In my previous blog I offered up practical on advice on getting started with and writing blogs. This blog takes you to the point of publishing and everything beyond, well not quite everything.
Assessing blog "quality"
And of course blog "quality" is subjective … Before you publish your blog, consider the following:
- Read it through and check spelling — a badly written blog is a hard-to-read blog. It can also distract the reader from your message if they are mentally "red-penning" your blog.
- Ensure that you make a point — and that it's the point you intended to make. Unfortunately a blog that wastes the reader's time can prevent them returning to your blog roll.
- Try to make the blog easy to read — add graphics, break it up through the use of section titles, and consider bullet points when listing things. Personally I try to write blogs like I talk rather than how I would write a business report.
- Avoid the use of jargon — yes I'm personally bad at this but I do try to link to definitions. Sometimes the use of flowery phrases can be fun.
- Link to the people and resources that you mention — if you big-up someone or their work then link to them on Twitter or LinkedIn. Linking to your older blogs can also drive more traffic to your blogs.
Increasing blog readership
There are four main "blog entry points" for blog readers: while Browsing or searching in the Community itself, search engines, external website links, and social media. So to up your readership:
- Think hard about the blog's title — this is not only to attract the attention of the reader but also to improve your blog's search engine ranking (as will adding tags). Many of my blogs have died due to their titling rather than their content and conversely average blogs have done well due to a great title. Sometimes a clever blog title will prevent you getting reads.
- Exploit what works with blog titling — yes it's naughty I know but some titles attract more reads than others. Examples are "10 Top Tips For …" or titles that are somewhat provocative. But also remember that a misleading title, where the blog doesn't deliver on its promise, will also alienate readers as per point 12.
- Socialize the blog — depending on the vibrancy of the community you blog in, blog reads might be heavily dependent on the links to it (as well as search engine rankings). So push your blog out via your social channels (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.). A second posting to Twitter can help too as tweets have such a limited viewing window. Also note that the social-sharing capability has still to be added to this Community so for now your blog reads might be lower than the old Community.
- Blog regularly — establishing a blog cadence will encourage people to read your stuff. Hopefully they will be looking forward to your next blog. They might even set up an alert or RSS feed.
- Be generous in your promotion of other blogs — I'm a believer in blogging karma. So if you like what others have written then share it, hopefully it will help to build up a sharing blogging community.
Well that's it, my 20 blogging tips. What did I miss? I urge you to start creating that list of things you would like to blog about and take the leap of faith that is writing your first blog. It's very rewarding but you won't see it until that first blog is out there.
If you have any other tips or questions, or disagreements, please use the comment facility.Alternatively, please join this Community discussion.
Image source: Flickr: hgjohn's Photostream
