5 Tips to Help You Write Valuable Blog Posts for Your Reader

The first rule of writing is to be of help

I read a lot of articles every day. I have no shame in bouncing when something bores me, loses me, or I come to discover there isn’t anything in it for me. I like to read too much to stick it out with a piece that just isn’t working for me.

This might sound a bit harsh, but I’m saying it for a reason. I’m describing my approach to reading as a reader. This is important for writers to do from time to time, me and you both. Our work is improved when take time to slip off the writer’s cap with all of its expectations and simply observe our thought process as a reader instead.

What’s all of this adding up to? As a reader, I want something valuable. I’m either looking for a solution to a problem, an improvement to a process or something I’m doing, or maybe just a bit of entertainment or escape from the day-to-day. Give me something that makes me feel invested like my time and energy are appreciated, thought about ahead of time, and taken into respected consideration.

With so much else to read, why should I write what you’ve written?

Now, back to being a writer, what’s all of this mean for your next piece of writing? Well, are you adding something of real value to your reader’s life and thinking? How do you know?

Let’s take a closer look.

It’s not about you, it’s about them

Remember, what you write, if it’s not a journal, it’s not just for you. It’s for your audience, it’s for your reader. This changes everything. It changes the entire focus of your writing and what you’re doing. If you let it. And you should.

Remember all the questions I was asking from a reader’s perspective? This is where those become gold. No need to scroll back up and re-read them, make some of your own questions.

Here’s what you do, smash the pause button on everything else for about a half an hour or however long you need to read a few articles. As you read, pay attention to how you’re interacting with the work. What questions are you asking? Maybe you have never noticed these questions before, but this is how you take your writing to the next level.

Think like your reader.

Now, when you come back to your own writing, use all of the things you noticed from your reflection. Shift the focus from you to your reader. What questions do you think they might be asking? What problems can you help them with?

Focus on the lesson or experience you’re sharing

One of the fastest ways to make sure you’re sharing something of value is to put your focus where it belongs. Shift your focus back to the lesson you’re teaching or the experience you’re sharing.

The problems that your readers are trying to solve aren’t always clear-cut and easy to understand. Sure, sometimes they want to learn how to do something, but sometimes that something is intangible. The meaning of life, better thinking practices, emotional intelligence, and more, these can all be very subjective.

How the heck do you write for these things? Same as anything else.

The point isn’t to get into the weeds of tactics and techniques here. It’s to shift your thinking, figure out what exactly your reader is wanting, and then how you can deliver that for them. So, if you know they’re wanting to learn how to do something, you’ll share one type of blog post. But if they want to learn the meaning of life, how to define their purpose, or how to think more clearly on a topic, you’re going to write a different kind of blog post altogether.

Whatever the case may be, your writing will become stronger for knowing these distinctions and writing in such a way that acknowledges them. You’ll write more powerfully when you more clearly understand what your reader is looking for.

Ask yourself if it’s helpful

Be honest here, is what you’ve written helpful? To answer that big question, break it down and answer these two questions instead:

• How is it helpful?
• What problem does it solve exactly?

At the end of the day, this should be our number one priority as a blogger. But keep in mind that the concept of being helpful is a very big one that can include a lot of things. So, break this concept down, and seek to understand it from your reader’s perspective. At the end of the writing, did you add something valuable to their life? To their thinking? To their next steps?

What are you giving the reader?

Remember, the emphasis isn’t on you or what’s in it for you, it’s your reader. Right? So, take time exploring what exactly you’re sharing with your audience.

The more time and energy you give focusing on what exactly you’re sharing with your reader, the better work you’ll produce. Shifting your focus, intentionally, and often, is an act of deliberate practice. The thing you’re sharpening when you focus on helping your reader is at the very core of some of the best writing of all mediums. Whether online or not, when you focus on helping, entertaining, answering questions, and solving problems you tap into an essential power that will absolutely propel your work to new heights.

Break your help down, get to know it really well. Figure out just what exactly you’re helping them with and then make sure there isn’t more you can give.

What’s in it for them?

It takes time to read your work, time that could have been spent doing other tasks or reading other articles. So, one of the most important things to keep in mind while crafting your blog posts for your reader is the question of, “What’s in it for them?”

If you’ve taken time with all the other questions, and have been reflective on your own journey as a reader, this becomes easier to answer. But it should become a guiding question to your whole process because, without it, there’s no reason for your reader to finish reading your work if they ever clicked on it, to begin with.

It’s tough love, but I know you’re capable of hearing it. What’s more, I know that when you put this in practice, it’s going to take your writing to the next level.

Conclusion

Remember, the most powerful way to write amazing blog posts for your reader is to think like a reader yourself. The more you focus on the reader and what they gain from your work, the better your work will be for it.

Write more powerful blog posts by thinking of your reader. It’s just that simple. Remember, the first rule to writing for an audience is to be of help.

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