Here’s what happens, nine out of ten times, when a blog post is published: there is a surge of traffic soon after the link to the post is shared on various platforms. And then, slowly but surely, the number of visits goes down and – in a matter of days – the post decays, the visits trickle to a stop. Not long after, bloggers turn to the next topic, and the cycle continues.
Typically, only one in every ten blogs avoids this decaying cycle. And that one blog post which continues to bring in traffic, transcending the limitations of time, is known as a compounding blog post.
What happens when a compounding blog post is published?
A compounding blog post may not necessarily be a blockbuster as soon as it is published. However, it steadily builds up incoming traffic over time and, eventually, it surpasses the overall traffic generated by a decaying blog post. Despite being only 10% of blog content, compounding blog posts account for nearly 38% of the total blog traffic to any given site. That’s exactly why you need more of them!
The secret to blogging success, therefore, is to write and publish more compounding posts! While you cannot always predict if a blog post you have written will bring in compounding results, there are a few ways to generate content that has the potential to be compounding in nature.
Let’s take a look at some of them:Topic Appeal
- Choose a topic where you can address a broad audience, though within your industry of target industry, of course. Remember that narrowly focused posts and niche topics appeal to a smaller audience and, therefore, will have relatively low search volumes and generate less traffic. While it is important to have a few of these posts, they are less likely to become compounding posts.
- Opt for an instructional post with the intent to help readers – break down processes, diagnose an issue, or even offer product reviews! Help your audience make decisions. You can also pick a topic that will remain “evergreen” in your industry, such as explaining the meaning of a particular industry-specific term. These are much more likely to stay relevant through time when compared to posts based on news/current events that may create a rapid surge, but also decay rapidly.
Title Choice
- Start with an online search of the topic you have chosen. Find out what people are searching for the most – be it on a search engine like Google or a community-based platform like Quora. Then, use their questions as starting points from which to create your title. The title should be written in such a way that it answers one or more of these questions. Aim to answer the most common questions to expect the largest number of visits.
- Choose your words wisely. Watch out for “related searches” and suggestions thrown up by the search engine while doing your online search. Consider this a pool of precious keywords from which to selectively pick and choose for your title. Use words that people are likely to use while searching for answers – such as “what is” “how to”, “the best” and “vs”. Wherever possible, use second-person pronouns like “you”, “your” and so on to engage your audience on a more personal level.
Blog Components
- Remember to deliver what you promised in the title of the post. Give your audience the answer to the question they came looking for. Keep the article of average length – not so long that they lose interest midway, but not so short that they find themselves unsatiated at the end of the post.
- Add hyperlinks to related topics within the post or create and provide links to follow-up posts towards the end. This way, you can explain a complex topic, without making your post too long. If you still think you have a lot to tell in one article, consider writing pillar content.
- Illustrate your points. Use relevant examples, research-based statistics, interesting images, a quote from an industry expert and so on. If you are speaking of products, add ratings, give a breakdown of expected price range and other helpful information.
- Keep the structure simple with subheadings, bold headlines, bullet points – similar to what we’ve done in this article. In this way, even if people don’t have time to read the whole thing, they may still find your article useful.
Now try it yourself!
Once you’ve written a blog post with these points in mind, keep tracking the rate of incoming traffic. If you see that it does perform well, gradually and over a few weeks or months, keep it fresh by updating it from time to time. That way, it will continue to stay relevant and keep delivering the best results!
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