Top 10 Articles For…Writing Great Content

The third in the series of ‘Top 10 Articles For…..’ looks at the art of writing consistently good content for your blog. Having good content is without doubt one of the key cornerstones of a popular blog, after all who wants to return to somewhere where, on your first, or indeed your last visit, you were not entertained or stimulated.

Just click on the images or links to read these articles. Twitter links have been added where appropriate.

There is a huge amount of information out there to help you with writing content and what I have tried to do is to pick a selection of articles that I found useful and which give different angles to approach the task from.  Whether you are a beginner or an experienced blogger I hope that you will find something new to help you in that writing task you are about to undertake.

So lets start at the beginning, you have decided to write an article for your blog.  I am assuming that you have already decided where your niche is going to be and what topics you are going to write about.  How about starting with a good title, I have come to realise how vital a good title is and how it can affect how many people will find you. (More about that in a later post) Try this one for starters from Misty Belardo.

1. Title

This article was produced by Misty Belardo @mistygirlph at Ink Rebels

2. Structure

Next an interesting take on writing from Darren Rowse at Problogger

Darren, who is a must read for any budding blogger, shares how he would approach a blog post in the same way that he would a sermon.  You can watch a video of Darren in this one.

3. Be persuasive

When you are writing your blog post you are trying to persuade your reader to do something.

This post is from Brian Clark at Copyblogger. If you are writing for your own pleasure rather than selling a product you may not consider that you need to persuade.  I would however disagree, are you not wanting the reader to agree with your opinion or return to you again, your writing needs to persuade them to do so.

4. Have fun writing

Another one from Ink Rebels, this time from Diana Adams @adamsconsulting I think this a great article and teaches a lesson that we all should heed, that is don’t take yourself too seriously!

5. Overcome that block

We all have days when nothing gets done.  Try getting into these good habits as recommended by @DeniseWakeman in Social Media Examiner. I must admit I am not the most organised person but I am finding that trying to adopt good habits and a sound system in this way does help me.

6. Grammar

Correct use of grammar is, I think becoming a dying art. I have always considered that I have good grasp of the basics and I really think that the use of correct grammar in everything you write is so important. (OK I am waiting for someone to point out my failings in that direction!)

Try this article from Jay Adams published by Smedio which sets out some of the most obvious pitfalls.

7. Practice makes perfect

You can’t expect to get it right straight away or all the time so you need to practice your skills.

The excellent @chrisbrogan explains all.

8. Developing your writing

I wanted to include some more general advice about writing and I think this series of articles from author Deborah Riley-Magnus serves that purpose well.

Debbie goes through the whole process of writing and publicising your work, who knows where your writing might take you? You can follow Debbie @rileymagnus

9. Ready to give up?

Had enough, creative juices dried up? Back to Darren Rowse again with some suggestions as to how you can get things moving again.

10.Other important stuff to think about or add

There are so many other things to think about when you are writing for your blog. I think this recent article from @Lovtoo published on Tech18 sums it up quite nicely.

So there you have my list of favourite articles for writing great content.  There are so many great articles out there on this subject and I am aware that I have not even scratched the surface, please let me know which articles you found helpful so that we can all share.

Please let me know how you think this series is shaping up, are there any subjects that you would like me to include?

Back next week with Top 10 Articles for…Promoting your blog.