In my eternal quest to find engaging material and techniques for blog posts, I recently came across a great resource called 3 Geeks and a Law Blog. This law blog recently surpassed 2 million page views so apparently there a number of people like me finding the content both informative and helpful.
The guest post from Ryan McClead entitled “The secret to writing a great blog post that gets lots of comments” caught my eye and provides some very specific pointers. Please read the entire article here but below are the highlights:
- Forget about any other kind of writing you do. Blogging is NOT journalism . . . more like speech. Write the way you speak.
- Read your finished posts aloud. This engages a different part of your brain.
- When you rework your post, make clarity of purpose your only concern.
- Be personable. Remember, this is a conversation and no one wants to talk to a boring person!
- You are not reporting the news. If you are reporting on “newsy” content then chances are your audience has already read it somewhere else. Why compete with professionals? Link to those other articles and write about your take on the subject.
- If you are funny, use it. If you are not, please don’t. When using sarcasm or satire, always make it very clear.
- Be provocative. Nothing gets attention like a bold statement confidently made.
- Don’t forget to use the title. This should get your audience’s attention, but it sets expectations for content.
- Choose topics that bother you. These topics will likely bother or interest your readers as well.
- Publish immediately. If you wait, you will never publish.
- Don’t write too much. Remember, you are starting a conversation, not finishing it.
- Leave the audience with a question, bold statement or turn of phrase. In short, leave them with something to think about!
I have probably violated Rule #11 with this post but these are great tips that should be shared.
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