How to Build a Good Blog

How to Build a Good Blog

“Using the knowledge gained from your research and review of other professional Blogs, create your own Blog using the instructions provided by Google in the Blogspot Website. ”  I read these words and wondered what I was going to write about.  A friend offered a suggestion- “Just do the bare minimum, get a grade.”

I can’t do that.  I’m a perfectionist.  If I can’t be the best at it, I don’t like to do it.  So, doing the bare minimum wasn’t going to work.  I began my research on how to build a blog that will attract attention.  I want to be on the Honor Roll, not the Wall of Shame.

I found that the most common advice was “be yourself!”  Don’t try to be a fake, write what you know about and write well.  This really makes sense. Ensuring that you have a well-flowing document will keep the reader engaged on your blog, the same as if you were writing a paper for school.  It also brings to the front the need to keep traffic flowing.  The more traffic you engage by your writings, the higher your rankings will be in the search engines!

From Ihelpyoublog.com (2007), came the gem: “Do an interview with key people in your niche.”  What another great idea.  If your blog is about working in the military, why not have a question and answer with the Recruiting Supervisor in your area?  It will not only help your blog become more rich with real content, it will also offer more traffic, as that person will also refer to your blog if it is well-written and highlights their points.

Ensuring it is really your point that is being broadcast is also important.  You are the subject matter expert in your writing, and it is best that you offer your knowledge and not just make up a stance because someone wants you to.   Tap into the knowledge you have, and also tap into the resources at your disposal to provide the facts, and provide them from your stance.  This also will ensure your traffic is able to understand the level of your writings and you will make the people of your level and abilities the most to visit your blog.  I like to relate this to the old adage: “It’s better to dazzle them with brilliance than baffle them with B.S.”

In order to ensure people know you aren’t just a strong-headed single-thinker, it is important to offer many points of view, and reassure the visitor that you have thought out the points you are making, you have done your research and completed all the steps you need to be making the point.  Make sure that within your post, you prove that you have thought from inside and outside the box. 

Another great point commonly found in my research was to ensure you are solving the problem.  Don’t just layout an issue, layout an issue that you also offer the solution for.  It’s easy to complain about politicians, but how would you handle the situation.  In addition, this will help to maintain your audience, as they can think more critically about your topic, since you propose an answer.  One site I ran across had many posts about the bad decisions made by our Mayor.  Okay, but since it didn’t offer an alternate solution, how do we know what the Mayor should have said or done in that situation?

Another great piece of advice I found was “Make a post turning a negative into a positive through humor” (ihelpyoublog.com, 2007) I am a person who looks at humor as a good thing.  I often turn bad situations into a funny joke.  Blogging in that style could also help keep a traffic flow in your site, by entertaining your visitors. Also taking a serious stance yet offering a funny photo or graphic (minding copyright) also makes a good blog better.

Finally, try something fun occasionally.  I thought about “Theme week” where the title of my blog made the title of my favorite song (ie; Monday “Cat’s got my Tongue”, Tuesday “In light of the past”, Wednesday “The life and times of a Tiger”, and “Craddle and Cantelope- raising a melon child”), all about something interesting in my life, and bringing out “Cat’s in the Cradle” a song about how I grew up- that was my dad, and that’s me in there.

Whatever you choose for your blog, target your audience, write your style, and keep it real.  Make it fun or funny- your choice, but make it so people WANT to visit.

References

101 Great Posting Ideas That Will Make Your Blog Sizzle  retrieved March 6, 2011 from http://www.ihelpyoublog.com/20070316-101-great-posting-ideas-that-will-make-your-blog-sizzle