Elevate the Debate by Jonathan A. Schwabish

Author:Jonathan A. Schwabish [Schwabish, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781119620020
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2020-02-05T00:00:00+00:00

What Should My Blog Post Look Like?

There are four basic elements to a standard blog post.

Title. The title is probably the most important part of your post. It's how you hook your readers, and it's likely how they're finding your content in the first place (via social media or web search). Which is more appealing: “Keep your footage out of your mouth: Why ‘public’ shouldn't mean ‘public’ when it comes to accessing police body-camera footage” or “Police body-camera footage: Why ‘public’ should only kind of mean ‘public’”? The first includes a terrible pun, obscures what the post is about, and is very long, with nearly twice as many words as the second.The best titles are a mix of declaration and intrigue. Some tips:

Take a headline approach. Don't hide the payoff. If your post will teach readers four things they should know about a new housing bill, tell them that in the title. You should also make it social media friendly. In other words, your title should be concise and active. Readers are more likely to share your content with their networks if they don't have to think too much about what their social media post should say.

Keep it short. Google search results only display about the first 70 characters of a title, according to a late 2017 report by Internet marketing company Big Leap.

Make it search-friendly. What words and phrases do people use when they're looking for information on your topic? What are you seeing in the news or on social media, or what are you hearing from others in your space? Really understanding search-engine optimization (SEO) is not for the faint of heart, but there are lots of good tools you can use if you're interested. For example, Google's keyword planner (https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/) lets you explore how many monthly searches certain keywords and phrases receive.

Avoid clichés. Stand-alone generic phrases like “Follow the money,” “Think outside the box,” or “Get the ball rolling” don't tell your potential readers—or search engines—what's in store. Same thing with puns—sure, they're fun, but if they obscure what your post is about, your potential readers won't be able to find it. If you've come up with a pun that's too clever to waste, consider adding a colon and more descriptive words—for example, the book Game of Loans: The Rhetoric and Reality of Student Debt—but keep an eye on the total character length.If you're struggling with a title, I suspect you're also struggling with what you're trying to say in your post. Really think about that single, definitive point you want to make. Make sure your title you post supports that point, and delete the rest. From there, coming up with a title will be much easier.

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