Here, I have listed five things that a post must have to make it a great blog post.

1. Well Written - This one is a no-brainer. If you want people to enjoy your blog post and recommend it to others, your blog post should be well written. Your blog post should be without any grammatical or spelling mistakes, and its style and tone should be such that the reader stays interested till the very end.

2. Well Presented – The taste of food becomes even better if it is presented well, does it not? Similarly, a well written blog post will impress the reader more if it is well presented. A well presented blog post is one which is accompanied by an attractive and relevant image. You should use lists,  boldface, italics, etc.  to emphasise the message you want to put across in your post.

3. Great Content – Even if you have a well written, well presented, post, you do not necessarily have a great post on your hands. A great post  is one that has great content, and great content is that which provides value to the reader. A reader is spending valuable time reading your blog post, and your post should provide him with his time’s worth.

4. Extra links –  Another feature of a great blog post is that it contains links to older posts on your blog or other websites that a visitor can visit if he wishes to know more about the subject you are dealing with in your post. It is not possible to write everything about a topic in a single blog post, so if you there are other articles on the subject that you know of, you should point your reader in that direction.

5. Makes the reader think and comment – Lastly, your blog post should make your reader think, which in turn may make him comment on your post. Isn’t that what you want?

What do YOU think are the characteristics of a great blog post?

Every time I find it difficult to write something, I set out on a search on the Internet to find something that may get me inspired enough to type out a few words on my computer. Sometimes doing this works, sometimes it doesn’t.

I am a strong believer in systems. If you have to do anything repetitively, it is best to devise a system for it. Doing that takes away some of the pain and labour associated with doing that thing. Since, writing a blog post is something that bloggers have do repetitively, it is best that bloggers devise a system for it.

In fact, I believe, most successful and regular bloggers have systems in place that help them keep their blogs updated even when they don’t feel so inspired, or when they are too busy to blog. Some might feel that writing, being a creative process, cannot be made so mechanical that a system can be devised fro it. There is nothing wrong with the argument, except that it doesn’t work… or, at least, I have not come across anyone who has told me that it works.

Moreover, not all blog posts are equally creative. Some of them are mere reproductions – in your own words – of something you might have read, seen, or observed recently.

That said, I must also admit here that till now I have not been able to devise a permanent system that works for me. I come up with something that works for a while, and then it stops working, and then I have to sit down a devise a new system.

As the opening quote said, I think I am in the process of finding that one system that works for me, and till such time I will have to test and discard systems till I find the one that fits.

What system do YOU adopt?

(Image Courtesy: fangol from sxc.hu)

The online world is a sea of numbers. If you have been online for any length of time, you are sure to be obsessed with one number or another. The list of numbers that can get to you is endless, and increasing by the day – the  number of times you check your email, the number of followers you have on Twitter, the number of friends you have on Facebook, and the list goes on.

If you also happen to be a blogger, then these numbers take on a whole new meaning. It can become so bad that sometimes your entire life begins to revolve around these numbers. You are constantly thinking and planning about what you can do to improve some, if not all, of them.

At times, I too have been obsessed with numbers. Some of the numbers that I have  been obsessed with, and have tried to improve, for this blog are:

1. Google Page Rank – This is a number that many bloggers swore by a few years ago. Every time Google made changes to the Page Ranks, the whole blogosphere would go crazy talking about whose PR had improved, and whose had gone down. People would either be happy about how their page rank had jumped up, or sad that they had lost their PR.   These days, it seems, PR changes don’t create as much of a frenzy as they used to. I guess bloggers have begun to see beyond Google PR.

2. Alexa Rank – This is another number that is still a puzzle to many. Till date, I can’t say that I have been able to understand what a good Alexa Rank really means. What I did find out instead was that an Alexa Rank of under 100,000 meant that your blog was doing good. So, off I went chasing that number. I chased hard, and I did manage to get there for a while, but, as often happens, I couldn’t keep my focus on it for long.

3. Page Visits and Site Visits – These are one of the first numbers that catch a blogger’s attention. After all, after you have posted something on your blog, you would want to know how many people are actually reading it. No blogger can really get over these numbers. Even after years of blogging it is gratifying to see one of your recent posts getting more hits than any other  post you may have posted in the past.

4. Comments – One of the reasons that blogs have become so popular today is the instant feedback that a blogger receives through comments. Therefore, it is not surprising that bloggers love to see a higher number of comments on any blog post. I am no exception,  so if you have the time, do leave a comment, or two.

5. Social Media numbers – Off late, the social media sites have become an important means to spread the word about a blog, or anything else, for that matter. It is no wonder, therefore, that bloggers are trying to use this medium as much as they can. Inevitably, these sites add to the numbers a blogger has to keep track of. Today, you will find a Tweet this button, and a Like this button on any site worth its salt, and higher is the number on these buttons, the better a blogger feels. (Yes, this site also has those buttons, and I would be overjoyed if you clicked them).

Although there are many other numbers that have  grabbed my attention at different times, the above five numbers have been my constant companions through my blogging journey.

As a blogger, what numbers do you care about?

Image: lokigrl616 from sxc.hu

I have, in the past, written a few posts that talk about how Blogging can help you improve your skills as a writer. I am not going to backtrack on anything that I have said in those posts,  but in this post I will play the devil’s advocate and try to build up a case to prove that blogging can actually be detrimental to you as a writer.

Not possible, you say. Read on then is what I say!

The blogging – social networking connection. If you are a blogger, and a serious one, you can’t escape being on the social networks. Don’t all the blogging experts tell you that sites like Twitter, Facebook, etc. play an important role in getting visitors to your site? So, you simply have to join them, and, to be honest, this approach works in as far as getting visitors to your blog is concerned.

But social networking, as I am sure many of you must have found by now, can be addictive. You join the sites to promote your blog,  and then you make friends, and then telling these friends what you have been doing all day is topmost on your To-do list. Sounds Familiar?

Once that has happened, you find that every time you open your computer to write something, a little voice begs you to check your Twitter or Facebook account. Sooner, rather than later, you give in to that little voice, and before you know it, you have lost some valuable time that could have been better spent in writing.

The blogging-Internet connection. So, maybe, social networking is not your thing, but to post a blog you have to get online, and there are many distractions on the Internet than just the social networking sites. You start out with visiting a few sites – for research, you tell yourself – but before you know it you are hopping sites reading one article after another, watching a youtube video, or chatting with an online  friend. Time flies, and you realise that only once it has flown out of your reach.

The blogging schedule. Deadlines have different effects on different writers. Some thrive on deadlines, and some find deadlines quite limiting. Whichever category you may belong to, having the pressure of a blogging schedule can severely hamper your creativity and writing. In fact, I believe, that it is one of the main reasons why we see so many “I have a writer’s block” posts on a lot of blogs.

The making money fallacy. If you have a blog, I am sure, the thought of making money from your blog has crossed your mind – and more than once. It has mine.

Whatever some of the bigger blogs might say on the issue, I have a strong feeling that there are easier ways to make money than blogging. But once you have a blog, and people start telling you how good you are as a writer, you can’t escape  the feeling that maybe you could just chuck away your regular job and earn your livelihood by blogging.

While that is not impossible, it is quite difficult. And it requires skills other than just good writing. If you try to make your blog  a money churner, there is a very good chance that you are going to lose your focus as a writer.

For a writer, therefore, there are a few downsides to creating a blog, and you have to be fully aware of these pitfalls, or your will have a difficult time as a writer.

Note: As I said before, I strongly believe that blogging is an excellent medium for someone who wants to be a better writer. However, like all things,  there is a downside to blogging too. What is your take on the points I have mentioned in the post above?

In my discussions with friends and peers, I often come across instances where someone starts writing something, and then, somewhere in the middle, they lose interest and give up. I myself have done that many times. An idea strikes me. I sit down on my computer in right earnest, and then, half way through, I feel that the idea was not as exciting as it initially seemed. I lose all interest in completing what I had started, and the piece remains unfinished forever.

Does that ever happen to you?

If you are anything like me, you must have had something like that happen to you too.

Lately, however, I have changed my approach. When I start writing something, I make sure that I take it to it’s logical conclusion. Sometimes, I am not satisfied with the end result, but I always have the option of improving it later.

However well you begun something, it will not mean much if you don’t end it well, or do not end it at all. On the other hand, if you manage to finish something with flair, there is a very good chance that people will forget, or ignore, how you had begun. So, focusing on the endings is just as important as focusing on the beginnings.

Finishing what you begin is important as it makes you more productive. If you leave your pieces unfinished, you are, in turn, letting many of your ideas go waste. Starting things, and not completing them, leads to a feeling of dissatisfaction that can accumulate over a period of time, and eventually result in the much feared writer’s block. On the other hand, if you get into the habit of finishing everything you start, you become confident that once you sit down to write, you will get up only when you have got something to post on your blog, or something to send to the editor, whichever the case may be.

Sometimes, it is mere laziness, that stops us from finishing things. We might find any excuse for not completing what we started, but the fact is that we are not willing to do that extra work that is required to complete our piece. By making a habit of completing most – if not all – things we start with, we can get into the habit of working just a little bit extra and, as a result, produce excellent work. Would you not want that?

Image courtesy: cobrasoft from sxc.hu