Blogs and Writing for the Reader
September 24, 2007 – 5:13 amBlogs are completely different animals compared to that of static web pages. A blog is intended to create a discussion and when writing your blog post you want to try and ignite some conversation.
The conversations will accomplish two things.
1. Free content: For every related comment made on your blog you are getting free unique content added and the search engines love it.
2. Links: Often when someone comments on a blog post that means they like it and very often they will link to that post as well.
If you study the top blogs out there you will see something that is very similar in all of them. They are actual conversations that the author is having with the reader. You see the best way to make friends online is to give your readers a way to talk. I realize that this is not entirely possible through a blog but think of the whole “Web 2.0” explosion. The entire concept is based on the concept of user interaction. Give the visitor the reason to talk and the avenue to do it and you will have them return over and over again.
Here are 5 blogs that belong to 5 very popular full time bloggers.
http://www.johnchow.com/
http://www.problogger.net/
http://www.shoemoney.com/
http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/
http://www.andybeard.eu/
These guys have a huge and very loyal following of people. Is it because they just post great articles?
No! — well not totally anyway.
The reason is because they create a community by involving their readers. Yes, the content is great but not always. Look at some of the content… sometimes all the person is doing is talking about something they did that day. It is not about creating a keyword perfect article… instead it is about creating a piece of content that will be discussed.
What is the benefit of doing that?
Of course you want to focus on certain topics but not for every single post. More important they want to engage the readers and by doing that you can dramatically increase the power of the posts that you do create that are focused on a keyword or product.
So how do you create a worthwhile blog post?
Most of all —> Talk to the reader!
1. Do not worry about keyword density: Pick a topic and just talk. Yes you want to focus on a topic but talk about the topic like you are sitting across the table from the reader.
2. Try to end with an open statement or opinion that creates discussion: This does not mean always asking a question; instead you can simply make a statement that will have people either
agreeing or disagreeing with you. Sometimes being controversial is a powerful avenue.
3. Visit some popular blogs and see how they are writing content. Once again you are going to want to look in areas that people are already discussing the topic and find out what is being discussed. You do not need to reinvent the wheel here. Find a news story that is popular on
digg or a forum post that is getting lots of interaction and write your point of view about it.
Once Again —> Talk to the reader!!!
