You Wanna Blog About WHAT? Choosing a Blog Topic, Adding Great Content and Images, Developing a Theme
I have seen and read several well written posts about how we should be writing our blogs to hold our audience's attention. But, this one by Fred Griffin was Feature worthy in my opinion, and needed to be repeated for many of our Active Rain Members, who are having some concerns with coming up with the quality topics, good images and photos to support their themes in their posts.
Fred touch on just about every area of concern for writing any quality post, and I would highly recommend any new members, or those that need some direction to stop by and check out this post on "Developing Your Theme" by finding the right blog topics, images, photos, and videos.
A Great Blog begins with a Great Topic and a Great Title. The Topic must be attention getting. You have only seconds to grab a Reader's attention. The Topic must be relevant or newsworthy. Maybe an instructional "How-To", or perhaps an interview with somebody Important.
Think about your Audience - what are they looking for? Give them what they want; your Blog will have loyal followers.
________________________________
Important Considerations regarding Content, Themes, and Design:
Great Content - remember to Write for Humans, use Keywords for Search Engines.
Make sure that your Title is Keyword Rich; include Alt-Text behind Images and Videos.
Use Photos and Videos - we are in a Visual Age. A Blog with Images has a much, much greater chance of being read, than a Blog with Text Only. Take the time to Embed a Video into your Blog, or upload some static Images and Photos into your Blog.
A good Blog will have a combination of Text, Photos, and Images. This covers all types of readers - those who want to read, those who look at pictures, and those who watch videos.
Speaking of visual, how about the Text Font?
Small Times New Roman is great for inducing sleep; it's not so exciting in a Blog.
Add some color, use some bold, use "Big" or 14 point type in the Headers and Titles.
Use attractive Font Types (Comic Sans MS, Cambria, etc.).
Throw in some Italics where appropriate.
Links and Losing Readers: keep your Readers on your Blogs and Websites! Why post a Link to say, "Realtor.com", and your Reader goes off to Realtor.com and never comes back to your Blog or Website?
You want Links to take them to YOUR Website, or your Facebook Business Page, or your YouTube Channel... not somebody else's.
Speaking of Links, try to force any Link to open in a new Tab or a new Window, so that they don't close the door on your Blog.
______________________________________________
Using Flash on a Blog or Website? Uh-uh.
Flash is great for only one thing - annoying people. Do not use Flash. Likewise, take it easy with Animated GIFs or other Graphics. Less is More.
______________________________________
Use a Signature that includes a link to your Website, your email address, phone number, Icons/Links to your YouTube Channel, your Google+ Page, your Twitter Handle, your Facebook Business Page, your LinkedIn Page, and your other Social Media sites.
______________________________________
Develop Consistency and a "Theme" or Brand for your Blog.
Does every one of your Blogs look different? Not cool.
You want your Peeps to recognize your Style, your Theme, your Blog, before they even read the words or see your mug shot. Be Consistent!
________________________________________
Recent Topics that drew a lot of Comments
Google Picnik is being shuttered
Wall Street One Percenter becomes White House Chief of Staff
Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos beat Steelers in "Miracle Game"
Steve Jobs passes away
Happy Cat has Pet Squirrel
A Great Blog begins with a Great Topic and a Great Title. The Topic must be Attention Getting. You have only seconds to grab a Reader's attention.
The Topic must be relevant or newsworthy. Something fresh and current. Maybe an Instructional"How-To", or perhaps an interview with somebody Important.
Blog great Content, good images and videos. Pay attention to Font styles. Develop a Theme. Be Consistent!
Comments (3)Subscribe to CommentsComment