News
 10
Tips for Keeping Your Blog Fresh
Even the best bread goes stale in a few days. After
a year of blogging and sharing marketing ideas, is
it possible bloggers go stale, as well?
I think the answer is yes. But does that mean we
should shut the doors on our blogs and fade quietly
into the background?
I think not. There is hope for refreshing and
reinvigorating our posts to keep our readers
interested, and I don't believe it includes writing
less. Try the 10 tips you see here for a refresher
course in the art of blogging.
1. If you haven't already done so, create a plan
with measurable goals. Doing so will keep you
focused and consistent, helping your readers
understand what matters to you. If you don't know
why you blog and where you are going, how can your
readers follow your journey. And if you aren't
tracking goals, how do you know the impact of your
blog?
2. Search the news and business wires for today's
hot business topics.
3. Cover those topics using a slightly different
angle and ask questions for your readers to think
about and reply to if they wish.
4. Write shorter. Most of us don't have time to read
a long treatise on any subject.
5. Inject your opinion, but not so strongly that
your readers feel no room exists for their thoughts.
6. Write the way you talk. Write simply. Save the
big words for your great American novel. No one
wants us to prove how smart we are. The writing
shapes the ideas, not our vocabulary.
7. Keep to the subjects promised in your masthead
and "About You" page. If you are a marketing blog,
mostly stick to that subject. Readers seek
familiarity when they visit.
8. Throw in a fun post once a week, such as
interesting tidbits about others, music, books, TV
or movies. Make it a regular feature so your
reader's expectations are met.
9. Occasionally, be provocative, which is a great
way to get readers involved in big ideas. Be sure
the subject is big enough to handle provocation.
10. Use names, pictures and stories of other bloggers. We like to see our names in print.
Finally, write for readers, not links. When we write
for readers, we create words and ideas that are
authentic, heart-felt, credible and worth reading.
Readers are the audience, and in writing for our
audience, the links will come. Going back to my
first professional writing job, my editor told me
repeatedly to write for readers, not for myself. All
of my subsequent editors ensured that I remembered
that lesson.
---Source:
Reprinted from Marketing Profs Daily Fix
8/24/07-8/30/07. Lewis Green can be reached through
www.l-gsolutions.com.
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Melissa Data
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