Are you interested in learning Sticky Blogging techniques?
Sticky Blogging is a simple enough concept.
The goal is to get visitors to “stick” to your blog so they keep reading.
This improves your bounce rate since people stay longer on your blog.
This improves your social shares since people get to the end where you ask people to share.
This improves your traffic since new readers will come to your site and the previous readers will return.
This post exposes you to the 3 stages of the Sticky Blogging formula:
- Start your blog post by stating a problem your readers have. Show your readers you understand the problem by sounding relatable.
- Explain why this problem is so bad. Show them tips that will solve the problem.
- Recap by going over the tips you shared that now make this problem a thing of the past.
Let’s get started learning the Sticky Blogging technique.
The Importance of Sticky Blogging
UPDATED INFORMATION September 2021
Blogging | Bloggers | Readers | Industry Value |
31.7 million bloggers | By 2020, the number of bloggers increased by 10 million. | 409 million people view blogs monthly. | $412.88 billion |
This data confirms the amount of competition you have as a blogger. Follow these sticky blogging techniques to beat the competition.
Do you feel planning and creating really good content are among your biggest challenges as a blogger?
If yes, you are in good company.
According to a CoSchedule blog survey, bloggers’ report their biggest challenges are planning content and creating really good content.
Which concern can you relate to? Can you relate to both?
Sticky Blogging is the newest trend in blogging that addresses those concerns.
According to Jason Cushman (a.k.a. Opinionated Man),
Humans are busy, and it is on YOU the blogger to interest them in reading your site. When we “follow” your blog we don’t sign our souls over to be your subscriber for life. You must find a way to make me want to be a reader for the moment. Human interest depreciates faster than a new car off a sales lot… Stop moaning about how not enough of your subscriber base cares about your blog. Make them care.
The Sticky Blogging Formula is designed to make your readers care.
According to Living with Batman.com, you should totally ignore advice on how to write good content because “good content is so subjective”.
With this, I agree. However, there are factors that can make a post be more likely to have a favorable outcome than posts that don’t have those factors.
Bradley Will, of Learn to Blog.com, tell his readers:
“Focus on the right process… and I promise you the results will take care of themselves. … focus on the process… and see tremendous results.”
Sticky Blogging explains that process.
Sticky Blogging
The Premise:
Start your post with a problem that your entire post will center around. That problem and how to solve it become the central theme of your post.
According to CoSchedule, there are six emotions that are more likely to make a blog post go viral. Two of them are fear and anger. You want to stir those emotions in your reader.
According to Sticky Blogging‘s Kelly Holmes, “An emotional connection is what motivates people to share content online. It’s what motivates them to subscribe to mailing lists or follow you on social media.”
Put the problem that will drive your reader to experience the emotion of fear or anger in your introduction.
[bctt tweet=”Remember, the goal is to make your readers care, so they keep reading your post.”]Tell them they have a problem. The problem will move them toward feeling anger or fear. They will want to know the solution, so they don’t feel anger or fear anymore, and they will keep reading.
Example: Look at the first sentence of this post and the rest of the introduction. I discuss “challenges” and “concerns”, in other words, problems.
The Value:
This technique is called “Sticky Blogging” since the goal is to make your readers stick to your blog.
This technique not only results in getting more permanent readers, but has a whole host of additional benefits.
For example, your readers will be so engaged by curiosity trying to figure out what your solution to the problem stated in your introduction is, your bounce rate will decrease, and your Alexa score will rise, which in turn will improve your Search Engine Optimization rating.
My introduction stated that according to CoSchedule’s survey, bloggers complained of planning and creating content challenges.
The truth is of the eight concerns they stated, their concerns over difficulty of planning and creating content were in the top three of all blogging concerns. Planning content was the second biggest concern of all bloggers. 20% of all bloggers surveyed reported this as a problem.* Creating content was a concern expressed by 16% and came in third.
Sticky Blogging is designed to help you and these other bloggers.
Sticky SEO
Sticky Blogging works in all aspects of blogging including SEO.
The premise: You attract people to your blog by describing a problem. You keep them returning to your site.
Why wouldn’t this work for Google and other search engines?
Sticky SEO does work for Google, Bing, and other search engines.
Use search engine marketing techniques to get visibility on Google. When people come to your site, they realize you can solve their problems, and they return. Simple!
You can use MozBar, a free SEO tool, for keyword research and competitive analysis to boost your chances of being found on Google.
Here you can find more information about MozBar: MozBar for Chrome tutorial.
Sticky Blogging Founder
The Sticky Blogging Formula was developed by Kelly Holmes.
Her husband left his job to care for their four children while Kelly helps online entrepreneurs hone their sticky blogging techniques.
Kelly’s background in writing and editing gives her the insights needed to help bloggers and content marketers keep people glued to their websites and returning for more.
Case Study
Kelly admits this is not the only way to stand out in the Internet jungle, but claims Sticky Blogging is an effective, proven approach that will turn your visitors into loyal fans.
Let’s look for proof as we examine a case study–me!
My post How to Engage Blog Readers Who Are in a Rush followed the Sticky Blogging technique.
Introduction:
The red boxes indicate I started the post by identifying a problem my readers have.
Notice my first sentence: You have a problem. Okay, the queen of subtlety I am not, but you get the point. I started by telling my reader they have a problem.
Body:
Notice, I kept discussing the problem: their reader is rushed with 450 million other choices, lots of competition for their fleeting attention.
Does this strategy work?
Reaction:
The reaction to my post is overwhelming.
- An online Twitter publication The Miguel Salcido Daily published it.
- Consider this comment from a reader:
Janice, as everyone has already said, this one is gold! Won’t be surprised if this does not go viral!
- Social Shares on the post are up, especially on Twitter. Users are inventing hashtags to retweet my article that I did not think of. For example, one used the #Reader hashtag.
- My Twitter traffic is up since the post was released.
- DebbeDeyWrites linked to the post and promoted it on her own blog. Since I am self-hosting, this is the equivalent of a reblog.
- It is my best performing post of the week, by far, even though I’ve published twice since then.
- The page views on the post are still rapidly climbing although it was published a week ago.
- Based on the strength of the post, I was invited to join a blogging group.
- Did I receive new blog followers this week? Yes. Is it due to my centering my post around a problem? I don’t know. What I do know is that I like the results.
Update
October 2020
When you sign up for Kelly Holme’s Sticky Blogging course, she sends you emails of helpful blogging tips.
For instance, she recently sent out a newsletter about the importance of changing your blogging practices if they’re not working for you even if you are used to doing them.
Prior to that, Kelly sent out a newsletter explaining she understands bloggers’ hesitations.
Conclusion: Sticky Blogging Formula
In conclusion, it is important to center your post around a problem. I read recently, “Teachers are not in it for the income, they are in it for the outcome.”
As a blogger, you are a teacher. Teach your readers how to solve a problem in your posts, and you will see an increase in page views and followers.
If you are not getting the results you want to see in your blog traffic, try tweaking your posts. You will see introducing a problem and centering your post around how to solve it produces immediate results. The best part is Sticky Blogging can apply to any blogging niche.
Note: Many bloggers don’t know their niche. Bloggers with blogs about “musings” and “ramblings” might have a tough time applying this strategy.
Footnote*
Planning content, complained about by 20% of all bloggers, was a close second to the biggest blogging concern expressed in the survey. Concerns over lack of time came in first at 22%.
Readers, please share, so other bloggers can discover the importance of centering your posts around a problem.
Do you think you might restructure your posts so they center around problems? Are you already doing this and getting satisfactory traffic? What is your opinion of this formulaic approach to blogging? I look forward to your views.
Related Posts:
How To Engage Your Blog Readers
How to Immediately Make Your Blog Posts Go Viral
Sources
This post was based on the ideas of Kelly Holmes.
