How to Make Your Blog Posts Stand Out

With more than 152 million blogs and counting, it’s often difficult for new bloggers to develop a strong following. This problem is compounded by the fact that many industries and niches are riddled with competition. But the good news is that you can differentiate yourself from the crowd by focusing on unique, high-quality blog posts. Here’s how to make your blog posts stand out.

Write Longer Posts

If you asked ten different professional bloggers what the ideal length is for a blog post, you would probably get ten different answers. Some prefer shorter posts consisting of 200 to 300 words, whereas others prefer posts of 400 to 500 words — and yet some prefer even longer posts of 700+ words.

Try mixing it up — do one longer post one week, then two or three shorter posts the following week. Let the topic dictate the length. Some topics can be covered in just a few hundred words, but others require more to fully explain. Search engines may take notice of the in-depth content, potentially increasing the rankings for that specified post.

Write Exceptional Posts

Don’t just write longer posts, but also write better posts. Look at the blog posts by your competitors and ask yourself: how can I do it better? Perhaps blogging from a different angle will work, or maybe you can cite helpful statistics. Always be thinking about your readers and what information is going to answer their questions, teach something new, inspire them to take action or even simply entertain them.

Go Beyond Text

Who says blog posts must contain strictly text? Granted, text is great for the simple fact that it’s easily accessible and crawlable by search engines. However, there are other forms of content out there as well, including images, videos, infographics, PDF documents, tablets/charts, etc. Rather than focusing your blog posts strictly on text, diversify your content with a variety of these methods.

Color Scheme

Don’t underestimate the impact that color has on your blog posts’ visibility. Using a similar color for your text as the background will make it difficult to read. And when a blog post is difficult to read, visitors may choose to exit out of it. A better approach is to choose a contrasting color scheme in which the color your post’s text contrasts to the color of the background (e.g., black text on a white background). This will make your post “pop” with a greater level of visibility.

Avoid Walls of Text

When you land on a webpage and see just a big chunk of text, how eager are you to read it, even if it had a compelling headline? Readers on the web tend to scan, not read word-for-word like they might read a book or magazine article. Break up the text using subheadings, bulleted and numbered lists, smaller paragraphs and bold font to highlight key points. Just don’t overdo it or it will have the opposite effect.

Add Links to External Sources

While there’s no rule stating that you must include external links in every blog post, adding them will add value to your posts by helping visitors access information related to your topic. Furthermore, search engines like to see that your posts aren’t a one-way street, so external links generate higher search rankings. Just remember to check external links before adding them to ensure they aren’t a direct competitor or a low-quality site.

Have any other tips for making blog posts stand out? Let us know in the comments section below!