It is absolutely imperative to understand how people read on the blog, before writing Blog Content, how they behave while surfing on internet, what your reader expect from page they visit, or how they interpret and respond.

Reading Web Content is hell of a task for Reader:

Reading from a computer screen is like 100 pushups for eyes, it tires you faster than printed content. It decreases your reading speed to 60% then reading printed content. That’s why your blog content has to be 50% shorter than print.

Readers don’t actually Read:

Study of usability expert Jakob Nielsen, suggest majority of readers on the Web tend skim highlighted words, hyperlinked text and bulleted lists rather than read word for word.

Readers are Raring to Go:

People reading your blog have no patience for obscure and intricate text, and they don’t enjoy scrolling through masses of text to get the information they want, their needs are specific and they want it fast.

Reader Suffer From Information Overload:

People using internet are surrounded by tons of information that they don’t have time to consume. That’s why they don’t want to waste time and attempt reading content that they may not find useful. Do you feel like this when you check your feed reader, or checking tweets and flickr photos from your mates?

Now that you know how people respond to web content, what is their mindset. How you can use this information to write Griping content that your readers can’t avoid.

• Write Concise Headlines That Work.
• Immediately Deliver In First Paragraph What Was Promised In The Headline
• Put the most important point first.
• Use objective language to build authority.
• Don’t Make Exaggerated Claims That Can’t Be Fulfilled.
• Don’t Use Overly Promotional Words Like “Great”, “Tremendous” etc.
• Offer Your Readers Information In Amount Which Is Easily Digestible.
• Use Shorter Sentences, Words And Paragraphs.
• Use Punctuation Correctly.
• Bullet Points.

You may not win Nobel Prize, but if you follow the steps outlined in this post above, you will be able to produce effective web content that you reader cant neglect.

Ask Them What They Want:
The easiest way to know what your reader want is to ask them what they want. Ask your readers to submit ideas for posts they’d like to see on your blog. Host a poll every now and then, with topic of your choice. Do this every couple of months and you’ll have a list of ideas you can turn to when you are out of stock with Post idea.

Look for Potential Post Idea in Comments:
Comments are one of the most interesting part of blogging business, your comment counts and quality of comments determines how successful you are and what type of reader you attracts. But the most interesting thing about comments is its ability to provide you never ending flow of good ideas for your blog post. Many A-list blogger believe in these, and that’s why they encourage comments.

Sometimes you reader will ask you to expand on a section of your post. Either he wants more information on a specific point, a more detailed explanation of one of your ideas or a clear explanation of something that’s confused them. Instead of answering it in comment, you can turn your answer in a full-fledged post and use the answer to drive more traffic back to your original article.

Analyze Your Search Engine Traffic:
This is one thing that I do every day (I don’t write every day though). Analyzing search engine traffic can give you wealth of information in them that can be incredibly useful. What questions or phrase are readers typing into search engines to find your blog? What Keywords are sending traffic? Which Long tail string is most relevant to your blog content? All this information can help you know how to optimize your blog for SEO even better and can give hints on what content to write more of.

Web traffic analyzing programs like Woopra and Google Analytic can be really handy here. They give you clear picture about your regular and search engine traffic. But if you want clear view of your search engine traffic then I would suggest you to install Lijit plugin on your blog and signup for 103bees. These two services give you thorough exploration of your search traffic.

Reverse engineer what worked in past:
Look at your blog’s most popular post. You can build on their success by adapting the same format to new content. Let’s say one of your most popular posts was about “How to Optimize your blog for Search engine” you can Capitalize on the success of the first post by creating and update version “How not to Optimize your blog for Search Engine” or “Things to Consider while Optimizing Your Blog for Search Engine”

Another effective strategy is to apply the same post format and headline formula to a new subject. Your list of 21 Most Influential Blogger could be followed by a list of 21 Most Stupid Blog Editors or anything you can imagine (as long as it’s of interest to your target audience).

Original Photo by Tom@HK

Other Interesting Posts
Bloggers confusion: How Long A Blog Post Should Be
Are you Slow Poisoning Your Blog?
Blogging Obstacles And How To Overcome It.
How To Make Your Reader Fall In Love With Your Blog

These both school of thoughts have their own merits, and today we are going to discuss why.

Lets start with a I-Love-Short-Post- School.
if you ask professors of these school why they insist for short post you will get the usual answer.

Its Scannable and Reader Friendly:
study says only 16% of internet user read content word to word. Rest will only scan it for phrase of sentence that interest them, if they don’t find something that catch their fancy, they will probably leve your blog (not sure about you but Tom Volkar would surely do). with that being said keeping your content short and simple so that your users can scan it quickly becomes vital.

Shorter Attention spans:
People don’t usually spend a lot of time on a blog post, My Woopra stats shows my readers usually spend 1 to 1 and half minute. As stated earlier, they’ll first scan the post and if you manage to grab their attention, they’ll go back from the start and read the whole article. so keep your article shorter to grab your readers attention.

Quantity of post:
One point that many Blog Gurus argue is that short post allow you to write more posts, and that more posts are better for generating readership with RSS and in Search Engines. if your are intending to cover more things in one post, split it in a series of short (300 to 500 word) post.

When your should write the short post:
If you’re going to post on topics that are breaking news like Today’s Bomb Blast In new Delhi , it would be batter to keep it short and to the point with all the necessary information,

A short post has the advantage of being quickly and easily read, , if you’re considering writing short posts, make sure you keep a higher publishing rate. There is no point in publishing 2 paragraphs every week.

Those are some valid points that can convince a blogger to fall in love with short newsy type post,

Lets see what Don Lawson have to say about Longer post

Writing long blog posts is suitable for “opinion blogs”. Reviews, tutorials, editorials and guest posts usually require and tend to be longer and more insightful.

Here are 4 good points by Don in defense Longer post

Since longer posts require more attention and more time to read, it’s indicated that you format your post well by using short paragraphs and subheadings, lists and images to break large blocks of text. Also a good introductory paragraph describing what your post is all about will catching your readers’ attention.

Conclusions:
There’s no golden rule about the perfect blog post length.In the end you need to find your own way on this. Deciding between short and long blog posts is also a matter or personal choice, some people like to publish three four time a day using short post, Blogger like my prefer more resourceful and well documented long post.

So now tell me, what’s your choice when it comes to deciding post length, and which post you prefer to read loooooooooooooooooong or short?

If you like my thoughts on this subject, then dont forget to subscribe to Blogger’s Lab Rss Feed Or Subscribe to BLOGGER’S LAB by Email Blog Optimization, SEO and Content Writing

So what makes a great content, what are the characteristic of “Magnetic contents” that your readers can’t resist?

Killer Title:
The title decides fat of your blog post, how it’s found in search engine and social bookmarking site. It has that ability to turn a casual browser into a reader. A great headline can also convey a full message to its intended audience, and it absolutely must tempt the reader into your body text.

Original and unique content:
People are drawn to others who speak their mind, and who say it in unique and fresh way. Say what every one is saying in a way every one is saying and, I guarantee you readers will ignore you completely.

Easy to read and digest:
We have discussed this point briefly in my Scannable content post, so I won’t say about it again, but Simple words, short sentences, short paragraphs, clean layout and lots of sub-headings. Can do lot of difference to your post.

Give your reader their 5 minutes of fame:
Your reader’s is the best spice for great content recipe, Mention them, and include their quotes, opinions and thoughts about subject you are working on. Let them know you really care and respect their thoughts and opinion.

Use Good relative image:
Image enhances post in many ways. It grabs attention of your reader, gives posts a visual point of interest, it gives your post more personal touch and they adds another dimension to your post.

Read other’s Blog
This might sound weird to you but you can learn a lot simply by reading others work. Examine their layouts and formatting, what voice they use on their blog, and what level of vocabulary are employed in their post, all this things can be learned only buy reading other blog. And this will give you chance to socialize with other like minded people which is very important for your blogs growth.

That was my recipe for Great blog content in a nutshell but there are many other things that you can do to write quality content for your blog. We will discuss those in other post. Right know I want to know how your write your great contents. And what are your ingredients for great magnetic content?

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Related Entry:
5 Ingredients For Search Engine Friendly Contents

How to write Scannable Content? Well read on to know.

Magnetic Post Title:
Blog title is the first thing that people read and perhaps the last, if they are not fascinated to peruse further, for this reason, title is one of the most important components of your blog content.
Magnetic titles grab the readers’ attention and make the readers continue reading.

Make Your First Paragraph a “Trap”:
Master copywriter Brian Clark says

“A great headline mixed with a lame opening is like inviting someone into your house, only to slam the door in their face as they approach.”

So grab your reader’s attention as soon as the approach the first line of your post. Craft a little teaser about your post in first paragraph, tell them where you coming from and what to expect from your post. Temper their curiosity, and make them want to read on.

Keep Your Paragraphs Short:
I consider this to be the most important rule of building scan-able easy to read content. Make the content easier for your readers to digest each and every word of your paragraph, if the point you are discussing require longer clarifications, break up your page with sub-headlines , divide it in 3 or 4 parts this way it will look more neat and will encourage your reader to keep reading further.

Short Sentence:
Shorter sentences are easier to read. You may have noticed this article is not made up of long complicated sentences; each sentence is fairly short and therefore easily read at a glance. Shorter sentences are easier to understand and digest. If you want people to “get” your message, keep your sentences short.

Use header and sub-header:
Headers and sub-headers can greatly improve the user experience. Provide your readers the ability to scan your page and pick out the topics that interest them. If you don’t provide sub- headlines, there’s a chance your readers will skip the page entirely.

Number or Bullet Your List:
Internet users just love lists, because they are fun and easy to read. Readers will understand your message much more clearly if it’s separated into single elements. Lists also make very catchy headlines, since people will know exactly what they can expect from the content (and you stand a chance to make it to front page of Del.icio.us ).

Image and illustration:
In India they say “a picture speaks louder then 1000 words” and I think they are right. Picture can convey your message more effectively. Images can also help you to structure your content more efficiently, use them to divide different part of the text, or to complement specific parts and elements.

Remember, most blog readers are actually scanners. To make them stop long enough to read your content, you must make your text visually appealing and effortless to read. Use short, simple sentences, slime down your content, and write short paragraphs, and most important friendly voice.

For free updates on Content writing and Blog Promotion subscribe to Blogger’s Lab Rss Feed Or Subscribe to BLOGGER’S LAB by Email

Related Entry:
5 Ingredients For Search Engine Friendly Contents
How To Write Great Content That You Reader Can’t Ignore.

Don’t repeat what somebody is already talking about:
To make it stand out in millions you need to create your own don’t just copy paste someone else’s work. Chances are many of your reader have already seen it or know the source of that link list. If they are identical at least some of your subscriber will notice it (You don’t really want to loose those loyal followers. Isn’t it?)

Organize it in category:
Don’t’ give your user a hard time by putting bunch of 20/30 links in one go. Split it in different categories put all bloging tips in one group, blog monetization post in another and so on, this way your lists will be well organized and your reader can scan the section that interest him most (after all its all about loving your readers )

Include Author and Blogs name.
Don’t just list links that hit your feed reader or you found in Google SERPs. Include Blog and author’s name. This will save your user from landing on same page they have already read the other day. And your user will appreciate it too.

Give your expert view:
Don’t just copy past 1st paragraph or few lines of blog entry. Share your own view why you like that post and what your reader should add it to their must read list. This will not only tell your reader what they can expect from those links it will save you from Google’s duplicate content filter.

Introduce New Blogs:
Don’t stick to same blogs you read every day. Try and search other blog who have valuable content which might interest your reader. You will not only give verity to your reader, you will introduce your blog to the blogger you are linking to. This will help you build your own little network of blogger.

These tips will not only make your link list more user friendly and unique. It will also help you improve your writing techniques. Or even link or two from bloggers you are linking to

Don’t get me wrong here, but you should write your content from humans point of view rather search crawler’s. I know few people who write exclusively for search spiders (stuffing their contents with too many keywords) and end up with massy, unclear and boring content. But you can save your self from such blunders if you are aware of some basic SEO principles. You can tweak your contents without sacrifying quality and users reading experience. Here are such tweaks that will make your content search engine friendly as well as user friendly.

Use keywords that readers search for:
Lets see if you were writing this article which of this 2 title you would use?
1) How to write search engine friendly article? Or 2) how to write search engine friendly contents?From readers point of view both titles are probably the same but if you picked 2^nd title your chance of receiving search engine traffic is higher because the term “content” is searched 49 times more then articles.

Focus on one topic:
It can’t be batter then that if you can write about several topics in one article and rank high on Google SERP for all of those topics. But that happens once in a blue moon. So focus on one topic at a time this will ensure that you are using keywords with consistency.

Use your important keywords in title:
Your title is perhaps the most important factor on search engine algorithm. Because Blogger and Wordpress (if you are using custom permalink structure) include your title text in URL. And Google use it in search engine result pages. And keyword reach title gives hint to your prospective reader what they can expect from your article. And it indirectly suggest an anchor text to other who might want to link back to your post.

Use keywords in Opening paragraph:
Your opening paragraph is crucial from reader’s and search crawler’s point of view. Well described opening paragraph will encourage your visitor to read further. And just like Title your 1^st paragraph is very important from SEO point of view because Google use it as description of your content and includes it in SERPs under Title (usually first 50 words of your opening paragraph).

Alt and Title tags:
Whenever using image in your post you must include title and alt attributes search engine use it identify images and for keyword density process

These are my 5 ingredients for SEO what is your recipe for SEO

Related Post: How To Make Your Blog SEO Friendly

Change permalink structure
By default Wordpress permalinks are like “yourblog.com/?p=12” like your readers those numbers at the end of url does not make any sense to search spider either. But as I said we wordpress publishers are very lucky. You can change this structure from your control panel to do so follow these steps
Control panel >>> Setting >>> Permalink

Here u gets 5 choices for permalink structure

Default yourblog.com/?p=123
Day and name yourblog.com/2008/06/24/sample-post/
Month and name yourblog.com/2008/06/sample-post/
Numeric yourblog.com/archives/123
Custom Structure

Custom Structure offers you the ability to create a various URL structure for your permalinks and archives. U can use different tags to create your custom permalink

%postname%
A clean version of the title of the post (post slug field on Edit Post/Page panel). So “This Is A Great Post!” becomes this-is-a-great-post in the URI

%category%
A clean version of the category name (category slug field on New/Edit Category panel). Nested sub-categories appear as nested directories in the URI.

%author%
A sanitized version of the author name. (Use this if you are Darren Rowse or Brian Clark)

Blogger’s lab Suggestion
While all the pro blogger insist using only postname tag for your permalink. I would recommend using category tag along with postname. This will give you batter permalink as well as wide rang of keywords in your URL

And here some more tags you can use to create your custom permalink structure

Note:You must change your Permalink structure in the initial stages when you start a blog. If you already have bunch of post runing on your blog i would suggest you to install Permalink Redirection Plugin

Customize single post title
Page title is an important part of SEO. Google includes it in search results. And you don’t want Google to display your blogs name in every search result rather then your killer post title.
The most appropriate for single post page would be post title or post title followed by your blog name (i.e. post title | your blog name) rather then unnecessary stuffs like Your Blog >> Blog Archive >> Post Title
Use this code to achieve such title structures

<title><?php if (is_home () ) { bloginfo(‘name’); }
elseif ( is_category() ) { single_cat_title(); echo ' - ' ; bloginfo(‘name’); }
elseif (is_single() ) { single_post_title();}
elseif (is_page() ) { single_post_title();}
else { wp_title(‘’,true); } ?></title>

This code will display your blog name on home page post title on single post page and category and blog name on category pages.

Make most of your Footer
Footer is a bunch of text displayed at the bottom of your pages. And it is probably the last thing that search spider would see. Footers usually look like this
Wordpress blog © Blog Name PassionDuo Blue theme by Dailyblogtips (if u are using free theme like I do)
Adding some keyword to the footer along with your blog name (Bloggers Lab | SEO Tips) or links to your blog categories will keep Google spider on your blog for little longer time
Wordpress publisher can edit their footer by navigating to Design >>> Theme Editor >>> footer.php. But don’t spam your footer with too many keywords and links.

These tricks will enhance your blogs appearance as well as make it more users friendly and search engine friendly

Other Interesting Posts
Finally the Duplicate content issue is sorted forever.
5 Ingredients For Batter Search Engine Optimization
Are you Slow Poisoning Your Blog?