Koozai > Blog > How to Create Blog Posts that Get Results in 2023

How to Create Blog Posts that Get Results in 2023

| 8 minutes to read

At Koozai we know that when it comes to blog posts, the content alone is not always enough to engage your audience and keep them on your website. This is especially true in 2023, with the event of more automated content platforms and growing competition online, Other things such as the presentation, the imagery and the thought to SEO counts for a hell of a lot too. You may think you’ve written some wonderful content, and the chances are you totally have, but your readers aren’t sticking around to read it, or they’re bouncing off the site completely. This might be because you’ve not packaged your content in the correct way, so we’re here to give you a helping hand on how to create the perfect blog post that will help you get results.

You may have heard some of these terms before:

“Content is King…”

“It’s all about the content…”

“You need to create fresh content…”

Although all these sayings are definitely true and worth considering for your brand, there’s a little more to it than that. The way you present your content and how easy it is to read and digest are crucial factors to keep your readers engaged. Did you know that 55% of all page views get less than 15 seconds of attention? And, readers consume your content in an F shape down the page, scanning for relevant information as they go, so it’s not quite as straight forward as creating a chunky piece of content that requires immediate attention from your readers.

So, with this in mind, we need to find a way to capture your audience’s attention and keep it for as long as possible. Here are 7 elements that you can use to create a fantastic blog post that has the best chance of being read.

1. Don’t Disregard the Headline

An attention grabbing headline is the most important element of every blog post or article. The title is the first point of interaction for the content, so it needs to be eye-catching. One way you can do this is to answer a question linked to your products or services, or you can do some keyword research to find out what questions are already being asked around your products and serve up a nice, juicy, relevant post on that topic.

Readers will use your headline to determine whether they want to bother with the main content at all, so give it more than just a couple of words, try and include keywords where you can and make it nice and clear.

Tips for writing headlines that get clicks

  • Numbers win readers – e.g. 27 Tips
  • Use interesting adjectives such as smashing, free, useful, absolute, sexy etc.
  • Rationale such as tips, tricks, reasons, principles always work
  • If possible, include trigger words ‘Why’ and ‘How
  • Make a promise, such as 27 Super- useful tips that will help you
  • Include a keyword or two if you can
you got this

2. Think About the Intro

The introduction or opening paragraph is another key element to creating an effective blog post, as it can be used to give readers some answers to key questions and will tell your readers whether they’re going to get what they want out of your post. You might want to come back to the intro at the end, once you know more about the overall focus and how the content has been positioned. Things to think about include:

  • What the article/blog post is really about
  • Why they should bother to read it
  • What they will get out of it (consider the famous WIIFM acronym – What’s In It For Me?)

At this point you still have their attention; however this can easily change if your intro doesn’t provide the right answers. Similar to the headline rule, you need to make this part the best paragraph of your blog post so readers don’t skip the rest of your masterpiece.

3. The Main Body Copy

The main body of your article is the longest part, therefore you need to do everything in your power to make sure it keeps your audience’s attention for as long as possible. A tip on how to achieve this is to ensure your content is easily scannable, as according to a study by the Nielson Norman Group, people only read 28% of the words during an average page visit. This means that most of your blog post won’t be read, just skimmed through by visitors. Yes, that’s right, and we guarantee you do it too.

In order to make your blog posts more easily scannable, make sure you include all, or some of these;

  • Lists and bullet points for important information
  • Bold your key points
  • If you use a quote, ensure it’s in italics
  • Good use of sub-headings (more info below)
  • Use visuals to keep attention (more info below)
laptop and coffee

4. Heading and Sub-headings

If the headline is the only heading in your blog post, then it’s time to dive back in and add some clear headings and sub-headings. Both help to optimise your content for search engines, but they also guide your readers around the content. A good heading structure will ensure high level of readability for your visitors, and they will be able to effectively scan through the content to find what they’re looking for.  You should have a sub-heading for every new section to help readers know what the section is about, so they can skip the parts they’re not interested in.

Heading and Sub-headings guidance 

  • H1 headings offer a clear indication as to what the blog post/page is all about. There should only be one H1 tag per page and it should closely relate to the target keywords and content on that page.
  • H2 headings are perfect for sub-headings; they can also target secondary keyword terms if there is a need for them. However you should limit these to 2-3 on each blog post depending on the length of the content.
  • H3, H4s, … can be used as sub-sub-headings to further break up the copy.

5. Add Some Visuals to Keep Things Interesting

Images are lovely, but relevant images are crucial for your blog post to grab readers’ attention and give them something else to look at rather than just paragraphs of text. 

If your blog posts have no visuals you may be missing out on high number of readers, as 65% of the population are visual learners (source). This means that they tend to learn and absorb information best through seeing it; not by only reading or listening.

The right image or video can increase engagement among your readers and, most importantly, it can stop your blog post from being, well, a bit boring.

For the best results, think about the following:

  • Are the images or videos relevant and good enough quality?
  • Do they have watermarks that need removing?
  • Aim to include 2-3 images where relevant
  • Have all images been accredited properly?

Some of the websites where you can get good quality images for free include:

  • Unsplash
  • Pexels
  • Pixabay

You can also do a good ol’ Google search for imagery, but make sure you find images which are labelled for commercial reuse.

Google image example

6. Link to Other Sources

Everyone likes additional sources that can provide extra information, so you should think of your blog post as a hub of useful information, that readers will appreciate and want to come back to over and over again.

Type of links your blog post could include:

  • Link to a study you’ve referenced
  • Link to a free PDF, ebook, whitepaper, tool, etc.
  • Link to a blog post that provides a different opinion on the topic, could be yours or another website’s
  • Link to a twitter handle of the author/writer you’re quoting
  • Link to relevant internal products or services you reference

Just check when you include external links that you set them to “NoFollow”.

7. Build links to your content

If you want your content to get results, then you’ll also want to about it’s SEO and how to help it perform better in search engine results pages. One way to do this is by building backlinks to your content – either through internal linking from other authoritative content on your site, or via proactive third-party link building techniques.

Digital PR is often the most effective way to build links to your content. This usually involves pitching working with a PR specialist to create a PR campaign around your content asset. You’ll need to ensure that the PR story is newsworthy, well targeted to the target audience, and there’s a compelling reason for a journalist to link to it too!

However, there are many other link building tactics you could try too, such as broken link building, reactive PR, and passive content assets.

8. Final or Closing Paragraph

The final short paragraph should concisely summarise the key findings and suggest the next step alongside a call to action (CTA). Try to think what you want your readers to do now they’ve read your masterpiece. Do you want them to download something, leave a comment, share it, check out some more content or fill in a contact form?

Some of the most common CTAs include:

  • Leave a comment
  • Share this article
  • Sign up to Newsletters
  • Download whitepaper
  • Read related article

Final Blog Post Checklist

Hopefully you now know some of the most important elements to creating a kick-ass blog post, and you’re ready to hit the publish button. However, before you do that, we recommend going through the below questions inspired by Ahava Leitbtag’s content checklist.

  • Can a potential visitor find your content?
  • Can a potential visitor easily read it/scan it?
  • Can a potential visitor take action?
  • Can a potential visitor share it?

What are your thoughts? 

Is there anything you would add that works for you and your readers? We’d love to hear your thoughts on what makes up a good blog post.

Responses

  1. Andrea Bindi avatar

    I think you have given very useful and valuable info without holding anything back for leerage as is very common with many net users. Thanks and be blessed,I needed this !

  2. […] lot from the headlines of high-traffic blogs. Lenka Istvanova developed a headline formula based on her analysis of best practices for headlines that get clicks. The formula goes like […]

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  4. blog de dicas avatar

    whoah this blog is magnificent i like studying your posts.
    Keep up the great work! You already know, lots of persons are searching around for this info, you can help them greatly.

  5. […] Istvanova, do Koozai Marketing, fez uma pesquisa empírica nos títulos mais clicados de diversos sites e chegou à seguinte […]

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  8. […] ultimate headline formula. Lenka Istvanova of Koozai Marketing developed a headline formula based on her analysis of best practices for headlines that get […]

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  10. […] Use the Formula Lenka Istvanova contributed a world of knowledge with her 2014 article outline of how to write the perfect blog post. Content is king, for sure, but Istanova completed the thought adding the much needed ending: “but […]

  11. […] Istvanova analyzed the best practices for click-worthy headlines. During that analysis, she developed The Ultimate Headline Formula. It […]

  12. Russell Lobo avatar

    amazing article Lenka, I am using this as a benchmark for future posts :)

  13. […] from the headlines of high-traffic blogs. Lenka Istvanova developed a headline formula based on her analysis of best practices for headlines that get clicks. The formula goes like […]

  14. […] Some even go so far as to construct a formula for headline success, like Lenka Istvanova has done at Koozai: […]

  15. […] The Anatomy Of A Perfect Blog Post That Gets Results Lenka Istvanova over at Koozai breaks a successful blog post down to its component parts. Lenka offers some great insights and offers advice on intros, body copy, headings, sub-headings, and linking. […]

  16. Key Elements of a Blog Post

    […] Formula: Numbers + Adjective + Target Keyword + Rationale + Promise = Ultimate Headline […]

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  23. 30+ Ultimate Headline Formulas for Tweets, Posts, Articles, and Emails – AMA – California State University, East Bay

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  24. How to Create Compelling Content That Converts

    […] you can use one of my favorite headline formulas by Lenka Istvanova. It works like a charm! Check out the ultimate headline formula presented […]

  25. […] lot from the headlines of high-traffic blogs. Lenka Istvanova developed a headline formula based on her analysis of best practices for headlines that get clicks. The formula goes like […]

  26. Amanda Hoffmann avatar

    LOVE this article! I have so much to learn and this will help me give my readers what they want to know. Thank you!

  27. The Jooy Blog avatar

    Great overview and observation about structure, thank you!

  28. Rhys Mohun avatar

    This was really comprehensive, Lenka. Any plans to release this in PDF format?

  29. Lisa B Taylor avatar

    As a blog novice, I thought this article was very helpful. Thanks for sharing your expertise.

  30. Duncan Elliott avatar

    Hey Lenka,

    Great posts. 2 additions…

    1. Add captions to images and right align them (unless they’re call-to-action buttons). Captions get 4 times as much eyeballing as body content. Make it count. Source: https://blog.kissmetrics.com/shocking-truth-about-graphics/

    2. You sort of touched on this, but I would have an overriding mental structure of the AIDA formula in my head as I write. Attention. Interest. Desire. Action.
    Not all posts will overtly fit into this, but generally they will, to a certain degree.

  31. Fakhrul Alam avatar

    It is very good post I have seen and you have given very details information about blogging and what will help us to grow with search engines. I really liked it, I will bookmak it for future reference and understanding.

    How long took you to write down this huge content I think almost one hour.. Right

    One question, is long content or short content good for search users?

    Thanks
    Alam

  32. Kumar Gauraw avatar

    Hi Lenka,

    Very nicely done post with a lot of great tips. I especially enjoyed your tips about headline (You almost gave a perfect formula that anybody could employ). Great job there!

    Plus, you have also received some awesome comments and although I wanted to suggest about Font size but I see that someone already suggested it already.

    So, you have a great community going here as well. Thank you for sharing and congratulations on all the success!

    Regards,
    Kumar

    1. Lenka Istvanova avatar

      Thank you very much Kumar!
      Really appreciate your kind words and I’m glad you found my tips useful. You’re right, font size is important element too as it helps with scannability. Thanks a lot again.

  33. Güngör Bayrak (@BlogDeinGeld) avatar

    Great Tips for unusual and unique content.

    I will really enjoy to use the free licence pictures from google search.

    Now i´m still using flickr Creative Common´s.
    Thank You!

    1. Lenka Istvanova avatar

      Thanks a lot, Güngör. Google made is easier and much quicker for bloggers to find the right images.

  34. Patricia avatar

    A lot of useful tips. Will be applying them to my blog. :) Already bookmarked Portent’s Content Idea Generator. Thanks!!

    1. Lenka Istvanova avatar

      Thanks Patricia! Glad you found my tips useful; Portent’s Title generator is a fun tool, indeed! :)

  35. Umar Khan avatar

    Hey Lenka,

    It’s an awesome post. You covered each and every aspect of a perfect blog but I’d like to add one very important thing here and that is a “Good UI Design”.
    If the overall design structure and font style of blog is not good looking and readable no one will prefer to read the complete post.
    I’d love to hear your feedback on this point. :)

    1. Lenka Istvanova avatar

      Thanks Umar, glad you liked it.
      I completely agree with you; if the look & feel of the website is not right (bad structure, many fonts, etc) I personally wouldn’t read the blog post at all. Definitely a good point. Thanks!

  36. […] The Anatomy Of A Perfect Blog Post That Gets Results […]

  37. […] The Anatomy Of A Perfect Blog Post That Gets Results, Koozai […]

  38. […] explored these elements in more detail on my latest blog post where you can check the full The Anatomy Of A Perfect Blog Post That Gets Results  that gets readers and these important social signals. You will find lots of tools and tips how […]

  39. Jack Van Jaarsveld avatar
    Jack Van Jaarsveld

    SEO is not as truly important as it used to be but it is still vital

  40. James Perrin avatar

    Great post Lenka. The examples you’ve given for headlines are great, and these work really well for blog posts and guest posts. The headline we choose does depend on the type of content we’re looking to create, as well as the overall objective of the piece. For example, for a whitepaper or user guide it’s important to choose an evergreen title. But I really like the formula you’ve added – it works well :-)

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Stacey Cavagnetto

Content & PR Lead

With nearly a decade of experience, Stacey is our talented content marketer with a flair for writing and a passion for driving results for her clients. Having worked with exciting brands like Bandai and Srixon and with in-house travel and financial services experience, Stacey is our go-to content guru. In her personal life you’ll find Stacey shooting hoops on the netball court, or binge watching something on Netflix with a cuppa.

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