The babies are finally down for a nap, you just poured yourself a piping hot cup of coffee, you settle into your chair, open up your content calendar and start typing away to create your next viral blog post.

But after a few words in, you stop. Then delete what you just wrote. Then let your mind wander in search of some inspiration for how to start and what you want to actually say in the post.

Then you check Facebook… or worse yet, Pinterest. And we all know what happens after that, don’t we?

I always teach people to make sure they’re blogging about things that can help their audience solve a problem or reach a goal. This is a surefire way to make sure your audience stays interested in what you have to say.

Related: Don’t Start a Blog Before Answering These 2 Questions

And there’s a simple formula you can follow to make sure you’re writing posts that your readers can’t get enough of and want to come back for again and again… viral blog posts.

This method for how to write popular blog posts comes from Ruth Soukup, New York Times Bestselling Author and owner of the popular blog, Living Well Spending Less.

In her free blogging video series, Blogging Made Simple, she shares the writing method she used to catapult her own blog to epic success.

You see, Ruth started her blog simply as a way to keep herself accountable to her new family budget. As she got deeper into this whole “blogging thing” she realized that she absolutely loved it and wanted to dedicate herself to making it grow.

But that was easier said than done. She started comparing herself to other bloggers that were farther along than she was and felt like she could never catch up.

She became obsessed with learning about how to grow her blog traffic and turn her blog into a success.

And that’s exactly what she did. Through this process, she developed a blog posting method that catapulted her blog to epic status.

She calls it the F.O.C.U.S. method, and it’s quite brilliant.

Watch This: Ruth dives deep into all of this and more in her free video series, “Blogging Made Simple”. It’s honestly the simplest and smartest way I’ve heard for creating a blog that people want to read and want to share.

F IS FOR FIRST IMPRESSION

In this age of busyness, we all know that we have about 3 seconds to grab someone’s attention with our post before they’re off looking for something else. But how do you do this?

The First Impression, or title, of your post is the first thing people see, and it’s got to be magnetic.

Your title must grab your readers’ attention and let them know right away what the benefit will be to them for reading.

As Ruth says in her free training: “Don’t ever underestimate the importance of your title. It will make or break your post.”

O IS FOR OPENING

If you’ve succeeded at winning your reader’s attention with your awesome title, then you better make sure your opening paragraph is just as powerful. In writing, this is often called “the hook”.

It should set the stage for your Central Idea (see next point) and draw the reader in for more.

Ruth suggests these tips for using in your Opening:

• An interesting illustration (this is what I used in my opening to this post)
• A bold statement of fact
• Ask a hypothetical question
• Share a startling statistic

C IS FOR CENTRAL IDEA

If you’ve gotten your reader this far, congrats! You’re well on your way to having learned how to write popular blog posts that get comments and shares.

But don’t pat yourself on the back just yet. You still need to craft the heart of your post: your Central Idea.

You need to have JUST ONE central idea, and it should be either instructive or influential in order to make an impact.

Remember, your reader is interested in the BENEFIT TO THEMSELVES, so make sure your Central Idea clearly conveys that. Watch this for specific examples on how to do this.

U IS FOR USEFUL LOGIC AND ILLUSTRATIONS

The “U” is what Ruth calls the “meat” of your post, and it’s what makes your post come alive and actually be interesting to read!

After all, no one wants just bland information that’s going to put them to sleep.

You need to include bullet points with interesting facts, statistics, images/graphics and personal illustrations that support your main Central Idea. Don’t expect your readers to “just get it”… paint a picture and your readers will understand your message on a deeper level!

S IS FOR STRONG CONCLUSION

Watch This: Ruth dives deep into all of this and more in her free video series, “Blogging Made Simple”. It’s honestly the simplest and smartest way I’ve heard for creating a blog that people want to read and want to share.

The last thing you want to do after taking your reader through an epic post is to leave them hanging out to dry!

Be sure to make your conclusion work for you and take the time to wrap the post up in a nice tidy bow. Reiterate your main points and remind them of the key benefits that were shared. This is also a great place to have a “call-to-action”, which basically just means giving your reader a “next step” to take once they’ve finished reading. Is it to share your article on social media? Sign up for your email list? Download a worksheet related to the post? Chat in the comments? Be sure to lead your readers on an intentional journey to start building a relationship.

When all is said and done, you want your blog to be a success. We all do. But the old Field of Dreams mantra “If you build it, they will come” just doesn’t cut it when it comes to blogging.

You need to give your audience a compelling reason to read your posts and come back for more again and again and the F.O.C.U.S. method for writing blog posts is the best way to do just that. Give a great First Impression, Open strong, share a clear Central Idea, include Useful examples, and finish Strong. It works like magic every time 🙂

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