Sean Romanoff Communications

Get to the point.

That pretty much sums up the way to write a successful blog post. You can be clever, but be quick. You can be incisive, but be quick. You can be thoughful, but be quick. Are you noticing a trend?

More than any other kind of communication, a true blog post is a written conversation. And good conversation gets to the point. If you’re wondering, just think back to the last time a friend told you a meandering story.

I’ll assume you’re now convinced.

So with this empasis on speed, there are four keys to make sure your blog post does the job it’s supposed to do and does it quickly.

Headline – It’s the first thing a reader sees so it stands to reason that the headline is important. There are a variety of ways to write a headline but what has worked for this blog is the basic “how-to” headline often written in the form of a question. A business blog should convey useful information, so a reader needs to know what the subject is and what specific topic will be addressed. In this post the subject is business blogging and the topic is the keys to a successful post.

First sentence – Don’t let the first line be a throwaway sentence. It must push the reader forward. Short sentences are often good and surprising ones are great. But don’t fake it just for the sake of trying to shock. When you do that you run the risk of losing the reader forever because your credibility is shot

Length – A blog post needs to be long enough to convey value, but short enough that a person feels like it wasn’t a chore to read. A range of 250-350 words is a good rule of thumb.

Unity – Stick to the point. And don’t be repetitive unless you need to emphasize that point.

Follow these simple keys and your blog readers will thank you. Plus, they’ll make a blog more fun to write.

Knowing what you’re going to say is one of the biggest obstacles to blogging consistency. And blogging consistency is a key to a successful blog. When you don’t know what you want to blog about, it gets harder and harder to write. Eventually you post less and less frequently until you never write in your blog at all. Then your blog does nothing to market your site and actually can be a detriment to your ultimate success.

How do you avoid this problem? Create an editorial calendar.

If you have a daily blog, a monthly calendar should work well. Sit down and write out topics you want to discuss on your blog. Then break those topics down into sub-topics. The same thing was done with this blog where there were recently a series of posts on newsletters followed by the current series on business blogging. Keep in mind you can alter the calendar to address a hot topic in your field or in the news.

Near the end of the month, do the same thing again. Sit down and write out a number of topics, then break those topics down into sub-topics. Don’t worry if you sound repetitive or if there’s some overlap — that’s bound to happen a little over the course of a year. You’ll be surprised how you’ll treat a topic with slight differences each time you touch on it.

By using an editorial calendar and mapping out the topics in advance, you’ll never be at a loss for what to say.

If you’d like to discuss your blog, contact me today.