5 Tips to Blog Success

Good morning! It's a beautiful Sunday here with lots of golden sunshine which makes the 34 ° F. pleasantly cool.

I love what Edward McKendree Bounds said about Sunday:  "We need the spirit of Sunday carried over to Monday and continued until Saturday."

Why I Still Love My Blog

My 17th anniversary of beginning this blog is in a couple of months. I still enjoy writing my blog. Seldom do I feel it's a chore. In fact, I often start my day by blogging which helps me seamlessly switch to the book I'm writing. Writing begets writing.

I've learned a few things along the way, and I'm sharing a little blogging advice today.

5 Tips to Blog Success

1. Don't make assumptions about your blogging audience.

Don't assume that everyone who reads your blog is an expert in your subject matter. In reality, new readers find your blog because of they're searching for something in a browser that matches the title or meta data of your blog.

2. Blog readers look for content that addresses their interests and is written in a way that "speaks" to them.

Someone can read a dozen different posts, but he/she doesn't "get" it until they come across one that clicks. That's why so many books and blogs explore the same subject matter. What speaks to one may not click with another. 

3. Format content so it is visually accessible to online readers.

Blog readers read "vertically" which is easily illustrated by looking at text content on your cell phone.

See how it's a vertical column of text? Instead of being wide lines of text like you see on a written page, you have slender columns with no more than 5 or 6 words on a line.

The reader's eye easily skims down that vertical column, reading quickly. Format your blog post that way. Never have huge blocks of text. Break it up into short paragraphs.

Use sub-headings in bold to alert the reader about the salient information that follows. Use images that connect to what you write to create visual interest and break up the text.

4. Always proof what you write so it is "clean" for the reader.

Most of us are willing to overlook a few typos in a blog post because it's generally presumed that blogging is a more casual approach to writing.

If I find a blog post with so many misspelled words, wrong words, punctuation errors, and—worst of all—wrong information, I won't read beyond a paragraph or two. I'll probably never visit that blog again.

There are excellent books on grammar and writing easily available so there's no excuse for not educating oneself. Develop the skills necessary for good writing.

5. Never be dull and boring.

No matter what you write, make sure you entertain. No matter how compelling the information you wish to impart, no one will read it if you bore them.

Takeaway Truth

Blog consistently. Pick a schedule and stick to it. You lose blog readers when you have big gaps between blogs.

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