How to Structure a Perfect Blog Post to Boost Engagement and Shares

How to Structure a Blog Post to Boost Engagement

Do you wonder why your blog post with amazing content is not receiving the attention it deserves? Why do all your blog posts go dull when published? Because they do not follow a proper blog structure.

Conducting deep research is not enough. You have to make some changes to your content marketing strategy. You have to put it in a way that your readers feel thankful (as well as knowledgeable) that they got to read the post. 

When you first start blogging, you don’t have any idea how to put together a blog post that makes meaningful content. So this post is specially written for beginner bloggers so that they can up their blogging game.

However, different blog posts have different structures so in this blog post I’ll cover the basic structure or the “bone structure” that can be used in almost every type of blog post.

After going through this post you will be able to

  • Understand the importance of a structured post.
  • Plan a basic structure of a blog post.
  • Deliver information in a meaningful way.
  • Create an engaging read.

So let’s get started.

Why do you need a perfectly structured blog post?

I know you may want to know why and how the structure can make a blog post perfect.

Planning a structure of a blog post makes it more Readable (because the information is given in an organized way) which in turn makes it more Shareable (because you have added a social sharing button at the end of the post so that people can easily share it, if not go add one already) that brings more traffic

Here are some of the benefits of a perfectly structured blog post. (If you are able to publish good posts consistently)

  • Helps in making you appear an expert.
  • Boost content engagement in terms of comments, links, and shares
  • Encourage people to take action for instance signing up for your list
  • Increase your affiliate sales or make more money.
  • Double your blog traffic due to shares
  • Helps you find new guest blogging opportunities.
  • Grow your social media presence.

And trust me there are a lot more (but I’m not going to bore you with). Now that I have revealed the charmer why not get to the real stuff?

What is a blog post format?

The format of a blog post is the blueprint of some raw information that is later converted into some meaningful information.

Creating a blog post structure actually makes it easy to create (organize) information because you know information is valuable only if it is presented well otherwise it is a waste of time and energy.

What I do is that I have created a “basic structure” of blog posts and I use it for all types of blog posts.

That basic structure or bone structure can be used in all types of posts.

How to structure a blog post

I always follow a basic structure when creating blog posts and I’m going to share it with you here.

My content structure contains only the basic elements of a blog post. If you want to, then you can add more elements to it to suit your blogging needs

The blog post format template

Blogging is about telling a compelling story. And every good story has 3 parts:

  • Introduction
  • Main body
  • Conclusion

Now this is just the skeletal structure of your template.

I’m sure that you use this skeletal structure. Now you’re thinking what is so different about it? The secret is to write with emotions.

Components of a perfect blog content format

To fully structure your blog post, we need to understand the components that make up a blog post.

1) A great headline

A strong heading is very important to grab the attention of the readers. It must tell the readers “Hey there, do you have this problem? Well, here’s the solution!”

You want people to click through to your post from a search results page without opting for the other pages.

How to write great headlines

Great headlines specifically hint at the solution to a particular problem that the article tackles. Every great headline makes use of the following elements.it is these things put together in a decent way.

  • The focused Keyword.
  • Numerical (Figures)
  • Power words

For instance, when you combine them a great heading will be formed like this.

How to drive 100+ evergreen sales from your blog automatically!

This heading tells readers that “I have a blog post that will help you make money all the time”.

Similarly, some more tips for writing wonderful headings are

  • Use an odd number for list posts. (7,11,21)
  • Keep it only 65 characters long. Anything afterwards will be truncated and will not be shown in search results
  • Make use of power words to get more click-throughs

2) Compelling blog intros

Your blog intro is a crucial element as it determines whether people will read through your post or not.

You can make your readers stay only if you push their pain points. You make them believe that “this is exactly what I should read right now”.

So how do you do that?

Simple, by following this formula.

  • Step 1. Ask questions and give a hint of the solution.      (Related to the problem)
  • Step 2. Tell the Consequences. (What can happen if the problem persists)
  • Step 3. Tell them the solution.
  • Step 4. Tell them the things they will be able to do after reading this post.

That’s it! You have your reader.

Want to see it in action? Let’s look at how I started this post:

How to Structure a Blog Post to Boost Engagement

To understand how this introduction grabbed your attention, let’s break it down in bits:

  • First, I asked some questions that made you remember you have a similar problem. (The first two questions)
  • Second, I told you what you need right now. (Blog structure in Bold)
  • Third, you saw the picture of what you will be able to do after reading this post. (The paragraph with bullet points)

Caught you, Right? So, this is how you create a hooking introduction.

Some more tips for writing an Introduction:

  • Do not reveal how you are going to do it.
  • Be very brief. Don’t bore your readers with too much introduction.

3) Main body

This is the part where you give all of the information that you want to but again, not in any random manner. It has to be a logical sequence of information or sets of information that are given to the readers so that they are able to get all of it.

It’s obvious that readers may not get all of the information in a post (I have to check out a post 2-3 times to implement all the tips) but you have to write in a way that is easy to understand and skim through.

The only structure for this is to start with the very beginning (the basic knowledge to set your topic) and slowly lead the way.

Some of the tips to keep in mind while writing the main body:

  • Be very detailed about everything. (Try to explain everything that you think is new for the readers)
  • Write in a Question/Answer format. (It helps readers know what they are learning exactly)
  • Write long-form content, they perform better. A good length for the blog post is 1700 words.
  • Write short paragraphs. 4 to 5 lines will do. Occasional throw in one sentence paragraphs as well
  • Use subheadings to structure the content.
  • Use bullet points, graphs, tables, etc. to format your content for ease of readability
  • Use high-quality images.
  • Add internal links.
  • Link out to relevant and authoritative pages
  • Use bold and italics to highlight important details.

4) Blog conclusion

Don’t let this word make you ignore its importance. It is also a deciding factor.

Why?

Sometimes a reader scrolls down to check out the length of the post and then his eye falls on the conclusion. He thinks that “Let me check this conclusion to find out what this article is really about”.

You can’t write “This is an end to this post. Thanks for reading”.

Instead, tell your readers what you covered in the post. It’s also important to revise what new things your readers can do now (how this post helped them learn this new thing).

You can also ask your reader to share your post with his friends or add their own contributions to the post via the comment section

Curious about how I ended this post? Then scroll down and look at the conclusion. Try to understand how I concluded the post.

First I summarize what was covered in this post. Then I pointed out what one can do with the tips shared herein.  With a little motivation (I usually do this😉) I ended it and left you with some questions (I would love it if you share your opinion with us in the comment section).

Therefore all of these things make a good conclusion.

And so, all of these make a structure of a good blog post.

How to use this blog post planning template for different blog post types

What now? Should we start from scratch?

Absolutely not!

Remember that I told you this is a basic structure that makes it usable for all types of blog posts.

You just have to make some small changes, but the pattern remains the same.

Which elements are the same?

From all the elements of a good blog post, the elements that remain the same are

  • The Headline.
  • The Introduction.
  • The Conclusion.

You can follow the same steps to write all of them. Just the way I told you!

Which elements can be modified?

It is clear that the content part (main body) is modified according to the needs.

For example,

  • If you are working on a list post your main body will be a list.
  • For a How-To post, you will have to write it in a tutorial format.

So you see this is not much trouble. You can easily modify the structure according to the type.

How to Structure a Blog Post to Boost Engagement

How to write exceptional content

I have shared with you the strategy that I use to write blog posts. You have also understood the anatomy of a blog. But I can’t leave you with half knowledge. Here are some tips to help you write even better posts.

  • Don’t write for an expert. (Be very basic with your language so that more people can understand you. Not everyone reading your post is going to be a scholar.)
  • Conduct full research. (Don’t leave your readers with incomplete information.)
  • Write content that meets users’ search intent
  • Use a conversational tone. (Use I, we, you more often. Don’t be a computer reading a plain text.)
  • Write unique articles. (Share your thoughts, experience, and views to make it your text. People will trust you, even more, when you share your experience)
  • Write Long-form content. They perform better than short ones. (People want a source where they can find everything important)
  • Write short paragraphs. (Nobody wants to read long texts. Divide them into 4 to 5-line paragraphs)
  • Use high-quality images. (Visuals are seen more quickly than text. I mean if you upload a funny image and you write a joke, tell me what I’ll see first?)
  • Write curiosity-generating subheadings. (Try to question your readers)

To improve your content writing skills, I recommend you take this free content writing course on Skillshare.

You can also read this post to write viral posts.

Summing up

That is it. I have shared with you all of what I have learned so far. First of all, thanks for reading it up to this point.

I’m sure you are able to plan your blog post now. Implementing these amazing tips you can write awesome posts. 

If you use each and every tip I’m sure your posts will get maximum shares.

However, this does not mean that you can’t try new things. I also want you to try out new things. I would love to know what you tried and how well it worked for you. You may also need to update your old content if you didn’t structure them properly

Writing well is not quick learning. You have to put some time and effort into honing your skills. Your skills will not be the same after 4 months.

Keep learning and most importantly trying new things.

Enough of me talking.

Now your turn.

Please tell me if you have any questions. Do you have any new tips that I haven’t shared here? Tell me about it. What tips are you going to try first? Are you going to use my structure of blog post ideas?

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Last update on 2024-03-28 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Ekta Swarnkar
Ekta Swarnkar
Ekta is a book reviewer, content writer, and blogger. She has been blogging for 3 years now. If you want to learn how to start a blog take her free course
Ekta Swarnkar
Ekta Swarnkar
Ekta is a book reviewer, content writer, and blogger. She has been blogging for 3 years now. If you want to learn how to start a blog take her free course

Guestposting on The PennyMatters has since been discontinued. Do not contact us on the same.

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