DAY 11 Lessons: How to Effectively Write for Online Readers.

Before anything else, HAPPY NEW YEAR to all! I hope you enjoyed your New Year celebration with your family and love ones. :)

It's Day 11 and our lesson for today is about writing for online readers.

Writing a blog post for online readers is very different from writing an ordinary article for print.  Why? Because "audience" behavior online is different and online readers have a shorter attention span. 

Studies show that blog readers stay an average of around 90 seconds per article post, that's only a minute and a half, so it's important that you keep that in mind when you are writing/drafting your post.

5 TIPS on HOW TO EFFECTIVELY WRITE FOR ONLINE READERS:

Tip # 1.  YOUR TITLE. 

The most important part of your blog post is your title as this is your "hook" in grabbing the attention of visitors.  No matter how great or valuable your content is, it will be useless if you were not able to get visitors to read it.  Here are some tips in writing the title of your post:

• Remember who are you writing for (businessmen/health buffs/teenagers/mothers/etc.) and choose the words that you'll think will attract their attention.
• Your title should say something about the content of your post. A title that fits the story.
• Make your title measurable. Instead of "Different Ways to Earn Online" try "Seven Ways to Earn Online", because most readers like to know beforehand how long it's going to take them to read an article (short attention span, remember?)
• Make your title interesting, instead of "Seven Ways to Earn Online" try "Seven Easy & Legit Ways to Earn Online". Play with adjectives, use your thesaurus. ^_^

Tip # 2.  YOUR CONTENT. 

Needless to say, your content should be original. Search engine "loves" original content, it will attract more readers and you'll have more competitive advantage over other blogs.
Never, ever! "copy-paste" someone else's article, you can quote a few sentences to support your article but always mention the source of information and give credit where credit is due (ask for permission).  Remember, passing someone else's article as your own is Plagiarism, it's a crime and you could get in trouble for that.


Tip # 3.  APPEARANCE

The appearance of your post as seen by visitors is also important.  Avoid making long paragraphs, 4 to 5 sentences per paragraph should be enough.  Be careful in using "crazy" fonts, a clean looking, easy to read fonts (verdana, georgia, or arial) will do.  Also, insert a picture or two in your post to make it look interesting, but of course, the picture should be related to your topic too.

Tip # 4.  LENGTH OF YOUR POST

There is much debate among bloggers regarding how long a blog post should be. It really depends on the blogger and the topic.  However, majority of bloggers keep it at around 500 words (under 1000 words but not below 250 words). A 500-word article makes your post "scannable".  Remember, the short attention span of your online readers? Most of them will initially scan your post, hastily glance over your article in wanting to determine if it's worth reading.


Tip # 5.  KEEP IN MIND >> Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

For those not familiar with SEO, it has something to do with making your post easily "visible" to search engines. To help drive visitors to your blog.

Your post should include the right keywords related to your post. Example: If your topic is about "weight-loss using natural methods" then you think of  - what keywords will a reader possibly use in search engines while looking for that kind of topic. Then you include that set of keywords in your post as frequently as possible.

We will discuss more of SEO in our next lesson.

That's it for Day 11!

I’ll be with you again tomorrow! 
Happy New Year Again Everyone!

God Bless!

Piaps ^_^

Next lesson (Day 12) >> Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Your Blog

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DAILY PRAYER :

“Dear Lord, Guide me in my daily tasks.  May I learn something new every day and make use of what I’ve learned to improve myself. Keep me inspired and help me to stay focus so I may finish what I have planned to accomplish.

AMEN
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