Writing A Great Blog – The Process
Writing a great blog can be fun. That doesn’t mean that it is easy. Writing takes effort. But if you are writing about your passion and you know your subject, then process becomes the key. Though this topic is not particullary exciting, it is very important!
Your Environment: Peter and I were talking about blogging recently. He has a great approach. Peter gets up early every Sunday morning. And while it is still quiet, he sits in his favorite spot, with his coffee and writes his blog. Though that is not my habit, I like it and intend to adopt it.
Your Objective: Every blog has a purpose. So state your purpose. In your posts, offer insights, information and actions. Make sure that they are clear, to the point and support your blog’s objective.
Your Plan:
Having a plan will help you stay on target and on point. In a perfect world, I would have a measurable goal defined for the year. Operating from a quarterly plan works best for me.
So I use the following steps as my process:
- State the purpose of my blog
- Develop a communication goal for the year
- Develop and state a theme for each quarter (this is where it starts to get easy)
- Then my topics (usually three) flow from the theme of the quarter
- And individual posts are written to illustrate the topics
Using this post as an example, the topic could be “Writing A Great Blog.” And my posts would be.
- “Writing in The Best Environment”
- “What’s Your Purpose?”
- “What’s Your Plan?”
- “What’s your Process?”
At the end of each post, I always preview the next. It’s worked in television for years. So why not use it here?
Your Process – There is a “fast and furious” vs. “deliberate” debate. I have used both methods. “Fast and furious” is the sit down and knock it out approach. “Deliberate” involves writing, waiting, editing, and then posting. I prefer the product that comes from the “deliberate” approach. However, time and circumstances rule the day. So here are some things to remember when you are writing:
- You have 7 seconds to grab the reader’s attention
- On screen, readers scan – so make your post easy to scan
- Use lists or bullet points
- Highlight headings
- Ask questions
- Use short sentences (getting to the point has a great impact)
There are three final things to remember…length, content and originality.
Length – If you are hoping to be found through a Google search, then the length of your post is important. There are directories that will not consider your post unless it exceeds 400 words.
Content – Search engines, like Google and Bing, are in business to provide the best results for a query. They are continuously refining their algorithmls to ensure that the content of a blog matches its title. If your content doesn’t support your title (stated purpose), your post will be discounted.
Originality – Copying material from other posts does not work! Those pesky Google algorithms only recognize and credit the original post. So if you copy and paste, you are just wasting your time. Linking to an article is a much better approach.
Next time we will delve into techniques. It’s a great topic, I’m looking forward to doing a little research and writing my next blog post.
By the way, I would love to hear from you. So if you have any questions, please send them in. If I don’t have the answer, I’ll find it for you. Writing great blogs is my passion! What’s yours?