Blogging is an ideal medium for many different aspects. It has gone through so many changes over the last decade. Jargon, point ideas, paid content and social media integration and the industry continues to change because of it. It's not easy being authentic with your blog, because of 360-degree storytelling and headlines, that jump out of rapid fire.
What's the best way to write compelling, high-quality blog posts, while keeping up with the trends? Every year, there are hundreds of new blogging trends that pop up. So, how can you keep your blog interesting and on-topic, when everyone else is talking about something that's irrelevant to your blog?
Focus on creating high-quality content that is well-researched and relevant to the community. More simply, create fewer pieces, but make sure that each piece is high quality. These six blogging trends will keep your readers engaged, understanding what you communicate and have the potential to greatly improve the effectiveness of your blog and its bottom line.
Visual Content
Visual content is everywhere these days and it is often the first impression a reader has of a brand. It doesn't matter if your brand is a large corporation, a small business or a non-profit. Visual content will always play a role in getting your name out there. With the rise of the internet, there has been an increased focus on video content, blogs, social media posts and advertisements.
Visual content is important, because it helps to illustrate a message, to give life to a concept and to draw attention to important details. As a result, it is often used to deliver a sales message, a message of thanks or a call to action.
When creating visual content, you do not want to rely on stock photos. These can often be cliché, boring and lack the creativity to stand out. Instead, you need to use the images and graphics that are at hand to convey your message. For example, you could use a quote, a self-shot video or something that you found during a creative scavenge.
Another type of visual content, that you could create are infographics. These are graphs and charts, that illustrate concepts that are too complicated or confusing to be conveyed in ordinary text. They are also visually appealing, and with a little bit of elbow grease, you can create very pretty graphics. However, you should be wary of including too many charts and graphs in an infographic, as it can make the content difficult to read and can also be overwhelming.
Deep Dive Blogs
The term "deep-dive" is often used to describe a blog post, that examines a specific, complex idea. These posts are usually written by academic types and they often aim to provoke a reaction. Many deep dive posts are also quite polarizing and that is both their strength and their weakness. Many people come away from these posts with a strong feeling regarding the author's particular point of view, or regarding the validity of the author's claims.
However, if you choose to write a deep dive post, you should do so for the right reasons. You should be able to clearly and consistently justify your position. If your position is weak, then you are better off not taking up space in the blogosphere with an ostentatious display of your lack of understanding. The key to writing a successful deep dive post is to read widely and to think deeply. You will need to form a thesis, and then you will need to gather evidence to support it.
There is no one way to write a deep dive post, as each post will differ depending on the nature of the idea that is being explored. You should aim to be as thorough as possible, while at the same time being as concise as possible. Many academics have a hard time balancing these two seemingly opposed objectives. You should be honest in your assessment of the evidence, without being so terse that you fail to adequately convey your ideas.
Writing With A Focus On Relevance
As a blogger, you are not only responsible for conveying your ideas, but you are also responsible for making sure that those ideas are well-supported. You need to be able to think critically and you need to be able to back up your assertions with facts and evidence. Relevant and well-supported arguments are essential to forming opinions on complex topics.
However, a lack of focus can also be damaging. You should not be so easily distracted by peripheral ideas, that you neglect the most important aspects of a topic. A common pitfall is for a writer to focus so much on a single idea, that they lose sight of the big picture.
How do you strike the balance between being too narrow and being too broad in your writing? There is no single right answer to this question. For some people, oversimplification is a virtue. They like being able to understand complex topics after reading only a few pages of text.
For other people, that approach fails to convey the most important ideas. Instead, a better way to go is to focus on what is essential to the topic, and then to expand upon that. When writing, you should ask yourself what sets your work apart from the countless other content that is out there? Does what you have to say worth the reader's time?
Interactivity
Blogs are all about community. The readers of your blog will interact with the content that you create and you will interact with the readers of other blogs. This is an important dynamic that has nothing to do with "pandering" or being "self-serving." Readers like being able to participate in the content that they are consuming.
This can be as simple as allowing comments on your blog posts, or as complex as starting a "Reddit-like" discussion board on your site. There are many ways to allow for reader interaction and you should experiment with them all to see what works best for your particular brand.
You should also think about ways, that you can attract new readers - commenting on other people's blogs, or tweeting about interesting articles are two good ways to do this. You might also want to consider creating a reader profile on your site, that will automatically collect information about your users, such as what they read, what they like, and so on. This will help you tailor messages, that you send to your readers and it will also allow you to track the effectiveness of your efforts to reach new readers.
Social Proof
As a blogger, you need to pay attention to "social proof." This concept refers to the way, that people's perception of a product or service changes based on the opinions of others. It is often described as the phenomenon where, if several people praise a particular product, then the hearer will be more inclined to give it a try.
Social proof is an important aspect of human behavior, and it can be difficult to combat, especially if the people being "spoken of" are perceived to be "influential." This is often the case with bloggers. In the eyes of the general public, bloggers are extremely influential and perceived to be in a position of having a unique perspective on the world. This is why it is important to be wary of giving the appearance of "selling out" or being "too commercial" when you are not.
You should never allow your writing to be dictated by advertisers and you should never write solely to please the largest possible audience. Instead, you should aim to please your core readership, while simultaneously expanding your demographic reach. The best way to do this is to focus on high-quality content, that is well-supported with arguments and facts. Make your content unique, make it good and make it long.
Long Form Content
Long form content is often associated with "serious" writing, but this is a generalization that is far from true. Long form content can be found across the spectrum of writing. Short stories, poems and anecdotes are all excellent vehicles for exploring complex ideas, while treatises, reflections, and stories can also be effective when done well.
What makes a piece of content long? It depends on the piece, as each one will have its own individual ideal length. A piece of content, that is too long can begin to feel like a chore to read and this can quickly diminish a reader's interest. There is a sweet spot, that any piece of content is welcome to get as long as it needs to.
As a general rule, your ideal reader will not be able to finish a piece of content, that is too long. This may seem like a cop-out, but it is in fact a valid point: how can you write something, that a reader cannot read? You should only do this when it is truly essential to the piece. It makes the content seem less "complete" and can even distract a reader if done repeatedly. You should always have a "closing sentence", that brings the piece to a satisfying conclusion.
I learned from you that we need to have a tip to let our reader interest our writings🤗