When you’re doing it often, creating blog posts can become a tedious process. You may feel like you’re just Writing away, to nobody in particular, wondering if anyone will even enjoy what you’re about to publish. I used to create blog posts on Flip And Style that had all images and only one or two words at the bottom, or posts with only a paragraph of writing. I chose to express myself through imagery rather than what I actually had to say.

Throughout my years blogging, I slowly realised that I needed to write more in my posts, however I didn’t want to bore my Readers. I tried to develop a way of creating posts that had more writing, yet were still interesting.

Following are 7 tips I have to add a spark of interest to your posts and to have your readers (hopefully) reading through from beginning to end.

1. More Photos!

One of the main things I notice when looking at other blogs, is how much I love the photos included. It may just be me, I’m a very visual person, however I think adding more photos to a post definitely helps to keep readers scrolling through.

When I’m on Bloglovin, looking through new posts, I’ll click on one to read based on how good their top image is. If it’s an incredible image that seems exciting and worth taking a look at, it’s very likely to get a click from me. What bugs me though, is when I land on that blog to read their post and the only image within that post is the one that I had clicked on. I was excited, hoping to see more beautiful imagery and there’s only the one I’ve already seen.

I’m sure I do it myself from time to time, however when creating new posts I always attempt to add more than one photo. Even posts like these on Blog Pixie which are all about blogging – if I don’t have more photos to add than the one that’s at the top, I’ll create a graphic to place halfway down.

2. Post Layout

And that takes me onto this next tip – the way you organise your posts. There are so many different ways you can display writing and imagery in blog posts , for example, quotes, paragraphs and images aligned to the side of writing.

My favourite way to keep interest in the layout of my posts is to split up the writing with photos. A whole page of text to view can be overwhelming and may look like it’ll take time to read through. When you add bursts of text with photos in between, it looks easier to read. You bounce from paragraph to paragraph and before you know it, you’re at the end of the post.

3. Write Lists

I think deep down, we’re all ‘list people’. Lists make life easier, more organised, boost motivation, make tasks or ideas easy to follow and simplify things, even for the most chaotic person. The great thing about lists is that it’s such an easy way to add value to your post. Blog readers these days want to see information quickly and effortlessly, so summarising points in a list or creating a whole post as a list is gold. This post I’m currently writing is technically a list!

You can do as I’m doing and number the points/headings you’re talking about within a post, if say you were doing a “5 Ways To_____” or “10 Reasons I Love ______”. Alternatively, you can add a mini bullet list within a post, to list off different ideas.

4. Helpful Links

One of the most frustrating things you’ll find when reading a blog post, is if the blogger didn’t link to the main things they mentioned throughout the post. You’re left going on a search of your own to find what they wrote about, and nobody wants to be doing that.

Imagine you’re scrolling through Pinterest and spot an amazing top. You click on it, ending up on a fashion blog where the blogger is showing the outfit. She shows that top in about 5 different photos and you hastily scan the writing hoping for a simple link so you can buy that top. You get to the end of the post and there’s a mention of the brand of the top, but there’s no link, anywhere. How frustrating! If only that blogger had added a link, whether to that top, to the website that top came from or even to a similar item if it’s sold out. You want to be helping your readers, so where it’s easy to do so, add helpful links.

On the other end of the scale, you don’t want to add too many links. If your writing is full of links (especially if your links are coloured or bold) it can be hard to effortlessly read through a post and they end up being more of a nuisance than helpful.

5. Creative Photography

There’s no rule that says the photos you post have to be just plain old photos. Why not get creative with the photos you’ve taken? Load them into Photoshop or Picmonkey and put together a creative collage by layering photos and graphics (such as those in the Blog Stylist Kit or the Floriana Creator Studio) to save as one image for the post. It will give your post an artsy, interesting vibe and you’ll be putting something out there that not many people have the patience to do.

One of my favourite creative photography posts I’ve done is where I reviewed The Dreamy Look collection by Charlotte Tilbury quite a while ago. For one of the images, I created hand-lettering to place as the background, put an image of myself wearing the makeup on top with some flower images in the corner. I also made a little collage for the bottom (which I ended up turning into a wallpaper freebie for all of you!) I also used to create Quote posts, where I’d make a collage around a quote image I’d created like this one here.

6. Offer A Freebie

This is a favourite among a lot of bloggers these days (including myself), because it works! Putting that extra bit of effort into a post to offer something to your readers for free is valuable, it’s interesting and it will keep readers coming back time and time again.

Keep in mind, you don’t want to be giving a freebie away in every single post. Doing this will reduce the excitement and will become more of an expectation from your readers rather than a special gift for them. Maybe once a month, think of something additional you can add to a post to say a special thank you to them for being there. A few examples include:

• Extra advice
• Printable list
• Planner page
• Creative print
• A photo you’ve taken
• iPhone wallpaper
• A mini eBook
• Calendar
• Template

7. Change It Up

And lastly, change things up a bit. Don’t go on forever doing the same post images and the same style of posts all year round. Surprise your readers with something different and they’re sure to be interested.

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