Posts Tagged ‘Blogging’

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Each blog post you write should leave your readers fully satisfied. Like sex, a good meal or even a good TV show, each blog post must be enough to leave people happy but wanting more at that same time. While every performance may not be better than the last, you have to leave the expectation that the next performance will be at least just as good.

Developing a good blog isn’t about being a one-hit wonder. If all you have in you is one post then you’re better off guest-blogging for someone else, instead of trying to build a blog of your own. But if you want to develop your own blog with your own following then you’ve got to be able to deliver the goods on a regular basis.

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There is an old adage that says you need to leave people wanting more. The essence of this is to make sure you don’t give so much that your audience becomes bored, but to give them only enough to keep them wanting more. Give them just enough to satisfy, but also wanting the encore.

A blog is different. You don’t want to leave them wanting more, but instead you want to give them far more than they expected. Of course, leaving them wanting an encore isn’t such a bad thing either.

Give them more while leaving them wanting more

As writers we often get caught up in words. Even as I’m writing and editing this post I’m concerned that it’s not long enough. That I don’t have enough words on the page. But good writing isn’t about adding more unnecessary words just to fill a quota. In fact it’s often just the opposite. It’s about eliminating the words that are not necessary so those that you keep make the most impact.

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Having a good headline, a good article and even a good-looking site isn’t always enough to maintain an audience. To keep people coming back to your blog day after day you have to go through the extra effort to keep your visitors interested in your content.

Think of your blog as a TV show. How many shows start out strong but can’t maintain the interest as time passes? I remember years ago watching the show Alias. It quickly became one of my favorite shows that I looked forward to watching each week. Then somewhere around mid second season it jumped the shark. (The post-Superbowl episode when SD-6 was brought down and the sexual tension between the two main characters… oh, never mind. Yes, I’m still holding a grudge!) Alias just as quickly became one of the many shows that I threw away.

While you don’t need to have sexual tension in your blog content (or an evil mastermind, for that matter) to keep people interested, you do need to have an element of anticipation. Your readers should want to come back and read what you have to say next. But unlike a TV show, the anticipation of each “episode” of your blog needs to provide a release, leaving the reader completely fulfilled.

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It’s just a fact of life, good looking people get more attention. We walk through the checkout line in the grocery store and see half a dozen magazines filled with beautiful faces on top of beautiful bodies. A good looking woman walking through the mall is bound to turn a few heads. Commercials are filled with models that pass the schwing test. (Yes, I pulled out my 80’s innuendo reference manual for that!)

Our love of beauty isn’t just focused on the human body. We love well manicured lawns, beautiful sunsets, and gorgeous building architecture. Some of us even go to restaurants where the food is pretty. Face it, we are very visual people.

It strikes me as odd, that as much stock as we place in things that are wonderful to look at, we often don’t take as much care with our blogs. I understand that it’s not easy putting together a website that looks good. It takes effort, skill and often a good amount of money. So instead of doing what needs to be done we skimp. Blogs, on the other hand are far easier, it’s just a matter of finding a good theme and running with it. But for whatever reason, that often doesn’t happen.

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In Step 1 of the Go Blog Yourself series I discussed the need to know more about your audience. If you want to get someone’s attention you have to know more about those that will be looking. It does you no good to bring dinner to a desert social!

Once you know who’s eye’s you’ll be turning your way, the next step is to really hone in on they type of content that they will want. In the world of movies, it’s not hard to generate a male audience. Show a little T&A, add some guns and explosions and you’ve got a movie almost any guy will watch.

But the world isn’t made up of only men. This something that Hollywood understands when it comes to selling TV advertising. There are the 18-49 year old male demographic, but there are also teenage boys, tween girls, older women, older men, etc. Each one of these segments has their eye on something completely different.

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