More and more page owners are seeing that their blog post links from their Facebook page are just not getting the reach that they used to. Why is this?
Well there's a few reasons, but perhaps the biggest one is that Facebook does not want it's users to click away from Facebook to go onto another site, and that's understandable right.
So how on earth do you get your Facebook page readers to click over to your blog if Facebook is not giving you the reach you need to let readers see your blog post links.
Three Different Perspectives
When you are posting anything on Facebook you've got to think about 3 different perspectives:
The Facebook perspective
The reader's perspective
Your own perspective
The Facebook Perspective
Think about what Facebook wants from it's users: they want their users to stay on Facebook, they want them to share posts to their friends and their pages, they want to keep them on their platform as long as possible.
That's why they are trying to dominate video, that's why they are bringing out new Instant Articles so you can publish articles directly to your Facebook timeline, that's why they have brought out Facebook Mentions so you can stream live directly onto your Facebook page.
The Readers Perspective
you're a user of Facebook, what type of stories do you like to read on your timeline, do you like videos, do you like image quotes, do you like questions, polls, quizzes. just think about how you use Facebook and how you like to interact on it.
When you're posting anything to your own page you've always got to have the reader in mind, it's the reader who will share your posts, comment on your posts, click on your videos, interact with you in some way.
So from the readers perspective you've got to have content that stands out, say something that not really been said before ultimately you're trying to: Educate, Enlighten or Entertain the readers of your page and do it in a way that nobody else does.
Your Own Perspective
Okay so what do you want from your page: do you want more likes, do you want a higher engagement, do you want sales, do you want readers to click on over to your blog posts, do you want to gain more email subscribers. Think about what you really want from your page and what you goal is for each of your posts.
When you think about every single post you put up ask yourself: 'What's do I want this post to achieve for myself'
Now that may sound a little silly, given that you want everything, but each post is going to achieve a different goal.
Your image quotes for example are there to enlighten and entertain and you ultimately you want them to be shared and get comments.
Your videos are there to possibly educate and enlighten, or if you post funny videos they are there to entertain, but you also want them to be shared, liked and commented on.
Your offers for free ebooks are there to get you subscribers and ultimately to lead to sales of your products and services.
Your blog post links are there to get clicks over to your site and maybe make money from ads on your site, so you want them to be shared, and liked as much as possible to get even more clicks.
What does Facebook Want From Your Blog Post Links?
So, when you think about it from Facebook's perspective you can begin to think about how best to serve Facebook's needs. What they want is for your blog post to be great content so that your readers will share it, the more people who share it the more Facebook traffic gets internally as it brings more people back onto Facebook.
They also want Facebook comments on your blog post, again because that shows up on friends chat screen in Facebook
And of course Facebook wants more likes, again it shows up in the chat screen of friends.
But isn't that taking everyone off Facebook? Yes it is but it will also help Facebook get more users following your page if it's constantly good quality. So the better your blog posts are the better it is for Facebook.
What Do Your readers Want?
When you think about your blog posts from a readers perspective you first have to attract their attention in their newsfeed. Thus your blog post has to have an enticing headline and a great image in order to catch their attention. Look at this one from Spirit Science:
Then of course they want great content that is not the same old stuff they've read before that has just been rehashed. You can add your own voice to blog articles by making it funny, enlightening or entertaining. I'll talk more later about blog posts themselves.
So for every single post you put up on your Facebook page think about all three perspectives and ask yourself: Will this benefit Facebook, Will it benefit the reader in some way and what am I trying to gain from this post.
Making Your Blog Reader Friendly
Is your blog/website reader friendly?
To make a blog reader friendly you have to know what type of device your readers are viewing your content on, is it mobile, desktop, tablet. Look at these stats from Facebook:
Out of 1.14 billion monthly users, 500 Million people per month access Facebook ONLY from their mobile.
These stats from my own site at CYT show the number of users from mobile and tablet are much higher:
That is a huge number so you have to make sure that your blog/website is mobile friendly.
Now most themes that you get for your blog on WordPress will be responsive, meaning they resize according to the device they're used on, but you have to check and make sure using a site like: http://quirktools.com/screenfly/
if your blog is not mobile friendly the chances are that more than 60% of the readers who click over to your blog post will not read your amazing words.
From the above images the first mobile link means you have just lost a potential reader/customer, the second one is much better and chances are the reader will stay on your site to read more.
So make sure your site is mobile friendly as you will not only get punished from Facebook but Google is cracking down on unfriendly mobile sites as well by penalising them in the search engines.
To get a great mobile responsive theme for your blog you can head over to the brilliant site that is ThemeForest.net (Aff Link) I have purchased all my blog themes from here.
The Speed of Your Blog/Website
You also have to consider the speed of your website and if it will load quick enough on a smartphone or tablet and even the desktop. The quicker it is to load the better it is for the user and the less likely they will click away from your site whilst on a mobile device.
You can check the speed of your site on mobile and desktop by heading over to Google Page speed test tool
The Anatomy of a Great Blog Post
Okay now we come onto the blog post itself.
There are really only three things to think about when it comes to your blog posts:
Writing great content
Your blog post structure
Getting the attention of potential readers
The structure of your blog post is simple enough:
Headline
Image
First paragraph
Subheadlines
Call to action
If you think about it how do you read a blog post when you click over from Facebook?
Normally you're first attracted to the image, then the headline and maybe the description which determines if you click over from your timeline, but once you're there what most people do is scroll through the article, look at sub headlines and look at comments if there are any and also look at social proof e.g. how many shares the article has had
So you see how important it is to have the structure of your blog post right before publishing.
Let's go through each in turn:
Headline
What article heading would entice you to click over from these two:
Getting More Traffic
The Kick Arse Guide to Getting More Traffic to your Blog From Facebook
Hopefully you said the second one, but why?
Well, it's much more specific and will likely appeal to readers who are interested in this topic, and it's a little more sexier as in it's not conventional. The first one is just too vague to attract anybody.
So when you're writing blog article headlines here is a simple guide:
Write a rough headline to start with
The rough headline is just a title that will guide you to keep on topic and it has to be specific e.g. the rough title for this article was
How to Get More Traffic to Your Blog from Facebook
That's an okay title, it's specific, it targets a certain audience and it's direct.
Finish off your headline when the article is complete
When you have a rough headline then you go away and write your article. When you have finished your article you come back and make the title sexier, or bolder or more fun. Use power words, strong language if that's your style, alliteration, something that will make it stand out more whilst at the same time telling your readers what the blog post is about.
Image
The image you attach to your blog post will be the first thing that readers see in their timeline on Facebook so it has to catch readers attention if they are even going to get to the headline.
Look at these two images for example
The top image stands out much more than the second one and you'd more likely stop to check out the first one rather than the second one. The contrast image is always good to use as it makes the image stand out a lot more.
Here's a few other good examples that I picked up whilst scrolling through my own timeline, these are the ones that stood out the most out of about 50 posts on my timeline:
So in terms of getting readers from Facebook to your blog post, images are by far the most important part of your blog post link because if you don't get the click you won't get your blog post read.
A good tip is to always imagine that your readers are scrolling quickly through their timeline on Facebook, and then try and choose an image that will stand out.
Sub Headlines
When a reader has been intrigued enough by your image and your headline and they click from Facebook to your blog post link then they will more than likely read a little of your first paragraph and then start skimming through your post. So it's important to break long blocks of text to make it easier to read.
When you're reading a blog post, especially on a mobile, it's extremely important to use sub headlines preferably ones that have been bolded and are in header format.
Look at these two examples:
On a mobile the first blog post might turn people off as it's all text, so break your posts up with sub headlines and more images if it's a really long post.
First Paragraph
The first paragraph is going to set the scent for the rest of the article and should be written after you've completed your blog post. The purpose of the first paragraph is to keep your readers reading long enough so they're interested enough to go to the next part of your article.
And that can really be said for the whole of your blog post, make it intriguing, interesting, funny, or whatever your style is to keep the readers reading.
Call to Action
A call to action is always good to have at the end of your article. all this is is asking your readers for their thoughts saying something like:
I would love to hear your thoughts on this, leave a comment below and let me know what you think
Or
If you loved this article sign up here to get more great articles every week from me
or
Share this article if you think your friends will like it
Having a call to action to help the reader take action is always good, especially for Facebook, each new comment in your comments field (If you're using the Facebook comments plugin) is another piece of engagement for you. Each share is another piece of engagement as well, and it all adds up.
Types of Blog Posts You Should Be Writing
Not all blog posts you write are going to be the same and you should definitely mix them up. The main types of posts you can write are
List Posts
These are by far the most popular posts as they are easily readable, easily digested and quick to read. An example would be:
10 Things to Drop from your Life Right Now
Video Posts
If you have video cont