Anyone can make a blog, but not everyone should! Okay, I guess it is kind of interesting to read a blog about someone knitting a sweater (including progress photos) intermingled with commentary. Even celebrities and those who already have a large readership following in the 'real' world of publishing (check out Dave Barry's blog ) are all over the Web.
Maybe your question isn't if you should get started with a blog but instead how do you create a blog? For information on how to start a blog or how to blog you can check out our menu choices or follow the links above. This article will focus more on the creative side of a blog instead of the technical aspects.
Some would argue that writing talent is basically innate but the actual skills for crafting compelling blog postings and significant comments can usually be learned. Just follow these condensed basic guidelines and tips from How to Write Killer Blog Posts and More Compelling Comments by B.L. Ochman: (follow the link to read the full, excellent article)
- Keep your copy lively, factual, tight, clear and short and search engine optimized.
- Short, declarative sentences are best. Web readers demand them.
- Link like crazy. One thing that distinguishes blog posts from dead-tree journalism is that bloggers link prodigiously.
- Write less. Omit all unnecessary words.
- Aim at keeping your posts at about 250 words.
- Include complete thoughts in headlines. Most people use a news feeders like Feed Demon to scan blog headlines.
- Keep sentences and paragraphs short.
- Don't take yourself too seriously. Blogging isn't brain surgery. Don't get pompous or dictatorial.
- Never lose your sense of humor.
- Write like it counts.
- White space is your friend. It makes reading from the screen easier.
- Use the simplest possible word and sentence structure.
- Read your post out loud and make sure you don't get stuck on complex construction.
- Forget what you learned about business writing in school if you graduated before 1990.
- Use bulleted points whenever you can.
- Use subheads every few paragraphs, even in a 300 word post.
- Use bold text and italics for emphasis on words and phrases.
- Make sure your blog posts are easy to scan.