. The only thing that makes yours worth reading is a truly original idea. Here’s how to create those ideas.

NOTE: This is Part 1 of the “mouth-watering blog posts” series.

Nothing is more important than a truly original and interesting idea for your blog post.

You can wax eloquent.

You can use perfect English.

You can optimize for length and keywords and whatever other metric.

At the end of the day, it’s the idea that counts. But with thousands of other blog posts on the subject, how do you create an original idea? [Read more…]