We gathered all of this in order to answer the question: what makes a great blog post? What makes people click and read?<\/p>\n
Titles: Less is More<\/h2>\n![\"Title](\"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/title-length-alsc-blog.jpg\")
The above image demonstrates the drop in pageviews on posts with longer titles (image from ALSC).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nMost post titles are 20-50 characters long, and the most successful tend to be between 25 and 40 characters long. A post with a shortish, engaging title is more likely to be read than a post with a long, rambling title.<\/p>\n
Word Count: Finding the Middle<\/h2>\n![\"Words](\"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/word-count-alsc-blog.jpg\")
The image above shows that although higher word counts mean more pageviews, there’s a sweet spot (image by ALSC).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWhen it comes to word count, performance does increase, but there is clearly a nice cluster around 200-500 words.<\/p>\n
There are a few posts with\u00a0over 800 words\u00a0that performed well, but those are rare examples. You don’t need to be verbose to be interesting.<\/p>\n
Images: Worth Thousands of Words<\/h2>\n![\"Images](\"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/images-alsc-blog-1.jpg\")
Of over 11,000 unique pageviews in the months of March and April, more than 10,000 were of posts that included at least one image (image by ALSC).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWhy do posts with images receive 91% of views? One reason might be linking from other sites. When posts are promoted on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest, an image can grab readers \u2013 but only if an image is included.<\/p>\n
On Pinterest, it\u2019s impossible to post at all without an image. Including at least one image in your post makes it much easier for new or casual readers of the blog to find your post.<\/p>\n
Bonus Materials<\/h2>\n
Want to really take your blog post to the next level? Here are a few more organizational suggestions:<\/p>\n
Add a Featured Image for Social Sharing<\/h3>\n
More and more, blog posts are being shared via social media. What can you do about it?<\/p>\n
\n- Step 1<\/strong>: provide an image (see above)<\/li>\n
- Step 2<\/strong>: make that image a Featured Image<\/li>\n
- \n<\/ul>\n
A Featured Image will automatically format for social media posting. It makes you blog posts appear professional and eye-catching. It also appears “above the fold” in the ALSC homepage.<\/p>\n![\"You](\"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/featured_image.jpg\")
You can designate a Featured Image here (image credit: ALSC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nUtilize SEO<\/h3>\n
What is your post about? Can you sum up the theme in a phrase or two? It might not matter to the audience, but it matters to search engines. Use the Yoast SEO to designate a keyword or two and you improve the findability of your post.<\/p>\n![\"Adding](\"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/SEO-importance.jpg\")
Adding keywords to your post will improve results in search engines (image credit: ALSC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nMake It Readable<\/h3>\n
Studies show that people read differently online than in print<\/a>. There’s a term called “textual topography.” In essence, how the text is laid out matters. Even the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services<\/a> recommends the use of features such as:<\/p>\n\n- shorter sentences and paragraphs<\/li>\n
- bulleted and numbered lists<\/li>\n
- clear headlines and subheads<\/li>\n
- more white space<\/li>\n
- \n<\/ul>\n
By doing so, you make the text easier to read for screens. You also make the blog a more user-friendly place!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The ALSC Blog is a special place on the internet – a place where children’s and youth services librarians share news, ideas, and of course, stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[186,209],"tags":[1069,1068],"class_list":["post-13951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogger-dan-rude","category-research","tag-blogging","tag-writing-for-the-alsc-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13951\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Most post titles are 20-50 characters long, and the most successful tend to be between 25 and 40 characters long. A post with a shortish, engaging title is more likely to be read than a post with a long, rambling title.<\/p>\n
Word Count: Finding the Middle<\/h2>\nThe image above shows that although higher word counts mean more pageviews, there’s a sweet spot (image by ALSC).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWhen it comes to word count, performance does increase, but there is clearly a nice cluster around 200-500 words.<\/p>\n
There are a few posts with\u00a0over 800 words\u00a0that performed well, but those are rare examples. You don’t need to be verbose to be interesting.<\/p>\n
Images: Worth Thousands of Words<\/h2>\nOf over 11,000 unique pageviews in the months of March and April, more than 10,000 were of posts that included at least one image (image by ALSC).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWhy do posts with images receive 91% of views? One reason might be linking from other sites. When posts are promoted on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest, an image can grab readers \u2013 but only if an image is included.<\/p>\n
On Pinterest, it\u2019s impossible to post at all without an image. Including at least one image in your post makes it much easier for new or casual readers of the blog to find your post.<\/p>\n
Bonus Materials<\/h2>\n
Want to really take your blog post to the next level? Here are a few more organizational suggestions:<\/p>\n
Add a Featured Image for Social Sharing<\/h3>\n
More and more, blog posts are being shared via social media. What can you do about it?<\/p>\n
\n- Step 1<\/strong>: provide an image (see above)<\/li>\n
- Step 2<\/strong>: make that image a Featured Image<\/li>\n
- \n<\/ul>\n
A Featured Image will automatically format for social media posting. It makes you blog posts appear professional and eye-catching. It also appears “above the fold” in the ALSC homepage.<\/p>\nYou can designate a Featured Image here (image credit: ALSC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nUtilize SEO<\/h3>\n
What is your post about? Can you sum up the theme in a phrase or two? It might not matter to the audience, but it matters to search engines. Use the Yoast SEO to designate a keyword or two and you improve the findability of your post.<\/p>\nAdding keywords to your post will improve results in search engines (image credit: ALSC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nMake It Readable<\/h3>\n
Studies show that people read differently online than in print<\/a>. There’s a term called “textual topography.” In essence, how the text is laid out matters. Even the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services<\/a> recommends the use of features such as:<\/p>\n\n- shorter sentences and paragraphs<\/li>\n
- bulleted and numbered lists<\/li>\n
- clear headlines and subheads<\/li>\n
- more white space<\/li>\n
- \n<\/ul>\n
By doing so, you make the text easier to read for screens. You also make the blog a more user-friendly place!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The ALSC Blog is a special place on the internet – a place where children’s and youth services librarians share news, ideas, and of course, stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[186,209],"tags":[1069,1068],"class_list":["post-13951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogger-dan-rude","category-research","tag-blogging","tag-writing-for-the-alsc-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13951\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
When it comes to word count, performance does increase, but there is clearly a nice cluster around 200-500 words.<\/p>\n
There are a few posts with\u00a0over 800 words\u00a0that performed well, but those are rare examples. You don’t need to be verbose to be interesting.<\/p>\n
Images: Worth Thousands of Words<\/h2>\nOf over 11,000 unique pageviews in the months of March and April, more than 10,000 were of posts that included at least one image (image by ALSC).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWhy do posts with images receive 91% of views? One reason might be linking from other sites. When posts are promoted on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest, an image can grab readers \u2013 but only if an image is included.<\/p>\n
On Pinterest, it\u2019s impossible to post at all without an image. Including at least one image in your post makes it much easier for new or casual readers of the blog to find your post.<\/p>\n
Bonus Materials<\/h2>\n
Want to really take your blog post to the next level? Here are a few more organizational suggestions:<\/p>\n
Add a Featured Image for Social Sharing<\/h3>\n
More and more, blog posts are being shared via social media. What can you do about it?<\/p>\n
\n- Step 1<\/strong>: provide an image (see above)<\/li>\n
- Step 2<\/strong>: make that image a Featured Image<\/li>\n
- \n<\/ul>\n
A Featured Image will automatically format for social media posting. It makes you blog posts appear professional and eye-catching. It also appears “above the fold” in the ALSC homepage.<\/p>\nYou can designate a Featured Image here (image credit: ALSC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nUtilize SEO<\/h3>\n
What is your post about? Can you sum up the theme in a phrase or two? It might not matter to the audience, but it matters to search engines. Use the Yoast SEO to designate a keyword or two and you improve the findability of your post.<\/p>\nAdding keywords to your post will improve results in search engines (image credit: ALSC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nMake It Readable<\/h3>\n
Studies show that people read differently online than in print<\/a>. There’s a term called “textual topography.” In essence, how the text is laid out matters. Even the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services<\/a> recommends the use of features such as:<\/p>\n\n- shorter sentences and paragraphs<\/li>\n
- bulleted and numbered lists<\/li>\n
- clear headlines and subheads<\/li>\n
- more white space<\/li>\n
- \n<\/ul>\n
By doing so, you make the text easier to read for screens. You also make the blog a more user-friendly place!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The ALSC Blog is a special place on the internet – a place where children’s and youth services librarians share news, ideas, and of course, stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[186,209],"tags":[1069,1068],"class_list":["post-13951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogger-dan-rude","category-research","tag-blogging","tag-writing-for-the-alsc-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13951\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Why do posts with images receive 91% of views? One reason might be linking from other sites. When posts are promoted on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest, an image can grab readers \u2013 but only if an image is included.<\/p>\n
On Pinterest, it\u2019s impossible to post at all without an image. Including at least one image in your post makes it much easier for new or casual readers of the blog to find your post.<\/p>\n
Bonus Materials<\/h2>\n
Want to really take your blog post to the next level? Here are a few more organizational suggestions:<\/p>\n
Add a Featured Image for Social Sharing<\/h3>\n
More and more, blog posts are being shared via social media. What can you do about it?<\/p>\n
- \n
- Step 1<\/strong>: provide an image (see above)<\/li>\n
- Step 2<\/strong>: make that image a Featured Image<\/li>\n
- \n<\/ul>\n
A Featured Image will automatically format for social media posting. It makes you blog posts appear professional and eye-catching. It also appears “above the fold” in the ALSC homepage.<\/p>\n
You can designate a Featured Image here (image credit: ALSC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Utilize SEO<\/h3>\n
What is your post about? Can you sum up the theme in a phrase or two? It might not matter to the audience, but it matters to search engines. Use the Yoast SEO to designate a keyword or two and you improve the findability of your post.<\/p>\n
Adding keywords to your post will improve results in search engines (image credit: ALSC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Make It Readable<\/h3>\n
Studies show that people read differently online than in print<\/a>. There’s a term called “textual topography.” In essence, how the text is laid out matters. Even the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services<\/a> recommends the use of features such as:<\/p>\n
- \n
- shorter sentences and paragraphs<\/li>\n
- bulleted and numbered lists<\/li>\n
- clear headlines and subheads<\/li>\n
- more white space<\/li>\n
- \n<\/ul>\n
By doing so, you make the text easier to read for screens. You also make the blog a more user-friendly place!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The ALSC Blog is a special place on the internet – a place where children’s and youth services librarians share news, ideas, and of course, stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[186,209],"tags":[1069,1068],"class_list":["post-13951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogger-dan-rude","category-research","tag-blogging","tag-writing-for-the-alsc-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13951\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Step 2<\/strong>: make that image a Featured Image<\/li>\n