Blogcraft - tips, tricks and advice for bloggers

Blogcraftor tips and tricks for bloggers

Andy Priestner, Cambridge Judge Business School

A unique life form Blogging is a unique literary form with its own rules and techniques

Latitude for different writing styles, but generally more informal and personal

Immediate global publishing, no barriers to entry

Commentary from, and interaction with, readers is key

Find your voice Imbue your posts with personality and character

Don’t be tempted to be formal and dry (it can still be professional)

Think conversation rather than broadcast

Consider your audience at all times

Short or long? Most say aim for concise and scannable

But, sometimes it’s good (and right) to explore in more depth

Use subheadings to structure longer posts

As long as its interesting, post length is irrelevant

Entertain your audience Incorporate humour, everyone wants to be entertained

Will help to show your personality and build audience

Makes your posts memorable

Converse Ask questions

Employ ‘calls to action’

Allow and respond to comments

It’s not just about you, make it a conversation if you can

frequencyTime and frequency Once you have an audience, seek to retain them

You can blog too much: “Hasn’t he/she got anything better to do?”

At least once a month, but ideally more frequently

Hit the zeitgeist!

Use hooks Craft a blogpost title that will make people want to read it (it’s often the only thing that will make people click through)

The title should also convey the benefits of reading the post and/or be the post in a nutshell’

Provoke controversy or debate

Try a clever or compelling opening – a quote, an anecdote, a statistic, a question (think start of a great talk)

Make it beautiful A picture paints a thousand words

They forge emotional connections

They grab attention

Charts and diagrams add depth

Promote your posts Allow readers to follow your blog

Tweet your post

Comment on other blogs

Use internal links

Write a follow-up post

Communicate your passion ...for the subject matter

Explain your point of view

Care and others will care too

Make your postsfindable Categorise your posts

Use tags

Think about the keywords you use

So what? Readers should not be able to say ‘so what?’ in response to your posts

Consider your point carefully. Do you have a goal for your post?

How does the post benefit your readers?

What impact does the post make?

What ambitions do you have for your blog?

The more you blog the better you will blog (fact)

All images sourced from Flickr Creative Commons

Credits:http://www.flickr.com/photos/jakebryanthttp://www.flickr.com/photos/azrasta/http://www.flickr.com/photos/danialvarezfotos/http://www.flickr.com/photos/drakegoodman http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_lightwavehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/darwinbell http://www.flickr.com/photos/mutantmandiashttp://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms http://www.flickr.com/photos/dexxushttp://www.flickr.com/photos/nalbertini http://www.flickr.com/photos/practicalowlhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/minow http://www.flickr.com/photos/waltstoneburner http://www.flickr.com/photos/antoniochahttp://www.flickr.com/photos/ilouque

Happy blogpost crafting! Blog: libreaction.wordpress.comTwitter: @PriestLibEmail: ap547@cam.ac.ukLinkedIn: uk.linkedin.com/in/andypriestner/