I have been getting the question more and more frequently, and I don’t always have a clear and defiant answer, but I have noticed a couple of things in each answer. I have outlined them here, but explained what I mean below.

First of all, Keep It Simple, at least give readers the majority of the info in the first paragraph, so they can quickly decide if they want to invest the time to read the rest.

Second, Use Consistent Formatting. If you are going to cover multiple topics, try to use a h3 or h4 tag at the beginning of each topic, so if readers are looking for specific items (that they knew you were going to cover because of a well written introduction paragraph) they can find it easily.

Third, Use Some Links to background information. In addition to giving the original author props, you also want to give readers the option to get valuable information about the subject matter if they want.

Stay Focused there is nothing more annoying than a blog post, that starts off strong, but wonders off into la la land and looses my interest.

Lastly, Keep ‘Em Coming, I always encourage readers to keep viewing my blog regularly, as I will be adding more about this topic in the future.

Keep it Simple

I don’t know how better to explain this. I usually encourage that blog posts not be lengthy dissertations or never ending rants, although I could think of a couple rants of my own. Giving readers up front, no fluff content is key!

Formatting

Using some simple formatting tags makes it mush easier for readers to find what they are looking for without having to read every single word. Imagine looking for the part about linking if this were all just regular type.

Links

Linking is one of the most important things to do in a blog post, as I mentioned above, it gives credit for original ideas but also sends links to other bloggers, an action you hope they return. Which will mutually benefit both of your blogs in the search engines and traffic. Check out Andy Beard’s post on successful linking if you need some pointers on what to do and not to do.

Stay Focused

Seriously, If I just clicked a link about blogging strategies, and I find myself reading about SEO relevance or Why not to use Flash in a website, I have de-railed. Make a seperate post about that stuff and give readers what they were looking for.

Keep ‘Em Coming

If I told you that this was the last article I would ever post to this site, would you come back? Conversely if I mention that I will be attending a class on blogging from one of the Bloggosphere’s most famous bloggers on February 6th, and I will be making a part 2, 3 and 4 giving more detail about these and other relevant techniques, you might just check in after the 6th.

Happy Blogging