Tuesday, February 01, 2011

How to improve your blog

A friend asked me recently to comment on his blogposts. So I checked them out and sent him a few comments. Then I thought, hey, that might make a good blogpost!

In the end, I came up with 5 points. And they are so basic, so easy to understand, that I decided to try to compress them into 140 characters, or about 25 words. So here you are: my first blogpost that was also a single tweet on Twitter.

5 rules to improve your blog:
* Get to the point fast;
* Stay out of the story;
* Focus on readers' needs;
* Protect Brand You;
* Stick to 1 big theme.

Let me know if you'd like me to elaborate on any of these points.

(I wonder what else could be compressed into a single Twitter post...? How about the 10 Commandments:
Top 10: No other gods; no idols; don't say O God!; sleep in Sunday; honor mom & dad; don't kill, steal or lie; nix to adultery; no jealousy.
140 characters. Bingo!)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't think it was Sunday. You must have an odd bible.

Greg Lam said...

Hmm....

"Stay out of story" is a piece of advice that may be applicable to your friend's blog but I don't know if so applicable to all blogs.

I've found that when a post provides *RELEVANT* personal examples, than being in the story works well.

Of course, when not relevant, than yes, stay out of the story.

Rick Spence said...

Thanks for your comments. Yes, a few shades of meaning get lost when you boil multipart lists into one Twitter feed. That's what makes this ridiculous exercise so engaging.

Yes, Greg, some blogs are all about the personal ("I heard this, I bought that, I think thusly...") For most blogs, however, especially the B2B blogs I was aiming at, most readers want the information or insight as fast as they can get it, untarnished by too much personal history. I'm suggesting that unless it's essential to the story you're telling, be like an objective reporter writing a "news" story, and keep yourself in the background as much as possible.

Put the readers' needs first.

Recruiting Animal said...

My edited version of a classic article http://bit.ly/ij9Glg