17 Ways to Power-Up Your Writing When Your Topic is Boring

The warning signs are there.

You write and rewrite. You edit and polish.

And finally, after revising your 39th draft, you arrive at that beautiful moment — the perfect blog post.

You promote your masterpiece on Facebook and Twitter, and you’re sure nobody could resist it. And, well, the clicks come rolling.

But then…

Crickets.

No comments. No signups. No shares. No scrolls. Why? What went wrong?

Deep down you know the truth. Your writing is boring.

Online readers are notoriously impatient and easily bored. That’s why it’s worth spending time making your writing attractive.

How do you stop your writing from being dull?

Here are some ways to get your audience interested in your topic.

1. It All Circles Back to the Reader

The relevance of the subject to readers is more important than your impression of boring or fascinating.

Your readers have no interest in your opinion. All they care about is, “Is this going to solve my problem?” The more relevant your content is to them, the more likely they will stick around.

So, if you choose a keyword and end up ranking for it, make sure the content of the page you serve is relevant to that query. What is the prospect’s interest? What are they trying to solve?

Quora, Yahoo Answers, and Reddit are excellent platforms for finding public discussions on a wide variety of topics. These forums are full of your target audience’s discussions of their dreams, desires, fears, and frustrations.

2. Win Your Reader’s Hearts with the P.A.S. Formula

Master this copywriting formula, and even if the subject you are writing about is dull, you will win your reader’s hearts.

Problem-Agitate-Solution (PAS) is an old-school formula that copywriters have used for years. You can adapt PAS to write persuasive openings that grab your reader’s attention from the first line. The formula works like this:

• Problem — identify a problem the reader is facing.
• Agitate — amplify the problem with emotional language.
• Solution — provide a compelling answer to the problem.

For example:

[Problem] When a post you’ve worked on doesn’t get any comments, it hurts.

[Agitate] And when nobody shares your Facebook or Twitter content, that cuts deep. Because your ideas don’t go anywhere, right?

[Solution] Don’t despair if this describes you. There is a solution.

3. Offer Your Audience a Seamless Experience

Regardless of how brilliant your content is, readers shouldn’t have to guess how to get around your blog post.

Your readers will leave if you require them to do any work to get what they want. Hence your site must have smooth navigation.

A table of contents is essential, mainly if you write about tedious topics, such as real estate law. A table of contents enables users to find the main thing they want from your page quickly. By clicking a link in your table of contents, they jump directly to that section.

Keep your website navigation simple so that readers can find what they want promptly.

4. Your Opinion Matters

You will bore your readers if you copy what everyone else is writing about.

A good article blends the writer’s opinion, which adds to your blog post’s depth and originality. So, think independently and don’t be afraid to give your viewpoint.

A controversial opinionated post on a boring topic can bring a lot of attention. But you must put some effort into it. Google search your subject, and you might find out something you never knew before.

For example, if you were drafting an article on tourism in California, did you know that It’s against the law to feed pigeons on the streets or sidewalks of San Francisco?

Any topic can be fascinating. You just have to work on it.

5. Sprinkle Your Writing with Grease Slide Phrases

Do you want to keep your readers glued to your page?

Then, consider using grease-slide copy for your writing. Copywriters use it in sales letters and top bloggers in their posts.

Here are some examples from writeonline.io, a blog by UK-based copywriter Kevin Carlton.

Grease-slide words and phrases provide seamless transitions between paragraphs and sentences.

Your readers are so compelled to read your article that they cannot stop reading until they read all of it as if sliding down a slippery slide.

6. Don’t Be too Predictable

Your readers will foretell your advice before you even offer it.

They’ll scan your article, and they’ll get bored and stop reading if they keep reading content they’ve heard a million times before.

The solution?

Surprise them.

A surprising statement can make people realize that their assumptions were wrong. It promotes reading.

Thus, rephrase familiar ideas, so they sound new and exciting. And use shocking statistics to grab attention whenever possible.

Here’s an example of a surprising statistic from bestlifeonline.com:

7. Make Reading Your Posts a Breeze

Here’s what happens when someone lands on your blog post.

They determine if it’s laborious to read. And will click away and never return to a strenuous post.

That’s because, on the web, most of us skim information, jumping from point to point. Thus, your posts must look so easy to read that even the laziest person would read them.

This means:

• Using short sentences and paragraphs.
• Using single-sentence paragraphs, especially at the beginning of your posts
• Using bullets
• Using images to break the text

8. Captivate Your Audience with Drama

Are you lecturing to your audience?

Then you’ll bore them to death because you’re overlooking one of the main reasons they came to you.

As humans, we live and relive events through stories. That’s why we enjoy watching movies and follow social media updates.

Storytelling creates the emotional glue that connects your audience to your ideas.

A story can be a sentence long or entwine through an entire blog post as a theme.

Is your topic dry and tedious? Then use story to captivate your audience.

9. Jolt Your Sentences to Life

Use metaphors and powerful words if you want to hook your audience to your blog post.

They are the most powerful tools you have as a writer. Metaphors and powerful words create vivid pictures and descriptions that immediately grab your reader because they resonate with something your audience already knows.

And use the passive voice as a last resort. The active voice more often forces your point than a passive voice.

10. Stitch Your Sentences

Your written ideas must be clear and understandable to help your readers navigate complex topics. Use the following (with examples) to stitch your sentences.

Transitional words to help the reader advance from one idea to the next.

Perhaps you’ve read a couple of books to improve your writing skills. And you’ve subscribed to the most popular blogs on writing.

The word “And” is a transitional word that links the two ideas.

Open loops to withhold enough information and keep readers engaged.

Andrea desired only one thing. She wanted to be an actress.

Questions to drive the reader to continue searching for answers.

Why should you learn to swim? Because doing so can save your life.

Lists to keep readers moving along from item to item:

Here are four ways to lose weight. First, watch what you eat.

11. Anchor Your Points

Now, this is important.

Hook your points to your reader’s memories like an anchor moor a vessel to the sea bottom. Otherwise, your readers will forget them.

Here’s how you do it.

Support your main points with

• Examples
• Anecdotes
• Metaphors
• Quotes
• Statistics

12. Entice Your Audience to Love Yo

You must embrace being vulnerable if you want readers to love your writing.

Let me explain.

If you’ve ever observed, every superhero has a flaw. Spiderman has difficulties balancing his heroic and private life. And kryptonite makes Superman weak. Without their vulnerabilities, they become too inhuman to understand. Our flaws are what make us human and likable.

So, what are your flaws? Are you bold enough to share them?

13. Amuse Your Audience

You guessed It.

Being a successful blogger isn’t about preaching to your audience. It’s about getting the goodwill of your audience. And humor is one way to entice your readers to love you.

But there’s a catch.

Resorting to telling jokes you read in a joke book or on the internet won’t impress anyone. Plus, there’s the danger the audience might have heard them before.

So, how do you infuse humor in your blog posts without telling detracting jokes?

• Create an expectation, then break it because we laugh when surprised.

Here is an example from Sir Ken Robinson on Genius.com.

“If my wife is cooking a meal at home, which is not often…thankfully.”

• Make yourself the butt of the jokes; you’ll never run out of humorous possibilities. The following is an example from Dan Pink on Ted.com.

“I never practiced law a day in my life; I pretty much wasn’t allowed to.”

• Exaggerate because people laugh at obvious exaggeration.

For example:

It was so hot…. I saw a chicken lay a fried egg.

14. Go Multimedia

Save the typing and use visuals if you have to describe a long, complicated process.

Visuals make it easier to grasp boring topics.

Are you drafting an extensive article? Then use an infographic to break it down.

And never underestimate a video’s power to support your writing. Most people would rather watch someone explain how to set up a computer desk than read a detailed description. Article + video = more convincing content.

Technical and abstract concepts are hard to understand for many people. Instead of telling them, show them.

15. Dig deeper

Knowing more about a subject makes it more interesting.

Thus, if you study topics you wouldn’t usually care for, they become more attractive, motivating you to learn more and helping you to write convincingly about them.

Yes, tax preparation isn’t exciting. But the first step towards becoming a reliable voice on the topic is to understand it fully.

So, read widely about your subject. To see what others are saying about your topic, Google it. Check out trade publications. You will find exciting nuggets that may be intriguing to your audience.

16. Relate Your Topic to Today’s News

If you want to spice up a boring topic, tie it in with current events.

For example, until an outbreak of a pandemic, like the coronavirus, experts on infectious diseases such as Dr. Fauci do not get much press.

That’s because a dull topic like pandemics doesn’t worry most Americans until there is a lot of news coverage.

It occurs all the time. The complexities of government, for example, are only fascinating when there is heavy coverage of elections on television.

Hence, to make your content appealing, scan the papers for a compelling story and connect it to your content.

17. Prune the Jargon

And finally, correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. Because an error-ridden blog post erodes your reader‘s confidence in you. Look out for clarity and flow too.

Thus:

• Let your post rest at least 24 hours before reviewing and editing.
• Cut unnecessary words and phrases that drain power from your writing.
• Replace weak verbs with power words and weak adjectives with colorful ones.
• Use sensory words.
• Expose clumsy sentences by reading your blog post aloud.

You Have Everything at Your Fingertips

Pat yourself on the back.

You’ve learned why the subject’s relevance to your readers is far more critical than your perception of what’s tedious or exciting.

You know how to captivate your audience until the end of your posts.

And you know your site navigation must offer a seamless experience to the user.

In sum, you now have all the tactics you need to start writing exciting blog posts.

So, next time you draft an article that you think will bore your audience, try out one or more of these tactics.

Your readers will be thrilled instead of discouraged.

And they’ll anxiously await your latest blog posts.

Now, go out and do it.