First impressions make all the difference – it doesn’t matter if you’re writing a blog post or the next great novel. When it comes to writing a blog post – make sure you don’t leave the best for last!
A friend of mine tells the story of how he invited an editor to go boating one afternoon. The editor replied, “I have about 50 manuscripts to go through before I can go. If you’ll help me – we can knock these out in under an hour.”
“Fifty manuscripts in under an hour! There’s no WAY we can both read 50 manuscripts in under an hour!” my friend replied.
To which the editor wisely stated, “Don’t worry – you’ll know within the first three paragraphs whether the book is any good. If the writer hasn’t grabbed you by the first few sentences – the writing will never get any better.”
Earlier, we talked about the importance of the title of your blog post. In the world of creating your blog post content, it’s recommended you spend 60% of your time on the title – of the 40% of the time you spend writing your blog post – pay considerable attention to how you OPEN your blog post.
As a general rule, blog readers will read the headline – and if they’re interested, the first one or two lines. Readers will decide quickly whether the blog post is worth their valuable time to “wade through” until the end.
The “rule” public speakers use to engage their audiences is to “tell them what you’re going to tell them – tell them – then, tell them what you’ve told them.” If your blog is instructional in nature, then this is a good “format” for you to use as you create your blog posts.
If your blog is more “conversational” in nature, then you won’t want to adopt the “tell them, tell them, tell them” format – but rather keep in mind that your audience’s attention span is limited so don’t dilly dally around – especially in the beginning.
Just remember that, after the headline- readership of your blog post drops dramatically from top to bottom. As you write a blog post – be sure you don’t save the best for last!
When it comes to a choosing a blog topic – more times than not, the topic of your blog CHOOSES you instead of the other way around.
By that I mean that one of the main components of blog success is passion on the part of the writer. While it’s possible for someone who has never had children to write about child rearing topics – in the world of blogging, that blogger is not going to last long.
There’s an element of “transparency” in blogging which will reveal in short order the author’s lack of experience in the world of child rearing. While it is possible to watch others undergo the rigors of parenthood – it’s almost impossible to blog and CONNECT with readers in a meaningful way if you yourself have yet to make that journey.
Passion is probably the most important part of choosing a topic for your blog because you’ll need to be passionate to be able to compose 100, 200 or more blog posts on the topic of your choosing.
While passion is important – it’s not the only necessary ingredient to a great blog topic. Not only do you need PASSION but you also need DIRECTION.
If you choose to blog about child rearing – then you need to keep in mind the DIRECTION you’ve chosen for your blog. There are MANY phases of child rearing – from infants to teenagers. Most bloggers find it’s best to “stick with what they know”. Now, if what you “know” is the “joy” of raising a teenager AND a toddler at the same time, then by all means – blog about that topic. You’ll find your readers are also experiencing the “joy” of raising a toddler and a teenager at the same time.
While it’s fine to make an occassional “detour” from the topics of combining potty training with driver’s training – it’s always best to tie these content “detours” back into the common thread of your blog.
Think of your blog like a magazine. There are magazines for sports enthusiasts – parents – fishermen and business people. Choose a topic which you can enthusiastically write endlessly about – because when you launch a blog – that’s what you’ll be doing.
You’ll find writing blog posts becomes INFINTELY easier when you choose your topic and define it carefully.
