What makes a blog post worth sharing? Is it the language used, or the cute puppy images shrewdly embedded? The steps to a successful blog post are no mystery. There are certain components a post should include to make it shareable. The more of these components your post has, the better the likelihood it will be well-received by your online community.

• Language and Style

And by this we mean the mood and tone you set with your post. Do you come across as an annoying know-it-all? Does your writing reveal any bias you might hold? Is your writing flowing with clear ideas? Do your phrases shows respect to your reader?

Pay attention to language use and style. Establish early on a style that suits your personality and niche and be consistent with it. People will judge you through your style, so it’s essential that your language communicates positive attributes and virtues, including respect and authority.

• Formatting

Online content needs to be skim and scan friendly. In other words, you need to always keep in mind that your readers are busy, and your job is to help make their lives easier.

Write short paragraphs, and create summaries or take-aways for readers in a hurry. Use bullet points and numbered lists. Not only will using these formatting practices make your blog posts more reader-friendly, but they’ll also boost their shareability, because people are more likely to read them!

• Smart Linking

You might be using links for SEO purposes, but that’s a different story. Links also help make your readers’ lives a bit easier.

If a blog post touches upon a previously analyzed post, don’t repeat yourself; create a link at the appropriate content and refer your reader to where you’ve fully explained the concept you’re mentioning briefly in the current post.

• Calls to Action

If a reader enjoys your article, they will share (or comment, or read more, or buy your product) without your explicit direction to do so.

However, a call to action won’t hurt. It’s a direct pledge to your reader to respond if they have found something you’ve given them enjoyable, insightful, or useful.

A call to action at the end of your post in the form of question is highly likely to elicit some comments and shares, and it will serve its purpose, which is to create a discourse around your ideas.

• Visual Stimuli

Online readers are often regarded as these easily distracted individuals who cannot stay on the page unless there are cute puppies or the latest high-profile celebrity to look at. The truth is not even close to this.

That being said, images can help bring a point across. Whether a literal or symbolic image, visuals  strengthen your post’s main argument and elicit the right emotions and actions in your readers.

• Flawless

If a reader stumbles upon typos, misspellings, and grammar mistakes in every sentence, they will soon be annoyed and give up reading altogether. No matter how rock-solid your expertise and authority is on what you do, if your writing is laden with typos and other errors you are driving readers away.

For starters, make it a priority to improve your typing skills. This will ensure you make fewer typing mistakes because you will have improved your typing accuracy, which will also save you editing time. Typing your blog post faster will let you blog more often, too!

• Killer Headline

A reader will often only read your headline. If a post is shared and shows up in a person’s Facebook timeline or their RSS feed, then they will only get to read the headline and perhaps the summary or the first two sentences of the text. That’s why headlines need to be extra carefully crafted so as to capture the reader’s attention through curiosity, awe, shock, humor or even disagreement.

Incorporating these components will ensure your blog post will be read and shared! Good luck!

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The dreaded first day at school is finally over, with no casualties. Now you’re already one week into the new school year. First, congratulations on the smooth transition from summertime to school time! Second, here are a few tips to make this school year the most constructive one yet!

As important it is to carefully plan for school, it’s equally important to organize your child’s after-school activities.

This will turn after-school time into a productive and interesting time for your child and boost their social, cognitive and psychological development.

Be reachable

Ensure that your young child has many ways to reach you, should they need to.

Have a neighbor be on call, in case your child needs something and you will not be available. Be sure to have an initial discussion with your child and the neighbor together, so that your child is confident in asking for help and will not hesitate to knock on their door or call them in an emergency.

Plan for sports activities

It’s important that your child doesn’t stay at home every day after school playing video games.

Encourage them to join a sports club or take up a new hobby.

Rather than dictating what sport they should follow, listen to what they say about their own needs and likes. This way, their chances of doing well at the sport and enjoying it will dramatically increase. Note that joining a friend at a sports activity works well in getting a child interested in a sport, especially if they’re reluctant to begin with.

Plan for self-development activities

Doing homework is not enough. While school is often difficult enough for a child, the adult workplace in their future is a cut-throat environment. If you do everything possible to ensure that your child is more than adequately prepared for that future, you will better their chances of excelling in life and in a career.

Include self-improvement activities in your daily home life to help your child overcome difficulties at school and acquire new skills and competencies. It’s especially important for younger students to initially focus on fun-to-use software that can help them improve their skills in things like vocabulary, spelling, and reading.

When a child is interested in a topic, they will start to be more involved in learning on a broad scale. Their eagerness to learn will inspire them to study even harder and will grant them a sense of achievement.

Plan for playtime

Even fun learning activities still require focus and concentration. Make sure you keep things fun, and don’t create an overwhelming after-school schedule for your child.

Remember that children need a break too, and time to play. Be sure that you have a good mix of study and play – and look for ways to combine the two.

Ensure these activities are not desk-bound. Instead of making play time a synonym for video games and TV watching, encourage your children to take play outdoors.

Playtime should be social and interactive whenever possible. It should cultivate a range of social skills and competencies necessary for your child’s smooth inclusion in various communities: family, school, and friends.

The benefits of after-school activities

After-school activities have long-term, substantial benefits for your child’s physical, cognitive, and social development.

It’s a mistake to assign after-school activities to a catch-all category of “something my child is doing before I get home from work.” You cannot afford to take after-school activities lightheartedly, because they can be incredibly useful. With carefully planned activities, you ensure your child is safe and productive while you’re at work and that their interest in learning and social activities remains high.

Leaving your child alone and unsupervised every afternoon will more likely make them less eager to engage with others socially — something that could compromise their social skills and even impede their academic performance.

After-school activities help children learn the importance of creativity and of being active and social. It cultivates a feel-good climate of collaboration, interaction, and learning that can contribute to your child’s development and future success.

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