How To Emotionally Connect With Your Readers

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 02:56 PM PST

One of the things I'm most passionate about is creating truly great writing, and with every blog post I write, I dream of changing the world.

Most people think that involves writing great content, giving value to readers, and making your posts useful… but that's only part of the equation.

Thing I've found in writing for a long time, and observing the kind of content that goes viral, and that makes people take notice, is that it's more than just writing content or giving value; it's an art form that involves storytelling, having a sense of vision, and captivating people's imaginations.

Your goal as a blogger is to turn it from a piece of informative content, into a work of art that captivates your readers, and will have your readers wanting to share your content with others; good blogging is about creating a TOTAL EXPERIENCE.

In this post I want to take unique spin on blog posts, and give you some simple tips that will give you a new and powerful way to supercharge anything you write, and really leave a lasting and profound impact on your readers.

Blogging Is About Building Relationships

When you're blogging your goal isn't just to focus on writing great content, although that is extremely important, but to also humanize your communication as much possible to build trust, loyalty, and a following who genuinely wants to share your vision, passions, and your dreams.

People aren't just looking for content; they're looking for relationships… especially in today's day and age where so much of the content we see feels so impersonal.

Everything in our lives is about relationships, so wouldn't it make sense to apply emotions and relationship building techniques to your writing?

As humans, we look for purpose, meaning, and motives behind things; we want to know the backstory, and we, as humans, crave that feeling of connecting with another human being who has similar interests to ours.

Humans want to laugh, cry, create memories, and creates experiences we'll remember for the rest of our lives.

We learn, grow, and feel connected to the bigger picture by sharing our experiences with others, and learning from others.

When we feel really connected with someone, there's something that goes much deeper than just reading a piece of content, to feeling that intimate, emotional, deep sense of connection with another person.

Inspire Others With Your Vision

Whether it's Disney, Edison, Jobs, Ford, or whoever, we always admire people with vision, passion, and the want to see the stories of people who follow their dreams.

For example, when Steve Jobs launched the Macintosh in 1984, he didn't just talk about the features, or the product; he got people talking about it by talking about how it was going to change the way we lived our lives forever, how it would revolutionize education, and how it would make computers accessible to everyone on the planet.

A powerful vision not only has the power of getting people's attention, but it also gets your readers to trust you, because they know you're really passionate about what you do, and you're not just doing things for promotional purposes or money.

His team would work for more hours, less money, and under a very demanding boss, all because they believed what they were doing with their time, energy, and brains, was something memorable that had meaning, and that was going to change the world; something they could do with their lives to make a difference.

I say that to emphasize how powerful vision and purpose are.

When writing posts, don't just share what you're doing; share the meaning and purpose behind why you're doing it; share with others what you stand for, and what you believe in.

If you look at sports, you can see every team has a purpose and vision (and dream of winning their championship), and all the fans rally around this vision because they want to share in this story of overcoming the odds, the story of getting to the goal, and the vision of being the best.

People didn't follow the dream of landing on the moon in the 60s because it was logical, or because there was a practical purpose to it; people followed this dream because it brought us together as a group, and allowed us to feel the fulfillment of a goal that expressed who we are, made our lives meaningful, and showed us what we could accomplish as humans.

People want to be inspired with a dream and a vision they can get behind; something that supports you, supports their beliefs, and is something they can represent, believe in, and bond with others over in search of a common goal.

Share Your Story

The internet Is a crowded and noisy place today, and standing out can be hard, so you need to make sure you make an impact, leave an impression, and make a meaningful connection with people, or you're going to be quickly forgotten.

If you really want to stand out, you want to make sure you do things to connect with your readers, get them passionate, and involved in what you're doing, and the way to do that is to communicate your story behind your purpose.

For thousands of years humans have connected through stories; they're used in our books, music, and television to keep our attention for hours on end, they're what inspire us and motivate us, and they're what connect us together.

You want to give people something to share in with you; whether it's an email, a blog post, or any other interaction with your readers, give them something to tell others, and remember that how your readers feel about you and the connection they share with you, is just as important, if not more important, than your content alone.

It's what's going to set you apart from everyone else in your niche, and create loyal lifetime followers and readers, as well as build your blog and encourage others to share your message (and your vision) with the world, and leave a big impact that really touches lives.

Chris Nosal is a blogger who writes and coaches at Apple Marketing Secrets. Visit his blog to get more free advice and to download his free eBook.

Original Post: How To Emotionally Connect With Your Readers

“Blogging on the Bleeding Edge: Create Content that Gets Liked, Shared, and Talked About” plus 1 more

Blogging on the Bleeding Edge: Create Content that Gets Liked, Shared, and Talked About

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 12:01 PM PST

This guest post is by Glen Andrews of Glen-Andrews.com.

There are two types of content…

Regurgitated content. This is content, or information, that’s been shared throughout a niche for years. It doesn’t really excite anyone anymore. It’s considered useful, but it’s “old hat.”

As an example, in the blogging niche (my niche) regurgitated content would be writing an article about hashtags, setting up a Facebook page, or discussing the importance of creating videos.

These are all worthwhile strategies to write about, especially if your blog is about social media. We all need to paint the full picture for those entering social media (our niche) for the first time. So discussing old strategies is always a smart thing to do.

However, regurgitated content won’t thrust you to the forefront of your market. Which brings me to our second type of content.

What’s happening now content. This is “bleeding edge” content that’s new to your market.

When Google rolled out its new algorithm (Panda/Penguin) the people aware of these “insider” updates were seen as the experts. Then, these so-called “insiders” created some of the first articles, posts, and videos about Google’s new algorithms.

These insiders are also the ones who receive masses of likes, shares, and tweets from their fan base. Which in turn, helps them build an even bigger fan base.

When you share breaking news, people want to be on your newsletter list, they want to read your blog, and they want to follow you on social media sites.

Here’s the good news. Anyone can become an insider, as I’m about to explain.

But first, here are four things that occur when we produce “what’s happening now” content.

The benefits of bleeding-edge content

We have the ability to help and inspire others.
We’re viewed as experts on the “cutting edge” of our niche.
Our content gets shared, liked, and talked about more often.
We get an opportunity to earn an exceptional income online.

You might be saying, “Don’t most blogs get these benefits?”

No! Most blogs have good content, but not “what’s happening now” content, blogged from the bleeding edge.

Becoming an insider

Here’s how you can become an insider in your niche, and publish the best bleeding-edge content.

Finding other insiders

First, find out who the top three leaders are in your niche and follow their every move. Get their newsletters and RSS feeds sent to your email, and follow them on Twitter. This will immediately tip you off when something new is about to unfold in your niche.

When you find some killer bleeding-edge content, create an article, post, or video, and discuss the affects this news may have on your niche. Then of course, you’ll share it with your base.

Finding policy makers

So you’re probably wondering—where do I find these niche leaders?

You want to locate the people who make the rules. For example, in my niche, Google, Facebook, and Twitter are just a few of the “policy makers” I follow. These are the people who make the policies that affect everyone online.

It helps to get your information straight from the decision makers themselves. However, I could also follow Searchengineland.com for SEO. I could follow SocialMediaExaminer.com for all things social media.

You want your finger on the pulse of what’s happening next, and the only way to do that is to know the decision-makers in your market.

Blogging on the bleeding edge

Have you identified the decision-makers in your market? Are you able to respond quickly when they report critical news? What are your strategies for creating great content that gets liked, shared and re-tweeted? Share your ideas in the comments.

Glen Andrews has created niche sites, ebooks, and info products that produce a steady reliable income. Glen is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs create and market a blog online that makes them money.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

Blogging on the Bleeding Edge: Create Content that Gets Liked, Shared, and Talked About

Blog Design for ROI Rule #5: Engage Readers On Archive Pages—Fast!

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 06:08 AM PST

This guest post is by Gab Goldenberg, author of The Advanced SEO Book.

The purpose of a blog archive page, such as a category page or even the blog homepage, is to maximize the average number of blog posts read by any visitor. The more visitors read on each visit, the likelier they are to become loyal readers and stay loyal.

To maximize the amount of our archive that visitors read, we need to know what content will best engage them and how best to display that content.

That’s what we’re going to cover in today’s post, the latest in our series on blog design for ROI.

First, let’s look at the assumptions inherent in the classic debate about how to display posts on an archive page.

Full posts or excerpts?

This question assumes certain things, and it’s important to point them out.

Assumption 1. You can have one, but not the other

First, the question assumes that we can use either full posts or excerpts, but not both.

This is the case in traditional archive page layouts (typically single-column layouts), where every post is shown the same way, i.e. full posts or excerpts.

That doesn’t have to be the case, though.

Eurogamer offers a great example of a twin-column layout. Here’s what their 3DS archive page looks like:

One easy-ish way of showing both full posts and excerpts is to imitate Eurogamer’s twin-column layout. You then program one column to offer full posts and the other to just show excerpts.

(From a technical perspective, I realize that two columns could be styled by the same CSS, as with Thesis theme. What I mean by two columns is that the layout uses separate code blocks that will be styled differently and given different functionality.)

Assumption 2. All visitors want the same thing

Another assumption of the “full posts or excerpts” debate is that all visitors to an archive page want the same thing.

I can tell you from my own experience that this isn’t the case.

When I was starting in SEO, I spent untold hours and visits poring through SEOBook.com’s blog archives, looking for useful tricks and ideas. I obviously didn’t go back to read the same thing every time—I kept digging around the archives for different material.

Similarly, other bloggers may be searching for the link to a post they liked so that they can link to you. Make this easy for them!

What content should you feature on a blog archive?

First, make a strong first impression on new visitors by displaying your top hits.

If your site is new, you can call them Editor’s Recommended Reads or use language like, “New to {BlogName}? Start here.”

This is an increasingly popular practice because of its utility to new visitors. As we saw above, Eurogamer lists recently popular posts on their archives page.

37Signals’ blog Signal vs Noise also feature popular posts in a category, but theirs come from across the entire timespan of their archive:

The flip side is that you can’t just show your hits in the archives, because some people may be there to find other content, as I explained above.

In addition to popular content, also show your recent posts, but make navigating the archives fast and easy.

Help returning visitors get the most out of your archive with these tips:

Give visitors control over how many posts are shown on your archive pages, and if possible, save their preference for next time. Don’t limit people who are navigating deep into your archives to viewing ten posts at a time.
Offer paginated navigation (i.e. numbered links like “1, 2, 3, 4…”) to your deeper archive pages even at the top of your Recent posts column for returning visitors.
Use AJAX to load posts or further archive pages in the same category (e.g. links to pages “1, 2, 3, 4…” ). This will speed archives’ load times.

(For those who don’t know, AJAX is a programming technology that lets you load additional content on the page you’re viewing, without requiring a new page load. AJAX stands for Asynchronous Javascript And XML. Regarding SEO, since Googlebot is only learning to read Javascript, you’ll want the code for those with Javascript disabled to be a regular link to the URL of the post or archive page.)

Now that we’ve covered what content to show on an archive page, let’s go back to our discussion about full posts and excerpts to understand why the archives are a great place to use AJAX.

Which display style gets more content read: excerpts or full posts?

Pros and cons of post excerpts

The primary advantage of displaying post excerpts over full posts is that you can make more posts visible at once. If the first or second post isn’t enticing, you might still get a click on the fourth or fifth post, without forcing the visitor to scroll.

At the same time, post excerpts clarify the post’s subject. This compensates for vague or ambiguous titles, which will draw fewer clicks if displayed without the excerpt, or clicks from visitors who misunderstood the title and click the Back button. Potential readers can make more informed choices whether or not to read the post, thanks to intro text.

The disadvantage with post excerpts is that they require extra page loads, slowing visitors actions down and making them leave your blog faster.

Pros and cons of full posts

Full posts help visitors avoid extra page loads. If we use full posts, and visitors like the first thing they see, then we’ve got an advantage over post excerpts, since the visitor saves a page load.

If visitors aren’t interested in reading the above-the-fold-content, though, they need to scroll. And the more they need to scroll (e.g. due to long posts, obscure titles, a lack of clear beginning- and end-points for posts, etc.), the likelier they are to lose interest and leave.

The longer it takes a user to read something interesting (not only to find it), the more likely they are to leave. We need to help them find something fast and load it fast.

The solution

Use long excerpts for popular content and short excerpts for recent content.

Full posts

Let’s assume that we know from traffic stats which posts are the most popular posts. This means there’s low risk of a visitor not being immediately engaged by these hit posts, so there’s a good argument for using full posts. Scrolling isn’t likely to be a problem, since the first or second post has a good chance of engaging them.

However, we haven’t eradicated the risk that someone won’t want to read the first one or two posts. This is especially so for returning visitors who may have liked our top hits last time and are now back for more.

Therefore, it’s best to use longer-than-normal excerpts for top hits. The excerpt aspect limits scrolling for people who don’t want to read the first posts, while leaving less to load via AJAX for those who do chose to read them. Full posts are not ideal but they’re still okay, especially for short posts.

Post excerpts

In contrast to popular posts, there’s relatively higher risk in displaying the full text of recent posts. Sometimes, recent posts include great material, but sometimes, it’s ordinary material.

So your display of recent posts should definitely be limited to excerpts that are shorter than your top content.

Once someone clicks on a post…

Once someone indicates they want to read a given post, we need to serve them the post as fast as possible. That’s why using AJAX to load post content is great, because we can just load the body of the post, without wasting time by reloading everything else (the header, sidebar, footer etc).

Facebook makes use of AJAX for these reasons, when you get to the end of the content that was initially loaded. This is what some people call the “scroll forever” presentation.

Boost ROI by engaging readers in your archives

Your blog will receive returning visitors and new visitors, and your archive page layouts need to accommodate both. Here’s how to help with that.

Use two content columns on your archive pages, one for popular posts (or editor’s picks if your site is new) and one for recent content.
Use longer excerpts for the popular content and shorter excerpts for the recent material.
Make the archives’ navigation fast and easy, by:
- loading posts and “next” archive pages (i.e. pages linked to as ’1, 2, 3, 4′) with AJAX
- offering navigation deeper into the archive right at the top of your archive pages
- giving visitors control over how many posts they see on archive pages.

As a post-script, I’d encourage you to show authors’ pictures on archive pages, as well as on individual posts. If a reader enjoys works by a particular author, seeing their picture will increase the likelihood of them clicking through from the archive page (or stick around and read if they’re coming right to the individual post).

If you liked this post, check out the others in the series: Rule #1: Prioritize The Opt-In Form, Rule #2: Highlight Your Key Content, Rule #3: Show Your Community Love, and Rule #4: Make Posts Easy to Read.

Gab Goldenberg wrote The Advanced SEO Book—and you can get a free chapter here. Gab and Internet Marketing Ninjas, the folks behind the Blog Design for ROI series here on Problogger, are offering to mail you a free print copy of the Blog Design for ROI guide as a small book. Get your free copy from seoroi.com/blog-design-for-roi/ .

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

Blog Design for ROI Rule #5: Engage Readers On Archive Pages—Fast!

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