Lesson Four
The Importance of Blogging
Irene S. Roth
The Importance of Blogging
Irene S. Roth
As all of you know, I have set up a blogging challenge this month to build your writing business, one month at a time. This year, I am committed to help you make even a bit of money from your writing. It will take you a bit of time to do it. But that’s okay.
So, tonight, I will talk more about building a professional platform and the mechanics of blogging in case some of you haven’t blogged for a long time or are newcomers to the blogging industry.
How does a ‘normal’ website differ from a blog?
The difference relates to static versus dynamic content. Static content is evergreen content that can stay the same over a longer period of time. This could be sales pages or information that doesn’t change in the short term.
In contrast, dynamic content means that you offer your readers fresh content at regular intervals.
Traditionally, the word blog denotes a website with dynamic content.
The power of a blog is that it entices readers to come back for more information.
In contrast, when readers arrive at a website with static content, they will either act and purchase a product, or they will leave and not return.
These days, many online writers, bloggers, and entrepreneurs use hybrid websites. That is, they create static websites that also include a blog. An example is Sumome, the hugely successful company which offers amazing free tools to grow your subscriber base. They have added what they call stories (which is just their fancy name for a blog).
Whatever your decision might be, static or dynamic content, the best way to build your blog is with the blogging software, WordPress.org.
Using blogging software means creating a website that you can build, maintain, and run yourself.
Building a Platform
To develop a platform, you need to know how to blog most effectively. Blogging is the best online resume that you can have and an introvert’s best friend. The writing in your blog can tell others so much about you as a writer. The more you blog, the better and more confident you will feel.
If your blog is successful, your personality will shine through it. That’s why it is especially important for writers to create a blog and maintain it regularly. It is one of the best tools to give potential publishers and agents a glimpse of you as a writer.
Here are a few additional benefits of creating a blog for yourself.
1. A blog is a free, behind-the-curtain chance for writers like you to be heard and seen. You don’t have to leave the comforts of your home or office. All you have to do is get to your blog and write.
2. Writers, who don’t have an urge to write in any other place, can analyze anything in the world on their blogs. They could share their unique perspectives on different subjects without criticism.
3. You can moderate the comments that readers will leave you. That way, you can make their feedback live on your blog only once in a while. In other words, you can delete comments that you don’t want to have on your blog.
4. The blog offers you a way to speak in public without leaving the comforts of your home office. You don’t have to get all dressed up, travel far or stand in front of a large group of individuals.
5. Agents appreciate to read a solid blog from potential clients. A hot blog with a large following has a better than average chance of a book offers even without pitching. So, make sure that your blog looks professional.
6. Many writers also sell their books through their blogs. So, if you have a book out or will have a book out soon, you could post it on your blog and people will be more likely to buy it.
Remember, blogging is an honour. It is something that we can all engage in relatively quickly and it can yield huge results.
The Mechanics of Writing a Good Blog
There are many aspects of writing good blogs, from choosing topics that people will be interested in to choosing themes for your blog which are the best, and structural aspects of the most successful blog. I will cover each of these areas in this section.
Good Topics for Blogs
The basic requirements for a blog are to solve a problem, provide information or entertainment. So, if your blog does all of these, you have a successful blog that readers will keep coming back to.
A blog is about much more than just posting articles. You also have to provide quality content consistently. Articles or blog posts which are presented haphazardly can count against you. So, make sure you publish quality content.
The theme of your blog can be whatever you want. It can be as altruistic, broad, narrow, quirky or serious as you desire. But each post must do one or more of the following or it’s not worth writing a blog post:
• Draw a laugh.
• Solve a problem.
• Provide tips.
• List references.
• Show beauty.
• Excite.
• Provide an AHA moment.
In other words, each post should trigger the reader to redistribute your information to their friends. Soon readers may want to buy your books and read them too after reading your blog.
Habits of a Popular Blog
Professional bloggers are quick to explain good blogging habits because a bad blog is worse than no blog at all. Don’t be remembered for being too bad to return to.
Good blogging habits are not difficult to develop. They just take a dedication and stick-to-it-ness. It is very much like writing a book, maintaining a column or anything that involves writing. Blogging requires a good work ethic.
Here are a few ways to write a good blog:
• Be brief. You don’t have to necessarily fulfill any exact word count to write a good blog. However, one safe rule of thumb is to write blogs that are about 500 words. Write tight and get your message across cleanly.
• Be prolific. The more you post, the better you will write, and the higher will your ranking be in search engines. However, don’t just throw out thoughts. Successful bloggers research, edit and plan subject matter. Daily blog posts are great but time consuming. At a minimum, post weekly.
• Be observant. Take note of how readers respond. You may also want to study the analytics behind other people’s posts. This may give you an idea about how to proceed on your blog.
• Be consistent. Develop a plan for your blog and stick to it. This is crucially important. For instance, Mondays you may want to address writing markets, Wednesday you may want to consider writing about work-in-progress topics, and Fridays you may want to have bulleted lists of writing resources, news, and reflections. Follow the same structure every week.
• Be thematic. Create a focus or theme for your blog and stick to it. Try not to keep changing your focus in your blog.
• Be diligent. Good bloggers see their blogs posts, as necessary. When you know you will be busy or away and can’t get to your computer to write blog posts, write them ahead of time and pre-post them.
• Be connected to other blogs. Choose at least four or five blogs to be connected to. This will give you more visitors and readers.
Structure of your Blog
Every blog post should grab the reader in some way. So, it is best for each blog post to follow a distinct format.
Let’s take a look at a good blog layout, from the top to the bottom.
• Create a great headline—something that will immediately grab the reader.
• Make sure that the first three of four sentences entice the reader to keep reading your post. So, make them insightful and intriguing.
• Don’t post your blog without a visual. Go to free stock photo sites to find one that fits or insert one of your own making. Pictures attract attention faster than words.
• Create sub-headers. This line makes a promise to the reader of better to come.
• Deliver great content at all times. Try to make an emotional connection with the reader about half-way from the beginning of the post.
• Quote from experts in your blog posts often.
• Have another sub-header. This will show the reader what is to come.
• Provide more clarifying advice or content, make your point, show results, and wrap it up.
• Call to action.
So, in sum, the best way to structure your blog is to break up the copy, write succinctly, and compel readers to follow through on some sort of call-to-action, even if it’s no more than a question to get them to interact with you. The longer people stay, the better the chance that they’ll absorb your message and learn to like what you offer.
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