Blogging is a fundamental key to building a strong audience, and customer base for your books online. Blogging statistics suggest that blogging and social media make up to 23% of total time spent online. The average internet user in today’s global marketplace reads about ten blog posts a day. And, considering that 77% of all internet users actively read blogs, as a blogger and an author (or aspiring author) who blogs, your potential reach is billions of people.
How can you maximize the impact of your blog posts? Utilizing the following three tips can make a huge difference in engagement, reach, and continued readership. You need all three if you want to have a successful blog and potentially attract a large enough following to land book deal or launch a successful self-published book.
Publish Posts at the Best Time of Day
Not all days of the week or all times of the day are going to get your blog post maximum traction. In fact, no matter your time zone, data suggests the best time for increased engagement is Saturday between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m.
Additionally, the best time for page views is Monday between 8 and 11 a.m. likely because 77% of users read blogs in the morning. From a strictly statistical point of view, the average post gets the most traffic around 11 a.m. Eastern Time.
So, make sure you time the publishing of your blog posts between the 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. window to receive the most traffic and maximize your posts’ impact.
Manage Post Format and Length
When it comes to formatting a post for maximum effectiveness, titles and length are important.
The ideal blog title is 60 characters long. Additionally, headlines that include 6 to 13 words attract the highest and most-consistent amount of traffic.
Furthermore, titles between 8 and 12 words in length are shared most often on Twitter, while headlines between 12 to14 words are liked most often on Facebook.
When it comes to overall blog post length, the ideal word count is 2,100 words and takes about seven minutes to read. Keep in mind, however, that shorter posts—those less than 1,500 words—do generate more social media engagement.
Whatever length your post, keep it packed with relevant information that is short, sweet and to the point.
Add Pictures to Blog Posts
An Internet user typically spends 10% more time looking at a picture than reading content. Therefore, it makes sense that blog posts with images get 94% more total views than those without images.
As a general rule, create the most effective posts by using one image per 350 words. Inserting more than that will likely reduce your posts load times, which actually could work against you. Your blog visitors want their content fast; 47% of viewers want a two-second load time.
The idea is to add pictures but balance the number of images with your blog’s load time for maximum impact per post.
Keep these three tips in mind as you write and format and you will maximize the impact of your posts. You’ll find your site attracting more readers who share your posts with their friends. That means your site’s success will increase exponentially, making it possible for you to write and publish a successful book based on your blog, if that is your ultimate goal.
The following infographic provides a ton of important information about blogs, blogging, and blog readers. You can reference it whenever you have a question about blogging. Additionally, read an information-packed blogging guide (free) here.
Did you find these tips and the infographic useful? Tell me in a comment below.
About the Author
Josh Wardini is the editorial contributor and community manager at websitebuilder.or. With a preliminary background in communication and expertise in community development, Josh works day-to-day to reshape the human resource management of digitally based companies. When his focus trails outside of community engagement, Josh enjoys the indulgences of writing amidst the nature conservations of Portland, Oregon.
Image copyright: StockSnap / Pixabay.com
Great read! I love the infographic. Especially for us who are quite new to blogging. Cheers!