You know when you are on Facebook and you click on an article that seems somewhat interesting?
What do you do?
- You click on it
- You scan the article
- You go back and read it
That’s how people read online now. They don’t read a whole article, instead they scan, then decide if it is worth their time. We have so much access to information, people have naturally figured out how to decipher if an article is relevant. As you discover how to write a blog quickly, you want to tap into the psychology of reading online.
Why you should be blogging
Whether you do counseling with people that are dealing with depression, anxiety, or marriage, a blog does a number of things.
Blogging does a number of things to help your counseling private practice it:
- Increases your trust and authority by demonstrating what you know
- Helps clients to connect with your content and ultimately connect with you
- Increases your site ranking in Google
- Reduces the likelihood that you will be in the 1/3 of private practices that fail in a year
- Build a sense of your voice as a counselor
For example, the term “How to write a blog” gets 18,100 searches per month and there are very few people writing posts about it. Or I recently launched the How to Become a Consultant daily podcast, I picked my keywords based on what people are searching.
Focus on your Keywords
When you first are brainstorming your theme for your blog post, you want to use Google Keyword Planner. By doing this, you can see the difference between the terms “depression” and “depression symptoms.” For example in Los Angeles, I discovered the following:
- 6,600 searches for the term “depression”
- 1,900 searches for the term “depression symptoms”
- 1,000 searches for the term “symptoms of depression”
- 70 searches for the term “treatment for depression”
See how a few words can make the difference between 70 people and 1,900 people? Here’s a video showing you how to discover keywords.
Engage with Key Points
If you’re writing a blog post about depression, outline your key points first. How will the reader change by the end of your blog post? For me, I want you to know how to write a blog post quickly. I hope you can see that it is really easy.
What’s the change you want your reader to go through? Here are some examples:
- They understand if they have/don’t have depression
- They know that their marriage can be saved
- They don’t feel alone as a parent
Each of your Header 1 (the big headings) should point toward your end goal.
Use Numbers/bullets
Before you started reading this you probably scanned this article. Bullets and numbers help the reader to follow your path. A large chunk of text almost always will get ignored. Instead use headers, bullets, and numbers to help yourself structure the post. Here are a few things that bullets/numbers do:
- Help the readers feel that you are organized
- Creates a sense of flow
- Gives the reader mini feelings of satisfaction (yup I just read through another section already)
- Makes the blog post highly scannable
Bullets and numbers should always make sense, don’t just do them to do them, but actually think about how to make great content!
Add Video
Google continues to like to promote itself, so if you embed a video from YouTube, it’ll rank higher. That’s why even for this article, I wanted to quickly show you how I wrote this article. You’ll see me frame it out in the video below. Videos also do a number of things:
- They engage the reader using a different part of their brain
- The blog post feels more engaging
- If you’re talking, there is a personal connection with you
There are a million other reasons a video helps, but I’ll just leave it there.
Use Short Sentences
Lastly, use short sentences. Break up sentences into two if they are long.
Don’t go on and on.
Make new points.
When you write short sentences, it feels like the blog is moving quicker. When I get asked how to write a blog quickly, I just say, “Write a blog quickly.” There are clear techniques, like we’ve discussed, but just write.
Write quickly, move forward, and keep going!
Create Compelling Titles
No one likes to “learn” compared to “discover.” There are words that engage people and other words that turn people away. Here are words that work well in titles:
- Discover
- Reveal
- Engage
- Act
- Create
- Quick
- Tips
- Numbers (3, 5, 7)
- Minutes (Discover how to blog quicker in 3 minutes)
If you’re stuck for a compelling title, check out Buzzfeed or Upworthy and study their format.
So next time you click on something on Facebook, watch yourself.
How do you read? How do you scan? How do you decide where to spend your time?
Then, next time you are writing a blog, implement what you discovered.
Joseph R. Sanok, MA, LLP, LPC, NCC
Joe Sanok is an ambitious results expert. He is a private practice business consultant and counselor that helps small businesses and counselors in private practice to increase revenue and have more fun! He helps owners with website design, vision, growth, and using their time to create income through being a private practice consultant. Joe was frustrated with his lack of business and marketing skills when he left graduate school. He loved helping people through counseling, but felt that often people couldn’t find him. Over the past few years he has grown his skills, income, and ability to lead others, while still maintaining an active private practice in Traverse City, MI. To link to Joe’s Google+ .
