๐Ÿ›‘ HOW TO DRAW ATTENTION to your blog posts for free! ๐Ÿ›‘

in #cryptocurrency โ€ข 6 years ago

In three simple steps I will tell you how to easily get more readers for your posts

Too many bloggers neglect to employ a few simple tricks to draw more readers to their posts. I'm not a very experienced blogger yet, so I have been experimenting with various tactics for the last couple of months. I have now pretty much settled on a format of what works for me. This post is primarily for crypto posts, but the information in it can be used for any topic. This post isn't about marketing your post, using bots or advertising it on social media (all of which you can also do), it's about using just the post itself to maximum advantage.

Here is what I do to draw attention to my posts:

This picture is just a dirty trick to draw the eyes of readers:

5897130237_0253cbf610_b.jpg
From https://www.flickr.com/photos/brazilwomenbeach/5897130237 ; published under the CC BY 2.0 license

๐Ÿ›‘ HOW TO DRAW ATTENTION to your blog posts for free! ๐Ÿ›‘

Step one - The Title

Your title must be short enough to grab attention, but long enough to describe your post. It's your main "hook", so use it wisely. It should give potential readers an idea of what to expect, or at least sound interesting enough for them to take a look. Don't lie about the contents of your post, then whoever reads it will never want to revisit your blog again; unless of course the lie is a part of your post. This post is a good example of a deliberate lie.

Emojis are effective at grabbing attention. They are generally (and rather surprisingly) underused, which makes them powerful. I don't use them nearly often enough. I used the stop sign for this post because it naturally suggests to the reader to "stop" here, and the red colour stands out well. Don't use the stop sign on every post though, there are other good attention grabbers such as: ๐Ÿ’‹๐Ÿ’–๐Ÿ’ฅ๐Ÿ–•๐Ÿ’ฐ๐Ÿšจ๐Ÿšฉ๐Ÿ”ž๐Ÿ”ฅโšกโš  - anything that invokes a sharp emotion in the reader.

Use capital letters. CAPITAL LETTERS ARE POWERFUL. THEY GRAB ATTENTION. BUT BE CAREFUL OF USING THEM EXCESSIVELY. AFTER A WHILE IT JUST BECOMES ANNOYING!

Step two - The Picture

If anything gets noticed before your title, then it's your picture. The picture is what draws your eyes to the post in the first place. If you have a bad picture, chances are your post title may be completely missed by potential readers.

I'm (mainly) a cryptocurrencies blogger. I can't comment on how it works in other blog topics, but I have noticed something strange about the crypto blog posts. If you look at the "cryptocurrency" category of posts (whether it is "new", "trending", "hot" or "promoted" should not matter) you will notice that in general only a few colours dominate. Those colours are black, grey, white and blue. (I imagine that topics such as "food" or "photography" are quite different with regard to the common colours - but the same idea may still apply.) Go have a look now. Murphy's law says you will just see orange and pink posts when you go to check, but I have been checking this for a few months now and it is generally as I say it is. It stands to reason that your post can stick out by using alternative colours. Trial and error has also taught me that brighter, more busy pictures tend to get the most attention. My highest paying post to date used this picture:


By Reynold Brown [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The picture I chose to use today is one of the Brazilian Women's Volleyball Team. I used it because I know that the average Steem user is probably a young to middle age male and most red-blooded males are immediately drawn to a woman in a bikini (for reasons which it is not necessary for me to explain). I used Brazilian sportswomen because Brazilians are generally accepted as being good looking by just about everybody; and sporty, toned women's bodies are usually visually appealing to most men. I also liked the "non-crypto standard" colours of their bikinis and skin, which dominate the photograph. No boring grey tones here! The bright colours will also help to draw the eyes of those members of demographics that are not necessarily attracted to Brazilian women in bikinis: e.g. gay men or heterosexual women.

Your readers don't have to like the picture, they may even realise that it isn't relevant to the topic, but hopefully by then it is too late; their eyes have been drawn in and they've already read your title. The hook has been bitten! Now you just have to make it stick...

Step three - The first few lines of your post.

This is a tricky part, and the easiest one to overlook. Like emojis in the title, it is normally not used - so be clever and use that to your advantage! Be the person who does use it! The first line or two of every post appear with your title and picture in the Steemit feeds. Since Steemit is still the most common method of using the Steem blockchain, learn roughly how much "extra" text you have available to exploit and then use it for that purpose! Use it to amplify what you said in your heading, or alternatively as the introduction to some other aspect of your post. Don't waste this text by immediately launching into the main body of your blog text, that's a missed opportunity. Also don't make the mistake of posting a picture right at the top of your post and then having the picture attribution text (you ARE attributing your pictures correctly aren't you?) become your "free eye-catching text", that's a waste! Look at this example of how I learnt that lesson:
Screenshot_3.png

In general

Take a look at my blog, I have been trying in recent times to follow these principles. Take note that I don't use all of these techniques all of the time! Overusing these techniques is a bit like being a needy attention-freak and constantly crying wolf. Hold back a bit, rotate the techniques and use them in moderation. You don't want your blog to look like a circus. Unless you happen to be blogging in the "clown or "circus" categories!

People on Steemit like Steem (who would have guessed?). You can often score a little extra interest by referencing Steem / Steemit / Dan Larimer etc. EOS and BitShares may also work to a lesser degree, being Dan's other projects. With Steem being inherently blockchain based, and with almost all users earning STEEM from using the blockchain, the cryptocurrency link is strong and is widely recognised in all categories. They may not mention it, but the food bloggers are also aware that they are earning STEEM / SBD and they probably have at least some interest in it. Use that if you can, but please, keep it in context.

Finally: choose the right categories. You have five to use; that is not a lot! Use them all - every time. There are more than enough relevant categories to use for your posts without even starting to spam unnecessary ones. I could honestly use a few more, I'm always forced to compromise.

I hope that helps your blog posts get noticed more. If you have any other tips which you have found work for you, please share them with us all in the comments.

Yours in crypto,
Bit Brain


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Thanks Joe!

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You successfully drew my attention to this post ;)

๐Ÿ˜‚

Coins mentioned in post:

CoinPrice (USD)๐Ÿ“ˆ 24h๐Ÿ“ˆ 7d
BTSBitShares0.177$3.85%27.18%
EOSEOS9.041$4.69%12.09%
SBDSteem Dollars1.279$-1.07%5.11%
STEEMSteem1.592$2.25%1.3%

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