The real worry for you as a bloggers is what you must write about. You should never write for or about yourself; write for your clients or customers. Ask yourself, what problems are your customers facing? What queries have they been making in the past 7 days? If clients ask questions which you would love to answer, the chances are good that other people who aren't your clients may be seeking answers to the same questions and looking up Google for solutions.
Blogging is necessary for marketing people, though it's not an easy job. It entails finding a suitable topic, writing great copy on it, optimizing it for the search engines and taking many other steps to ensure that we maintain the highest quality in our writing so that it stands out among the many million blogs that are uploaded on the net.
According to Ignite Spot, 77% of people who access the Internet read blogs. The number of people blogging on blogging sites is 6.7 million; the corresponding figure for the social networks is 12 million. In short, you have to beat the competition out there - and that's a tall order! Blogging cannot be called a science, but certain steps must be taken to ensure that all the essential elements of a good blog are included in the one you write. In this post I'll explain how you can write a great blog by adhering to certain guidelines and norms.
Elements of a Good Blog
Platform: To begin with you need to choose the platform on which you'll blog. Study the platform you select to ensure that your blogs will be attractive. Learn formatting and how to embed a video/podcast and insert images. Whatever platform you choose, be it Tumblr, WordPress or Posterous, you must stay updated on the versions and features of these platforms. You can seek technical help from a professional so that your writing and formatting is done without a hitch.
Headlines: Giving headlines is a tough job as far as blogging goes. A good way to get the right headline is to use the Google search predictor for it. We all know Google starts giving suggestions when we begin to type something on the search engine. So start your headline and with the help of Google's suggestions and then work your way to the best headline.
Good structure: Like any form of professional writing -- journalism for example -- blog writing needs to have a well-structured form. You need to have an introduction for instance, which will help to catch the readers' attention at once. You have to be to the point and bring out the blog's central theme as quickly as possible. Don't stray or beat about the bush. Always be direct and don't waste your or your readers' time.
Sense of vulnerability: You must show a sense of vulnerability in your blog, even though you are considered to be an authority in your field. This 'vulnerability' gives the impression to your readers that you don't know everything about something and you need to still learn. This will make them to reply to your blog and give you some tips on the subject. In this way you encourage debates and sharing of thoughts and ideas.
Consistent style: Your style of writing has to be consistent. Your objective must be to make readers recognize you by your writing not by your name/byline. A friendly, casual style and usage of simple rather than bombastic language are what I would recommend for a good blog.
Visuals/images: Images are a great way to not just brighten up your blog but also to make your point clear. Visuals can also be used to break up your text and illustrate a point in a sharp manner. Images also help to make your readers understand exactly what you're writing about; indeed, they can induce visitors to read your blog as the visuals can act as a spur to them. But don't insert too many images; then the value of your blog will fall as people will focus more on the visuals.
Have a worldview: A good blogger is supposed to have a view about important matters that crop up in the news - on television, in newspapers, magazines, online etc. This will help to make his/her blogs more authoritative as readers will be impressed that the blogger knows more than just his niche stuff. So, have a worldview of things that matter and when you get an opportunity, write them in your blog. This can also help to set up debates and conversations and lead to good interaction and engagement.
Use links: You can use links to help your readers gain more insight into what you are writing about. If a point needs some additional information provide a link that will take them to that info. Or, if you would like your readers to read similar content, a link will help you do just that. But don't give too many links.
Call to Actions: Don't commit the error of making CTAS the focus of your blog. A simple query at the conclusion of your post will suffice. Control your CTAs so that they don't stand out and become obtrusive. Use them to seek queries and start off debates and interaction
Increase leads: It has been established that companies that increase blogging from 3-5 times per month to 6-8 times almost double their leads. To achieve this you have to increase your blog posts to twice the number you published earlier. In this way you can display your expertise and attract potential new clients.
Some quick tips: Write good text; format it well; make it accessible and fresh; make sure it has outbound hyperlinks; be an expert and link your pages.
Summing Up
Your blog must satisfy your readers and yourself. It must contain newsy information and should never be full of yourself. A blogger who only brags about his/her achievements will fade out soon. Keep in touch with latest developments in all fields of endeavor; you never know what will help your blog become more interesting and readable. Follow the tips given in this post; you don't need to do everything, but don't leave out anything that matters a lot for your kind of blog posts.