Close Your Eyes and Picture The Audience Naked

Blogging is a public display (zip up that coat!). The thought of doing it gives many folks as much (or more) anxiety than the prospect of delivering a speech. If you follow DCJ’s blog or Facebook page, you know we like marketing guru, Seth Godin. His recent post “Talker’s Block” is a great nudge to get everyone to write daily — even if it’s not the best writing. Meanwhile, whether we stumble or tango through our writing, it’s nice to know what tools work for others. If you troll the internet asking the “experts” what the winning qualities of great blogs are, certain themes repeat. We did a bit of cross matching as well as added our own observations to create a list of six essential qualities possessed by  top-notch blogs. FOCUS

1. Zero in on your passion, and become an expert.
2. Readers with similar interests will consider you a resource and come back frequently.
3. If your focus revolves around controversial subject matter, you might even get more visitors. People like to knock heads. Knock back!

POINT OF VIEW

1. Flex your muscles a bit. If you’re trying to please everyone all the time, you may be white flour with no flavor.
2. Wait! This does not mean operating without a filter. Awareness of what is and is not appropriate is essential. When blogging for your business, this is especially true. Who are your readers? What will help generate more positive attention and eventually, revenue?
3. Be like a duck, and let extra water flow off your back. The longer you blog and the more you express your point of view – the more likely someone is going to criticize you. Be ready. Let other opinions flow. Keep writing. Quack.

CONTENT

1. A well-written blog has been screened for readability.
2. There are links out to other sites and sources, links in to other things you’ve written, there are captivating post titles to grab attention, and the design, graphics, visuals and media chosen for your posts enhance the content.
3. And by the way, spelling counts. Eevry snigle time.

MESSAGE

1. Well-researched, unique, informative, inspiring and clear writing is essential.
2. Call to action, edgy, sometimes humorous or personally revealing writing also engages and endears your readers.
3. Did we mention creativity? The best bloggers have an amazing knack of saying “the same old thing” in new ways. Sometimes a reader (or customer) has to hear about something several different ways before they “get it.” Creative blogging can help your followers get it when they didn’t the other nine times before.

TIMING

1. “Great” blogs are updated daily, at peak times and have been around for a long time.
2. “Good” blogs update on some sort of schedule (less than once a week won’t generate much traffic) and in some ways, have it tougher than daily blogs because if you’re only gong to publish once a week, you’d better be pretty damned intriguing.
3. The blogger herself must be disciplined. He has to stick with it for the long haul. No wiggle room on this one. (Gender regardless.)

COMMUNITY

1. Let’s face it. The internet has made “community” out of people all over the globe. Inspiring blogs foster the best sense of this experience. Why do we read Seth’s blog? Because it doesn’t just make us consider how to be better at work, it sparks us to be better at home. Why do we like Fuel Your Blogging? It offers great tips, updates and articles on how to be better at blogging, and we get to pass this education on to our clients who aren’t as likely to go out digging for this particular gold.