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So.

You think you’ve got yourself a good blog post?

You chose your writing style.

You knocked out the first draft.

You allowed it to sit for an hour. !

Or a day.

Now it’s time to edit that bad dog — ruthlessly.

So that it has a fighting chance in the trenches.

You’ll want to pay attention to details like avoiding goofy, but common, grammar mistakes.

You’ll want to choose your words carefully so you say what you mean.

This will allow you to shed excess copy so that you have a lean, muscular article.

But you’re not done.

You also must ensure that your blog post has all of the essential ingredients it needs.

Ingredients like these.

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Your headline is the first, and perhaps only, impression you make on a prospective reader.

So, writing great headlines is a critical skill.

As David Ogilvy said:

!

“The headlines that work best are those that promise a benefit.”

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A great headline mixed with a lame opening is like inviting someone to your house …

… only to slam the door in their face as they approach.

You must capture the reader’s imagination …

And pull them deeper into your content.

That’s why copywriting legend Eugene Schwartz would sometimes spend entire weeks on just the first 50 words of a sales letter.

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Certain words hold more sway over our decision making process than others.

You must understand why these words are persuasive …

And you must use them in the contexts that make sense for your audience and their businesses.

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Everything you write begins and ends with a sentence.

If you want to be an average writer …

Then write average sentences.

But if you want to be a great writer …

Then you need to write great sentences.

And that doesn’t mean your sentences have to say a lot.

They just have to say the right things.

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Bullet points keep people reading your

• articles • pages • sales copy.

But your bullets can’t be lame or long-winded.

You need bullet points that keep your copy readable…

Which means writing bullets that combine brevity and promise.

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Let’s face it. Large blocks of text are unfriendly to a reader’s attention. They are like a wall that forbids the reader to enter the garden. They suggest that the treasures behind that wall is only to be offered to those who are willing to climb the wall. Even though that wall is daunting.

They can quickly chase your readers away.

But you can keep readers on your page with good subheads.

Just think of subheads as mini-headlines.

A mini-headline with a benefit to sell the reader on continuing to read.

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A good novel, movie, or TV series begins with a character in conflict.

Then amplifies that conflict …

… where life becomes miserable …

… but ends in a satisfying resolution.

The same is true for your marketing story.

You need a hero.

A goal.

An obstacle.

A mentor.

And a moral.

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Internal cliffhangers stitch your story, article, or podcast together using emotions.

These are statements and devices …

… inside a piece of content …

… that entice the reader to keep reading.

Think of them as mini-moments of seduction.

The scraps of food you dribble out …

… to lure the bunny rabbit into your house.

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We love to hear stories.

Stories about trials.

Stories about transformation.

Stories about triumph.

But why waste the high resolution the web offers…

With merely black lines on a white background?

When you are trying to get the biggest bang out of a blog post …

It’s smart to let imagery to do some of the heavy lifting.

This includes video.

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point A .……………….. to point B.

The goal of effective writing is to take the reader on an enjoyable, informative ride from

So the key to an effective ending?

Understand exactly where you are trying to take the reader …

Before you even write a single word.

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You don’t have to be a veteran copywriter to write copy that sells.

Often the sheer passion of what you are trying to say breathes off the page.

In fact, you can record a conversation about the product …

… transcribe that conversation ...

And use it as a rough draft.

In other words, write like you speak.

Want more information on any of the 11 essential blog post ingredients?

Visit !

http://www.copyblogger.com/ingredients/

You’ll find an infographic you can embed, print, or pin.

Or you can download a one-page PDF of these ingredients.

And a list of articles that expand on each article.

Discover all that here:

!http://www.copyblogger.com/ingredients/