The best blog posts will tell a story. Not your story because no one cares about you. Here we look at ways to tell their story in marketing
Table of contents
How does telling a story make marketing real?
First of all, because your customers want to be entertained, they want all their senses tantalised so that they stay with your message.
Getting your blog looked at is hell's job but keeping them reading is a far greater art form.
When you search your analytics on somewhere like Google they give you three vital stats.
- volume of visitors
- Page views
- Bounce rate
Therefore the Drop out number can destroy the other two, how often do you see a 100% dropout figure on a page, no one read your superb work, no one cares they are but ships at night passing by without a second glance.
Therefore this dropout number is the most important number in your page statistics it is also the Ugly Villain of the story.
Improving your drop out number
The title of your story is the first hero that we shall introduce.
Your blog is generally found with a Google search, a Keyword is used as the trigger to bring readers to the first page on a search.
If someone else has a better title than you then their book gets read and you get skipped past.
Harsh reality but a true problem that every writer faces.
In the digitised world titles and meta descriptions make the difference between success and failure. Therefore not getting this right means the rest of your writing is just time wasted.
One thing you must consider is that a Keyword is now a Keyphrase and one that meets the objective of the search. If you get this right you are on the way.
A Villain and a Hero, who wins the battle?
The hero is the one that saves the day, naturally, the good-looking one that everyone loves but who is the Villain?
It need not be a person it can be a problem to solve.
Back Pain is the Villain and Pain Killers the hero.
Bad SEO on your blog site and enter Wealthy Affiliate to save the day.
Therefore understand the problem. the issue, the conflict and find your hero to solve it.
The best blog posts will tell a story using emotion
Forget about facts think about feelings
How would you be if we could solve all your back pain with just a single pill?
With our help, you could go back to playing golf and hitting those drives straight down the fairway and having your partners say ” Hey man great shot, welcome back.”
You will bend down and scoop up the grandkids without saying ouch and much more.
Friends will look at you through new eyes whispering “I want some of what he is on” and you will be walking on air.
Michael b. of Absalom was bedridden with sciatic pain. his family had given up on him until one day his old mate said I have a miracle cure.
Michael replied that all the doctors had told him there was nothing they could do, and he had tried everything without success.
Fortunately, his old mate persisted until Michael relented and agreed to try this miracle cure even though he professed he just knew it would not work.
Within a few days, Michael was up and about, doing all the things that he had avoided for years.
This could be your story.
Use conflict, humor and action to support your
story
Remember you are writing for your readers, The one thing they don't care about is you. It does not matter how good you are or what you think of yourself, get over it, write for your readers.
Taking a positive writing course may help however just believe in yourself and write for experience. The more you write the better you get
When you want to be successful just follow the rules.
Throw in some tools to help your writing
You can Google write for as long as you want and find many helpful tips that will set you up to fail.
Results come from writing and the sooner you start the better writer you will be.
Self-doubt is a big obstacle and I understand it is often a mountain too high. Your spelling is weak and you don't know a verb from a noun so that the first page never gets written. Get over it and get a spell checker like Grammarly and let them do the hard work.
If you are using WordPress as your platform your SEO plugins will tell you where you are going wrong and teach you to overcome errors in your setup. (Yoast SEO or All-in-one SEO)
These are free applications that everyone should have and use.
Remember that Google makes the rules. Therefore to win the war you need to understand the battle strategies.
The best blog posts will tell a story by starting correctly
click hereIt was a cold winters night.
A famous opening line to start your reading. Therefore your opening line must pull the readers in because you only have a part of a second to get attention.
You do a Google search and then scroll the first page looking for the answer to your question.
You have about seven choices to choose from however most readers never go past number three.
The description you read will need to answer the question you asked. Then and only then will you be read.
Now with a billion odd blogs to choose from you need to be pretty darn lucky. That is unless your Keyphrase is spot on.
Many writers will never understand these fundamentals and give up because they have no traffic and no idea.
You are going to be different because you now know what you have to do to have a chance at success.
We all love to hear success stories
Using other examples of success adds a dimension of proof to your writing.
This is used in marketing where product reviews are attached to a sale.
I just went to Amazon to buy a small $100 product, one of which there were many choices. So I looked for five-star reviews with enough traffic to be believable before considering price and product. The reviews, or what other people thought swayed my logic.
Your writing is the same when you provide experiences that have found a pathway to results.
Using reviews will push your results forward quickly and without cost.
In addition have reviews at the end of your article to gain acceptance
Ask for reviews. Amazon does they just sent me an email asking for a review on a book I recently bought. Amazon sells millions of books a day so they ask for millions of reviews because they work. They may only get a few replies but that is enough to convince others the product is good.
Therefore ask and you shall receive, a simple rule never to be broken.
Reading your story is the result you want.
How often should you blog explained
Getting extra traffic to help your results
You can help yourself by using all forms of Social media to deliver readers. The rules are the same in that you need to get their attention and have them click through to your page.
Free entries or paid advertising are all the same with the idea to generate traffic.
The different media generally has a general following. For example, TikTok is generally under twenty years old, Instagram is mainly female and Twitter is more academic.
Facebook and LinkedIn should be used by everyone. Facebook has the highest reader potential and LinkedIn tells your story. It is not hard to do a few posts to ramp up your readers.
Social media is part of the package.
Story telling summary
I confess that I am not the top of the story writers, we all want to be the next J.K.Rowlings however improvement comes with practice and as previously stated following a few rules.
You must answer the question, solve a problem or show the way forward in your writing and you will get readers.
Everyone has a story to tell, the difference is that some take the action the others think about it.
Which one are you?
Writing for success.
The best blog posts will tell a story by Peter Hanley
Thanks very much for a very good article you have written here. I have to say that i found this to be a very interesting read indeed. In fact, I think i’m gonna book mark this page for future reference and later rreading. I think its a natural thing that people tend to warm to stories and especially those with happy endings.
Thank you very much for your kind comments, it is always appreciated.
yes the art of story telling is real and an art to be learned . We all have a story within us waiting to escape.
Regards
Peter H
Thank you for all these helpful tips. I tend to be a very factual writer, but you are right, it does make for more enjoyable reading if you can make a story out of your content, even if it is a small part of the content.
I am definitely going to be more mindful now when writing my next article of whether or not I am doing this. We want to be entertained when we read and not feel like we are going back to school.
Thanks Michel and I agree.
I have or hoping to change my style and think more of the reader.
I admire great story tellers and we have quite a few at Wealthy Affiliate
that turn a post into a must read.
We Factual writers need to become artists and not list builders.
Kind regards
Peter H