10 Quick Tips to Boost Your Blogging Skills
Oct. 18, 2009
38 Comments
This is a guest post by Nate Johnson. If you're interested in getting yourself in front of the readers of EpicLaunch, check out the guest posting guidelines here.
When it comes to blogging, writing articles or just producing content in general, quality is king. Without quality what’s the point? No one likes to read something that they can’t understand, is misleading, or generally sucks. This post is going to show you some minor tweaks and changes you can take up to boost the quality of your writings.
1. Strive to Establish a Relationship With the Reader
Whether the reader is a random viewer on an article submission site that you’ll never see again or is your most loyal subscriber on your blog; establishing a relationship is something you should always strive to do. Encourage comment discussion (such as Intense 
Debate, Disqus and WordPress) address the reader’s needs and connect with readers through commenting and email. Remember that a relationship starts with you; you have to take the initiative and cannot expect them to automatically be engaging, inviting and personal.
2. Don’t Post Fluff
A big mistake a lot of new bloggers make is the need to upload content. They feel that they should post content just for the sake of posting and often do not really have a meaningful topic. As a result of this you get “fluff” stuff that is there for the sole purpose of taking up space. Remember the old cliche of quality over quantity. This is never more true than posting on the internet. A handful of well thought out and crafted articles can generate much more traffic than a bunch of fluff.
3. Utilize Headings
Break up your post. If that means doing things as simple as using bold text to create sub sections or using everything from h1 to h5 it all helps. One thing you should realize is that most people are not going to be reading your content word for word. In fact most people start by skimming the content to very quickly decide whether it is worth their time. If they are confronted with a large block of text they will more than likely will not want to deal with it. But by creating breaks, sub headings and simple text modifications you can get your message across to people just glancing at your content. This is going to increase the time your readers spend on your posts and on your blog.
4. Keep it Flowing
This is more for people with their own running blog. Grab a plug in called YARPP or Yet Another Related Post Plug-in and activate that on your blog. This will produce similar posts below (or above, your choice) your content so that when a reader finishes your post they don’t hit a brick wall. By including related content, displaying your categories and utilizing some sort of post footer option you can keep your reader on your blog for much longer.
5. Outline Your Thoughts
Though it may seem like I am taking you back to grade school grammar class; outlining your thoughts is actually one of the most overlooked tactic to posting quality stuff. By outlining your thoughts you will bring structure to your thoughts and lower the risk of leading your reader astray. It takes but a few minutes to do and will actually save you time in the long run. I usually bust out a bubble chart, you know the kind where you just plop idea after idea on a piece of paper and see what connections you can form.
6. Add Some Font Editing
Font edits bring attention to certain sentences. It could mean the difference between getting your point across to someone that’s skimming your content or losing them forever. Mess with your options, make stuff red, outline the background, underline some bold text and (+)spruce things up(+). Certain sites you may be blogging for like Ezine for example likes to keep things simple. Though just because things are simple doesn’t mean you have no options at all.
7. Write in a Conversational Tone
Not many people realize that good writing means conversational tone. Note that conversational tones do not entail poor grammar and sentence structure. You should always have correct spelling and proper use of punctuality. But a conversational tone is much easier to read and smoother to digest than a rigid monotonous one.
8. Be as Resourceful as Possible
Your posts shouldn’t just be about you. Value should be brought to the table on each occasion, and you should address the issues of your readers at all times. Really make an effort to help your readers in each post that you do – believe me when I say that every extra bit of effort on your part is magnified on the reader’s end.
9. Build Channels of Traffic
Utilize the key Web 2.0 resources out there right now like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and such. “If you build it, they will come” does not apply on the internet. You can build something majestic but if you’re not pushing it in the right places at the right time no one may come. You’d be surprised how an extra channel of quality traffic can do for your blog. If you’re on Twitter already then check out Digg, and if you’re on Digg already sign up for StumbleUpon. There are dozens of hot Web 2.0 sites out there you can plug into and start increasing readership.
Summing it all Up
10. Overall
Adopting one or any of these strategies will not only increase your quality of content but will build your reputation online. On top of this, remember that you should strive to establish a relationship with the reader in every way possible. Since tweaking my posts on my current blog I have seen a dramatic increase in subscribers, time on site and returning visitors. It really is some easy stuff you can do to increase your monetization potential of your blog and the view counts to your posts.
38 Responses to “10 Quick Tips to Boost Your Blogging Skills”
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Oct. 18, 2009
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Very good post, outlines how to blog properly very well! Maybe I should follow it… but that would be being normal!.
Yeah I agree, Nate really knows what he is doing!
Great post nate, it's definitely about a relationship and not "posting comments"
Great job with the blog guys
David
posting posts not "posting comments" lol… oops!
I make mistakes sometimes, gimme a break! lol
Thanks David, Nate is a great blogger!
Oh by the way check out how many Diggs there are on this post, that is your doing. Thanks so much for all your help,
Ben
Interesting read, i have just started blogging a little more than i used to. Its good to get incite into how the pro's go about it!
Thanks for the comment Richard. Good luck on breaking the Guinness World Record For RC Car Jump!
Thanks Ben!
No – problem mate and thanks for the good luck =D
http://www.xnitrorc.co.uk/blog/?p=438
This is really good! Ah man, the more I find out about blogging, the more ideas i get!!!
Thanks, Nate is a great blooger!
Some things are good
I've been really happy since I started my own blog. It gives a place for people to have conservations with me, and is great for learning new things.
Nice to hear, I will check it out!
I like how you added "utilize the web 2.0" apps, this is definitly a great way to drive traffic towards your blog, and increase your blogging skills.
Great post
Hey Rob, yeah Nate knows it all!
Check out his superb blog: http://www.createwithnate.com
Dear Rob, Having read your blog, I have attempted to install the YARP plug-in. However, in the settings it gives instructions to complete the installation which are way beyond my technical capabilities. Would you be able to spend a few minutes with me to show me what to do next? This is my blog site: http://www.savvyclub.co.uk/blog/. Please contact me. Thanks in advance.
Yea sure, I sent you a email now.
85 Tweets and 24 Diggs. WOW, thats a record for me!
Yes all are very important point. I love SU for getting traffic. This is favorite social networking site.
Really helpful and smart advice here.
Quality, being human and building relationships is so vital. Those are the types of blogs you want create yourself but also to participate and be a part of.
Glad you found this to be helpful, so did I!
Great help for new bloggers like me.Thanks!
Eva
No problem Eva!
No problem, good luck!
Loved all you tips.. Thanks for the mention… another amazing post ben..
Thanks Rajesh!
I’m glad to see you mentioning the importance of “Creating Relationship with your Readers” as your top-most point. We simply couldn’t emphasize it more!
Great post!
Great to hear you agree, thanks for commenting so much!
Nice post with good common-sense tips Ben – and glad to see you involved with http://www.blogengage.com so quickly. I’m sure the fantastic and quickly expanding blogging community there will turn out to a big help to you
Cheers
Will
Will ´s last blog post: BlogEngage.com – Site Of The Month – October 2009
Thanks, by the way this was a guest post by Nate. Blog Engage is going very well!
Regards.
Thanks Ben – didn’t see that! I’ve just made a quick visit to createwithnate.com. It looks really good at first glance and will definitely drop by there again tomorrow…
Will ´s last blog post: Techcats.net
No problem, you should definitely check out his blog
Thanks for the advice!
Definitely going to take some of these and apply them to my own blog. Thanks!!!
Wilson Usman-Fun Lifestyle´s last blog post: One Billion Pesos of Wisdom for the Week