The best blogs are personal. Sorry, but I’ll just tell you right off the bat: there’s no formula for that. Good writing takes a lot of practice. It gets better the more you do it, but you have to put in the miles.
There is, however, a formula for blog structure. Actually, there are (most likely) thousands. What I’ll go over here is just one.
An aside: I love learning. I’m a student of being a student. One thing I’ve found to be true is that there are lots and lots of ways (the process) to get to your goal (the principle). Quite often, the most important part of your project is just choosing one.
O.k. Here’s one way to write a blog (this is what I do):
1) I think of a title. Usually, I’ve got some ideas for subjects, but the first step is to think of how I’ll frame that subject. The way I do that is with a title. If you need help writing titles, Brian Clark has good advice for you.
Also, I keep headlines in a file in Rustybudget. This is a really helpful tool that works in several ways. I can keep a scratch file of topics there. I can keep notes for headlines there. I can plan blog posts according to date, if I have seasonal topics (or for whatever reason, really). And, the feature I like best- I can add a bookmarklet to my browser that sends urls to my rustybudget files outomatically, without having to copy, open, then paste.
2) I have elements that I use every time. This tip comes from Matt Cutts, who’s works on SEO and spam among other things over at Google. The structure is this: 500 words, 5% keyword density, and 5 links.
That’s pretty cut and dried, which is what I like about it. It’s simple. But I also like how it accomplishes two parts of the process: SEO and post structure. I don’t always hit all the categories dead on, but that’s not what they’re for. They’re guidelines, and that’s the best way to use them.
3) I use a prioven, reproducable format. I don’t want to feel like I have to reinvent the wheel everytime I sit down to write a blog post, so I go back to what works. The format is this: Attention grabbing headline, point/conclusion/idea of the blog in the first couple of sentences, small sub-headed or numbered points to expand on the idea.
I got most of the ideas for the format from Ginny Redish, who’s written the most applicable information on writing for the digital space that I’ve come across. A little deeper into style, though, is William Zinnser’s “On Writing Well”. Even though it was written more than thirty years ago, it’s still my favorite book on how to write.
4- kind of) I sometimes add a picture. I usually have an idea of the kind of image I’d like. But sometimes I have trouble finding something, or sometimes I just skip it, to tell you the truth. But I think people really like to see an image on a blog.
So, that’s what I do. How about you? Let me know if you found this helpful, and feel free to share any of your own process.
Tags: Ben Curnett, blogs, content marketing, getting started in social media
