How to Write a Compelling Blog Post That Your Audience Will Be Glued to Right to the End
How do you write a compelling blog post? An article so engaging and worthy that people share it, and readers take action on your suggestions?
Writing tips from Chris Garrett
Who, What and So What? Writing that Works
Who, What and So What? What the heck am I talking about!? These are useful tools for figuring out how to make your next article or landing page connect with your audience.
Make Yourself Understood: 10 Tips to Be Understood Every Time
You want your writing to have an impact, so that means you need to make yourself understood. How to make yourself understood every single time
It’s not what you say that matters
How many times have you seen a misunderstanding caused by a message being delivered lazily over text? How many people have you seen get into an argument because of what they perceived to be an insult, that was not intended that way. It’s happened to most of us at one point or another, particularly during …
How to get 80% of the results with 20% of the content
When should you write? How often? How long should your blog posts be? Should you have a schedule? I get asked these questions and similar every week, between emails, Q&A calls/webinars, and clients. Content is becoming super important. We used to talk about if content was king or not. Now, I see a shift. The …
How to Solve the “Creativity Problem” and Stand Out in a Crowd
I think everyone has the capacity to be creative, but if you listen to some pundits it seems creativity is something only bestowed on an elite few. The fact is, the word “creativity” itself can cause a lot of creative resistance, and make people feel that the bar has been set too high for them. …
Spiritual River Blog Critique
Patrick Meninga, aka skinnyninja to forum members, won this blog critique in the Blogger of the Month competition. If you would like to win a blog critique or Authority Blogger membership there is still time to win the June prize, you just need to participate in the forum by being friendly, asking excellent questions that …
As If, Yeah Right
When we write we are talking to our reader. While your reader is going through your content they will be responding. They might think “Interesting, I didn’t know that”, or they might think “So? What’s in it for me?” and they might think “So what?“. One response I don’t think many marketing copywriters are prepared …
What Are You Saying Between the Lines?
The things we tell ourselves are like our mental programming, the subconscious software that manages our behavior. This inner view of the world is revealed in our writing.
Writing Lessons from Obama and Hilary
Obama and Hilary have been a dominant force in the news since they started campaigning. This is saying something, as I am not even American. Their long battle has taught me a couple of related lessons that I wanted to share with you.
Attacks and Negativity Damage All
While attacks are one way to get attention, and also serve to position yourself relative to your competitor, in the end the …
How to Get More Bookmarks and Better Links
A bookmark is the standard compliment for online writers. We applaud singers, we laugh at comedians jokes, and we bookmark articles we find on the web. Bookmarks and links fuel your blogs success. What can we do to get more bookmarks? Why then do some get bookmarked while others get largely ignored? It’s not just …
How to Write on Goal
If you don't decide on a goal before writing, don't be surprised if you end up with a random outcome. How to choose a goal for your post.
Blogging Goals: What is Your Blog Doing for You?
Before you start a blog, you need to understand why your blog will exist. Before you sit down to write, what exactly do you want your audience to do when they have done reading?
How to Change Your Perspective
Have you ever visited a tourist location then browsed Flickr only to find everyone seems to have taken the same photograph? One of the principal techniques of better photography is to move around, look at the scene in different ways, approach from new angles. The same is true for writing. While the direct approach, the …
Why it is Good to Repeat Yourself
In the previous post I recommended that you should find your own stories or develop a unique take on the news. Basically implying that repeating was bad. Here’s the funny thing … repeating yourself can be good … Now don’t get me wrong, I do not for a minute suggest that you simply drone on …
Do You Lead or Follow?
Where are ewe?, originally uploaded by foxypar4. Several bloggers have complained to me about the number of feeds they find lately that simply echo the same old information. Think about your blog … have you fallen into this trap? It’s an easy habit to get into. Fear of not having something to say, or fear …
Should Any Topic be Out of Bounds?
In normal, polite conversation, people tell us that we should stay away from the topics of politics and religion. Does the same go for social media and blog discussions? There are probably other topics just as controversial, but I think in most cases these topics come under the heading of politics or beliefs for shorthand. …
Planning Blog Post Topics
It is no coincidence that I am writing this at the end of the year. Traditionally at the end of one year we look ahead to the next. I’m trying to make 2008 much more organized than 2007! I am often paid to manage projects, it is something I am good at and enjoy, so …
Using Mind Maps in Blogging
Mind Maps are a useful technique to learn for brainstorming, note taking, in fact any time you want to get thoughts down on paper. To show you how to use them I have created my first ever full length video/sketchcast. Man did I find this difficult, it is a lot harder than I thought to …
The Reverse-Process Technique of Discovering Blog Topics
Often when I talk to companies about blogging they tell me while other companies might have a wealth of things to write about, their company would probably struggle to write more than a few posts before seizing up. It normally takes me coming up with ten or so topic ideas for me to convince them …
Chunking and Outlining Blog Topic Ideas
Being stuck for a blog post topic isn’t always a case of sitting down and your brain going blank. That was the problem we hopefully had solutions for in the previous post of this series. There are times when you know in advance the overall subject you need to cover but somehow you still need …
How to Generate Post Ideas When You Are Stuck
One of the most challenging aspects of blogging is thinking up what to write about. It is something that impacts all of us at one time or another. While it is true the more you write the better you get at it, you can still sit at the computer one day absolutely blank. When that …
Is Your Blog Opinionated?
Do your readers have a clear idea of where you stand? Does any philosophy or approach come through your writing? Making your blog opinionated could be a way you can make your blog stand out and gather an audience. Gather Your Community Around an Idea Consider what a community is. Would you agree that a …
Conversation as a Competitive Advantage
What have bloggers got as an advantage that other webmasters do not? I would argue “conversation”. Have a think about which sites you feel a part of, or where you feel a connection to the site and its owners. What are the common elements? Liz has turned blog conversation into an art form and a …
Tuning Content For the Digg Audience
In my last article on Social Media I said getting more Digg traffic means understanding and appealing to the peculiarities of the Digg audience without alienating your own. What do Digg users like? Pro Apple, Anti-Microsoft Pro Open Source, especially Linux, especially Ubuntu Anti George Bush, pro Ron Paul At least half seem to be …
How to Think Up Original Topics For Guest Posts
I was asked last night how I think up topics for posts when I am writing freelance or guest posts. It can be tricky but I did come up with an analogy that I think works to explain how I deal with it. Think of each place you post articles to as a different friend. …
Controversy Versus Consensus, a Writers Dilemma
A common challenge with writing is putting forth your opinion while knowing you are going to upset, annoy or lose a portion of your audience. How can you explain your position when you know it is not going to be 100% popular? Some of the best stand-out articles are when someone actually has an opinion …
How Do You Decide What To Write About?
I was looking over the member blogs over at the Authority Blogger Forum and had an idea I wanted to share with you. To prove or disprove this theory though I will need your help, just a click in a little poll. My theory? That many people don’t know what they are going to write …
The Secret to Freelance Blogging
As you might already know, one of the ways I earn income is by blogging for other people. This practice is becoming more and more common as companies realise the benefit of having a blog but their staff do not have the time to keep up the content. Companies can choose to go with a …
Copyright Confusion Continues
Anne-Marie emailed me to tell me about a discussion going on about copyright protection for photos and content. What is the legal position around using other peoples images? Are you OK if you provide attribution? Or is that only CC licensed? If you look in the comments you will see there is some excellent discussion, …
Creating Compelling Blogs – Do You Have to Write Every Day?
Over at copyblogger I wrote a piece where I advised if you want to be a good writer you need to write every day. In this post I am going to tell you it might be better to not post every day. Whaaaat? You see there is a key word there, did you miss it? …
Stuck For Blog Post Topics?
If you ever get stuck for what to write about there is one place you can look that will provide post ideas that are Useful Original Valuable On-topic I have just been doing some much-needed housekeeping on this blog. Part of this process requires me to go through my comments. Wow, there is some good …
It’s All About the Content … Right?
It’s been said so many times it has lost all meaning. Focus on the content. Content is king. Write! Fine. Why then do some people create crummy but popular content? How is it that brilliant writing is often overlooked? So it can’t be just about the content. Something else is necessary. Do you buy bottled …
What’s Even More Important Than a Well Written Headline?
Yes, powerful headlines are vital. No need to go over that. There is one factor though that is even more important. So important that if you don’t get it right … even the most compelling headline will flop. People pass by. The reader yawns. What is this vital factor you ask? While you are reading …