The rest of our blog notes. Be sure to read part one for the whole scoop.
Making your blog an effective one
Blogs (weblogs) have become an increasingly common part of communication since bursting onto the scene in the late 1990s. Today hundreds of millions of blogs can be found on the internet – some published by private organizations, some by major corporations, and some by guys living in the basement. Anyone and everyone can have a blog and say essentially anything they’d like – but whether or not people read it is the important thing.
Here are a few general guidelines that will help increase the quality – and hopefully the readership – of your blog.
Have an angle
You can legitimately write a blog about whatever you’d like. The local news, the Philadelphia Phillies, your favorite shoes – everything goes. But what you need to make sure you do is pick your angle and stick with it.
Helter-skelter blogs that have no real direction will have no readers. You need to establish some kind of consistency within your blog so you can attract a consistent readership. If you publish a political post on Friday and one on bird-watching on Monday, your readers aren’t going to consider you worth their time. If they’re reading blogs, they’re only going to read the ones that appeal to their interests 24/7. So find the folks you want to appeal to, and work at them exclusively. Variety counts for nothing when you’re battling for readership.
Be an authority
Many people use blogs to express their varied opinions over the Internet. We all have opinions, and we like to have them heard, so it’s not a bad idea up front.
The problem is that, outside of maybe your close friends and family, people probably don’t care about your outright opinion unless you’ve already got enough fame to garner that kind of respect. Are you a respected political journalist that’s covered countless stories on Capitol Hill? Then don’t expect the masses to read what you think about Barack Obama. Have you been working the Eagles’ football beat for a few seasons? If not, don’t be disappointed when no one wants to read your piece on Brian Westbrook.
If someone’s going to take the time to read your blog, they want to know that what they’re reading is being written by someone who knows their stuff. If you can’t provide some sort of unique information or take, readers will find one of the other 10 million blogs on the subject.
So, you’ve got to be a true authority on what you’re blogging about. If you’re running a business, that part is a bit easier – blog about what your company is involved in. You have the credentials to do so, presumably, or your business wouldn’t be very successful.
If it’s not that black and white for you, consider some of the other things you’re interested in/good at. Do you want to talk about the local news? You can do it if you play your cards right. You don’t need a journalism degree to be a citizen journalist – you just need the drive. If you want to cover news stories, start hunting them down and breaking them yourself – blogs are used as outright news sources just as much as newspapers are nowadays. When you start reporting enough solid, hard news that shows your skills (and not just pirating the stories off of legitimate news sites) then people will begin to notice you. You can become an authority.
Are you a bird-watcher? Post bird-watching reports and tips. A botanist? Talk about plants. You’ve got to play to your strengths, and of course, relate your topic to your audience. Appeal to local readers first, and worry about mass exposure when your blog has garnered some success.
The more you know, the more it’ll show on your blog’s stats.
Give your blog a personality
After you’ve found your topic and know that you’re an authority, remember that your blog should identify with you.
Your posts should have life, and should reflect your own personality – they shouldn’t read like bland news reports or studies out of a book. Be funny, creative, angry, and opinionated. You’re going to have a lot of competition, regardless of what you talk about – be it from blogs or just general Internet resources. So make your blog as entertaining as it is informative. Don’t come off like the Encyclopedia – if people wanted that, they’d read… well, the Encyclopedia.
Post often
Infrequent posting will kill even the most informative and entertaining blogs. If your readers can’t count on you to keep new information rolling out, they won’t bother to include you in their rounds. What’s the point of following a blog if it’s updated once every two weeks? In that two week span your readers could have gone through dozens of similar blogs and learned far more than you’re going to be able to tell them in one post. Unless you’re absolutely the only resource available for a certain topic (and we haven’t found anyone like that yet) then you need to make sure you’re posting as often as possible. Depending on your topic, we’d recommend at least 3 times a week to start, potentially every other day (and if you’re on a red-hot subject, every single day).
Don’t write a book
Just because you’re posting often doesn’t mean you have to post novels each day. A blog can be short and sweet, delivering just enough to keep its concept on the minds of readers. If there’s nothing major to report on a particular day, throw together something small and interesting and be done with it. Tease a later post that you’re working on, or something to that effect.
If you carry on too much with your blog, your readers will get tired of hearing from you and move on – potentially missing the major points you had buried beneath unnecessary filler.
Interact with your readers
Always work with your readers. Speak directly to them, and appeal to the comments they leave on your site (yes, allow comments) or in your e-mail. They’re your core audience – without them, your blog is nothing. Give the people what they want, and listen to what they have to say. You’re the authority, but it’s their opinion that matters the most. After all, they’re taking the time to read your blog.
Use social media if you can
In the wake of blogs we’ve seen websites like Facebook and Twitter develop strong followings. Use them as tools to help promote your blog! Set up a Twitter account for your blog and try to get some of your readers to being “following” you – it’ll allow you to send them occasional updates about the blog, or links to your latest post without needing access to their e-mail. It’s a great way to reach out to your readers and update them on what you’re up to – without the need for spam messages or even e-mail access. You can “tweet” right from your phone!
