Blogging: Principles That Work
If you have a blog, here are some key principles that will help you find more readers and as a result, have more influence:
1) Find your niche – what area or issue can you write about that no one else is addressing? In the blogging world, the niche is the new big.
2) Keep it simple – my blog was tested and is actually written at a 7th grade reading level. At first I was offended, but then I realized, it’s a diary, not a research paper. Write at a level that’s popular, not exclusive.
3) Keep it focused – your readers generally seek it out for one thing. What is your identity? What is your brand? What makes your blog different? Why should I hear from you? What makes you an expert?
4) Keep it short – I’ve discovered that crazy people write the longest responses. There’s a reason we call people on the web “surfers” and not “readers”.
5) Your personal perspective matters. Check out Dooce. A housewife simply writes about raising kids. And now she’s one of the top blogs in the country and makes about $40,000 a month in advertising. It’s all her personal perspective and people love it.
6) Three words: provocative, personal, and preemptive. Be controversial, intimate, and strike before anyone else.
7) Consider multiple writers. Study the Huffington Post, Church Marketing Sucks, Engadget, and others who have a team of writers, versus this blog that has just me. I love writing, but if you have difficulty doing it regularly, then you might consider getting help – just make sure they express your vision.
8) Are you a creative blog or a content blogs? I’m a creative blog. I write original stuff. But some of the most popular blogs aggregate content – as in the Drudge Report or Bully Pulpit. They don’t do anything but scour the web and bring all the articles on a particular issue into one place on a daily basis.
9) There’s always a debate about conflict. Although I wish my serious posts were the most read – sadly, my most popular posts are usually gossip related. If I write on the challenges of the new media world I get a few hundred readers. But if I write about Paula White’s divorce or Juanita Bynum’s fist-fight in a hotel parking lot, my readership spikes. Problem is, I don’t want to be the Tmz.com of religious media.
