Writing a Blogbuster
Revealed: 10 content tactics to help ensure you produce great Blogs every time.
Blogs haven’t been around too long, but they’ve quickly evolved into one of the most versatile ways to communicate on the web. Curio Media – purveyors of the art of Blogging – reveal 10 content tactics to help ensure you deliver great Blogs every time. Here, in no particular order, is our top tips for writing a Blogbuster.
Keep it clipped
Blogs should ideally be 200 to 300 words per post. Of course, great Bloggers may stretch this to anywhere near the 1000-word mark but until you have a fully engaged, loyal viewership, keep your copy tight and your thoughts tighter. A padded out, waffly Blog will always have a high bounce rate.
Keep it fresh
The whole point of Blogs is that they’re disposable, everyday platforms where you can easily publish fresh, regular content that builds a loyal following. So that means you need to think fresh, find fresh ideas and publish fast and fresh – every day or second day ideally.
Keep it connected
A ‘healthy’ Blog is one that gets comments. Encourage discussion by including reaction to hot topics and asking viewers to join debate. Provide useful content for viewers – even links out to stuff you haven’t written. Write in a warm, friendly, engaging style. All will keep your viewers in the conversation.
Keep it on topic
The best Blogs out there are the ones that have a clear focus and deliver content relevant to their niche or theme. It’s good to offer a creative mix of content, but don’t go too far off topic. People tend to not return to sites where they don’t feel the content is consistent and on topic.
Keep it real
Be authentic. Be truthful. Be yourself. Don’t try and bluff your way into the Blogosphere. The chances are you’ll be exposed as a charlatan or laughed out of Cyberspace. Instead offer your wisdom, no matter how pithy it may seem. People respect a Blogger not a blagger.
Avoid Blog Blunder
Typos and grammatical errors show up amateur Bloggers for what they are: sloppy and slapdash. Avoid by editing and proof reading all content. Read once, then twice. Reading out loud can be a big help to make sure Blogs reads like conversations and don’t contain clunky phrases or overlong sentences.
Avoid Blog Bore
The same style of Blog day in day out makes weary viewing. We advise all our clients to mix it up. That means bringing in the full multi-media potential of Blogging (audio, video, images). Vary the copy length of Blogs. Use a variety of images to support the text and engage readers that one extra step.
Avoid Blog Slog
Blog Slog kills Blogs. It’s when Bloggers get bored and run out of time/energy/creativity for a Blog’s upkeep. A Blog once fresh, is now days, weeks, even years old. Never updated, web content once fertile but now forgotten. Planning a content schedule can help. As can employing a network of Bloggers to take over content creation.
Avoid Blog Blasphemy
Blogs tend to make great places to get opinions and reaction out. But beware! When published live, they exist in the public domain. Watch your back for libelous or inaccurate statements. Apart from the threat of legal action against you, they risk ruining your reputation and getting a backlash from viewers.
Avoid Blog Echo
This is making content from old news sources or ‘pinching’ from other already published voices. Better practice is to be original. If you do glean from sources, use lots of them and not just a few. Try and think of Blog topics that are more creative than what’s already out there. Not easy, but worth it.
To find out more about Blogging, contact Curio Media, the digital content specialists.