Blog Writing Tips
My top five tips on good blog writing:
Tip #1: Be Yourself
If there's a place to be individual, it's in your own blog. Be opinionated if you want to be, but don't jump on a bandwagon in search of popularity. Give a very personal perspective on life, so that people get an insight into you and what you do. Try writing your blog to one person rather than a crowd. You'll find it becomes conversational rather than sounding like a speech.
Tip #2: Take Pity On Your Readers
Having gone on about being an individual though, there's a limit to how "unique" you really want to be. Use something resembling standard English in your blog (you'd be surprised what some people do), and write about something that's likely to be of some interest. What you found between your toes in a quiet moment in the office may have shocked you, but unless there's a fantastic link to what's on your mind that day, it's unlikely to attract the kind of readership you want.
Tip #3: Show, Don't Tell
Lecturing isn't an attractive trait for a blog. Imagine the guy at the party who is only interested in telling everyone what he thinks; you don't want your readers thinking the same way about you. The key is to observe and reflect: talk about something you've seen and reflect on the implications. It allows you to pass on your experience without telling everyone how to live their lives.
Tip #4: The Art of Now
Try and be topical, covering an event in the news or something that has happened to you very recently. This will give some freshness to what you are writing in your blog and will encourage readers to come back regularly. If you plan to recycle old articles through your blog, at least give them a current spin. You don't want your blog to read like the pile of dog-eared magazines in a dentist's waiting room.
Tip #5: Little and Often
Long blogs are tough to read: either they are trying to say too much or they are taking too long to say something straightforward. Online attention spans are quite short, so keep the reading time under a minute unless you are a master of the well-developed argument. If you have a lot to say, the advantage of the short post is that you can blog regularly. This is to be encouraged: regularly updated blogs get noticed. Think of your blog as a pet - regular feeding and exercise will keep it healthy and attract admirers.
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