10 WAYS ANY BLOGGER CAN IMPROVE THEIR POSTS

Probably the most important aspect of any blog is the content. Stellar posts more often than not mean more views, more readers, and more shares on social media - all things that bloggers are eager to attract. While there is no secret formula for the perfect post, here are 10 easy ways you can improve your blog content today.

INCLUDE HIGH QUALITY PHOTOS

Now, I'm not saying you have to rush out and buy a $2,000 DSLR. Photos are extremely important for your posts though. Whatever you're using to take your pictures (whether it's a professional camera or just your phone), make sure to use natural light whenever possible, always edit pictures before posting them (Picmonkey is a great free site for editing), and make sure to crop your photos to the same width as your blog posts so they look visually streamlined.

WRITE SHORTER PARAGRAPHS

Instead of writing big blocks of text, break your post up into smaller paragraphs. These will be easier for your readers to digest, and they'll be more likely to finish reading the entire post.

CHECK GRAMMAR AND SPELLING

This is one that I think every blogger, myself included, have been guilty of at one time or another. Sometimes we can get so caught up in what we're writing that we don't notice an accidental "teh" or "i;m". After writing your post, take 10-15 minutes to give your eyes a rest and then come back and re-read what you've written with a fresh perspective.

GET YOUR READERS INVOLVED

It's a great idea to end your posts with a question - something that will give your readers incentive to leave a comment, adding their opinion to the mix and potentially starting a good conversation in the comments.

BE PERSONAL

There is a certain amount that every person is comfortable with sharing on the internet. It is different for each blogger, but I think it's important to show a little bit of vulnerability from time to time on our blogs. Not only does this show readers that there is in fact a real person behind the blog, but it can also make you more relatable and more like a friend.

SOLVE A PROBLEM

One of the best ways to write a popular blog post is by solving a problem. Try to think of a problem your readers might be facing and how it can be solved. Maybe you've recently fixed a problem of your own and now you can share what you've learned to help others.

USE BOLD, ITALICS, AND UNDERLINE TO HELP CONVEY YOUR VOICE

Living in a digital age, it is often hard to understand someone's tone of voice when reading text. Very often people will read something online and take it one way when really the author meant it in a different way entirely (sarcasm, for example, is often hard to detect online unless you are familiar with the person and their personality). I find it helpful to use text editing like bold or italics whenever I want a word to have more emphasis. Doing so can help readers better understand your writing "voice".

LINK TO RELEVANT POSTS

Whenever you're writing a post and you have a previous post that would be relevant to the topic you're writing about, definitely link to it for further reading. This is a great way to give your readers more content to check out, will help increase traffic, and helps improve your blog's SEO as well!

SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE

We're all good at something, some of us at several somethings. Share your experience. Share what you know, what you've learned. If you've failed at something, share it. Share how you got better. Share how you overcame. One of the coolest things about the blogging community is that we're able to reach out to so many people and share our stories with one another. This allows us to grow and help and learn, and it can be very beneficial to contribute your advice and knowledge as often as possible.

WRITE A SHORT STORY, NOT A NOVEL

What I mean by this is don't make every blog post a 3,000 word essay. People are pretty busy with their everyday lives, and most only have little breaks here and there where they're able to check up on their favorite blogs. If they're checking out your blog on a 5-minute coffee break and see a huge post that they have to read, they might just decide to skip it and go for someone else's shorter post. (I'm not saying to only post a few sentences and pictures each day. By all means, share as much as you feel necessary. Just keep in mind that for readers, it's easier to digest 500-1,000 word posts than it is for 3,000+.)

What things have you done to improve your blog posts?