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Ten Writing Tips to Create Blog Posts That Get Read

I felt a little weird creating that title, but if we want readers to visit our blogs, we need compelling headlines. And while the one above seems boastful, I know from experience that writers seek writing tips. And they are not looking for bad ideas but good ones. Hence the headline, and my effort below to share what works in writing a good post.

Okay, here is one writer's ideas. I haven't changed what I believe to be good writing in the past 30+ years, starting as a journalist, then editor, then publisher, then freelance writer and today a marketer/communicator. Hope these tips help.

1. Know your audience and write for them. What do they want to read, learn and use in their own lives/businesses?
2. Start with a compelling headline/title. This is our most difficult task. How do we attract readers in three to seven or eight words?
3. Tell a story instead of stringing together a series of related but impersonal paragraphs.
4. Write from a point of view. I usually write from my point of view and talk about ideas from my personal experiences.
5. Vary the length of your sentences to create a readable and friendly pace for your readers. Short sentences are best for creating energy and excitement, longer sentences to express thoughtfulness and provoke readers to think.
6. Create a lead (first paragraph) that moves readers to continue reading. Make sure your angle is in the lead, and it is clear, concise and tells readers why they should care.
7. Use transitional devices to move from one paragraph to the next.
8. Use bullet points and/or numerals if you are trying to share best practices, such as I am doing here.
9. Tie your story together with the last paragraph, which should smoothly link back to your lead.
10. Be authentic. Write the way you and your readers talk. Keep it simple. You are writing a blog post not a thought paper.

Here's the secret to using the above 10 tips or any tips for doing anything: Use what works for you and discard the rest. If you do that, you will understand why headlines need not create a perception of boastfulness, even when they seem to do so like the one used here, and you will learn how to create loyal readers while continuing to attract new ones.

Provoke Your Readers

We marketing and communications bloggers often discuss authenticity. That is because we understand  that readers recognize BS. But the reason we primarily discuss authenticity is because we recognize that the writer who writes what he thinks and what he believes writes better than those who write what they think readers want to hear.

At the end of the day, we need to be 100% honest with ourselves and with our readers. Sometimes that means we share stories about other's ideas with which we disagree. Or we take on controversial subjects. Or we write negatively about a business, a campaign, a person or a product or a service.

If we are to do our jobs well, which include story telling, analyzing, reviewing, commenting, educating, informing and sharing, we will occasionally provoke our readers. And that is a good thing. Nothing causes us to think deeply in a search for the truth than to have our beliefs challenged.

Occasionally provoke your readers! You and they will be better for it.

Forget Champagne, Pass the Beer

To be authentic, we need to know who we are. I think the same is true of communicators/writers/marketers: To be authentic, honest, credible and reputable, we need to communicate and write about what we know and, just as important, what we believe is true and what our audience/community wants, needs and desires to hear. But first we have to know who we are and what our Muse looks like.

Me? I'm the product of a blue-collar man who was honest to a fault, and a homemaker woman who believed college didn't make you smart, but it might make other people think you are. Both influenced me and made me who I am today, a beer and burger guy who went to several colleges and studied erudite stuff like writing and philosophy and history and international law and even an honors class in revolution. It made for a pretty good background for a journalism major.

My dad showed me what hard work means, as he started as a ditch digger in construction, worked his way up to truck driver, taught himself how to drive heavy equipment, survey and blow stuff up, until he became an un-degreed engineer for the NH Highway Department. Meanwhile, he played semi-professional baseball, following a tryout with the Johnstown Baseball Company (a St. Louis Browns affiliate), and taught kids like me how to play sports with honor, respect and dignity. Oh, by the way, he also found time for a second job as an electrician, which he also taught himself.

Mom, well when she wasn't yelling, she spent lots of time bragging on me to friends, while at home she let me know how worthless I was. Might sound horrible, but from her I got my spunk and the chutzpah to do whatever I wanted and to strive to be the best I could at whatever I did. She also inspired me to serve in the military, something I will never regret.

My muse? Wears jeans and a tee shirt, reads a lot, loves sports, makes up for his limited vocabulary and memory with reference books. He is a firm believer in happiness, kindness and caring but hides his soft side deep in the bushes behind all the prickly stuff. My Muse is not a deep thinker, but he has lots of ideas. He pushes my to write about what I know: experiences, gut feelings, work, communications, writing, and the marketing arts. He reminds me that the degrees don't make me smart, but listening, watching, learning, testing and trying to do the best I can for the past 35 years do make me practiced and skilled at what I do. More important, my Muse insists on integrity, honesty, fairness and a willingness to admit I made a mistake.

That is what my Muse looks like. He is always better than me and always someone I can look to when I forget my way. And knowing what he looks like tells me who I am. You may call your Muse something else: some use words such as soul, spirit, Saviour, God, conscience, and so on. But no matter what you call your Muse, we get to authenticity in our writing by knowing him/her well.

If you want to be a writer, communicator, marketer, PR dude or anyone who is charged with creating a great experience for others, and you also believe that to be excellent and these jobs you must be authentic and true to yourself, you must first be able to draw a picture of your Muse. He may look like mine: Rough around the edges but honest to a fault. Or he may be beautiful and smart. Doesn't matter. What does matter is that your Muse doesn't allow you to write because you think you are smarter or better than others. Instead, he encourages you to write because you have something to share, something that others may care about, and every word is the truth as you see it and never a charade to cover up your sins with just another good story.

When you are authentic and true to yourself, then you will be the kind of writer, communicator, marketer, or other professional that might not be the smartest or the brightest, but you will always produce the best work, because you care enough to do the best you can and to always do the right thing for your readers, your clients and your customers.

Writing and Blogging for Links and Complements

As often is the case, a brief post by Seth Godin put my mind on spin cycle. Here is the key sentence that has me whirling:

"The most effective marketing use of blogs seems to be when the advertiser/marketer uses the blog as an opportunity not to sell a product, but to attract people who are in the right mindset." (Click here for entire post.)

And that leads me to this post, which will not make me more popular with some. Although I recognize the importance of links to my readers who find me through search, and I appreciate the bloggers who link to one of my posts because they believe it has value and they also write on the same subjects, I don't write for links and I don't write for complements, otherwise I'd be smart enough to not write these kinds of controversial posts. Instead, as I've said before. both here and at MP Daily Fix, I write to share business information and a social media point of view with my readers in an effort to help them think about something differently, or to remind them of a strategy or tactic they may have forgotten or never used, or to communicate an idea. But because I write for readers and not for myself, I am confused and put off by fluff and self-serving posts written by business bloggers, including those of us in marketing, PR and advertising.

Before I begin my discourse, let me say right up front that "It's your blog. Write about what you want, in the style you want, and enjoy." However, if you write for readers, then recognize that reader perception, not your intent, equates to your blogging brand image. And if that matters to you, then what I say here may be of value. And since I know this post is going to offend some, and because we often skim instead of read for content, the messages that I intend follow, which are then followed by the longer discourse.

1. Posts about links sometimes seem self-serving and intended to drive reciprocal links.
2. Often these posts are little more than fluff.
3. Neither of the above statements are earth-shaking or critical to success, but if you are a business person, with a blog dedicated primarily to business or a profession such as marketing, PR, advertising and other fields related to communications, I encourage you to recognize the messages you send when you produce post-light. And the messages I mean are not the ones our friends receive, but the ones that potential customers, clients and readers receive.
4. Most important, when you create fluff or link-love posts, ask yourself how your readers benefit. I argue these posts do little more than get you love-links in return, if that, and that may be your intent, at least it is one perception being created.
5. If you write for your readers, produce posts they care about and that they have come to expect. It's okay to schedule in entertainment pieces, awards or reader recognition. That's what most of us in do the communications fields. We recognize and write to and for our audience. We inform, educate, entertain and recognize but always in ways that add value to all readers.
6. Link-love posts mostly fail to achieve any of the four objectives just recited.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems that too often we use our blogs to sell ourselves, when instead we should be using our blogs to reach our readers, who are made up of a group of people, as Seth says, "in the right mindset." In the interest of full disclosure, I have been guilty of this. But when I recognized that I was occasionally writing for the primary purpose of being one of the gang or to serve my needs, I soon realized that I wasn't being authentic, and that is just wrong in my world. So while I love and like you and hope you love and like me back, and although I continue to write about music on the weekends because when I stopped, some of my readers were disappointed, and I also write to recognize loyal readers because it is a good example of marketing at its best, to be authentic I also have to write honestly about things that I think do a disservice to readers. We should be about our customers (our readers), and that is the point of this post.

In my view, link love brings out the worst in some of us. Memes and hidden links (see David Berkowitz) are at best helpful only to those getting the links and then only if we care about links. (And, yes, I once spread meme love but have since stopped doing so.)

From what I have observed, the link-love pieces are mostly fluff and provide the reader with little information unless they click on the link, and even then the readers might discover the link exists only to serve the blogger posting the link. Do most readers really care if another blogger thinks I'm cool? Or do readers care that another blogger got a tattoo? If our readers do care and if the piece is important enough to link to, I think we bloggers should add our thoughts on the subject instead of driving our readers elsewhere, where they may or may not want to go.

In short here is my bottom line: If a writer posts a piece that I think my readers care about, I will write on the subject, as I did recently on the Pudding Media topic, and then link to the sources that got me thinking about that subject in the event readers want other points of view. That is very different from simply putting a link to another post, without any reason other than what appears to be link love and hope for reciprocal linking.

Views are the Result of Perception: What we write, including this post, will be seen and interpreted through hundreds, sometimes thousands of eyes. Perception will drive what you think of this post, no matter my original intent. As a reader, my perception of blogs written only to share links is that they are fluff pieces that are often self-serving. Some of you will disagree, and that's okay, because I write for you and the fact that you take the time to think about this subject means that it is resonating with you, whether or not you agree or disagree.

Here is what drives my opinion: Don't we business people blog for our readers? If we don't, then we should at least tell our readers why we are blogging because I suspect that most readers think we write to and for them. If one stops to think about this, anyone who writes for themself is keeping a public diary, and that's fine, but we should say so, as Geoff Livingston at The Buzz Bin so honestly did when he launched a former blog in which the title told us why he was blogging. His goals have changed and now he writes for his readers and the blog title has changed.

Furthermore, we show our readers that we are writer's and we tell and show them, either in our bios or by the subject matter we tackle, that we are marketers or other business professionals. As business professional and writers, we know that those who matter most are our audience. We learn that in Business and Writing 101. In the blogging world, that primary audience is made up of our readers. And like all good writers and marketers, we know why our readers come to our posts. It is because we fulfill a want or a need in terms of our subject matter, our point of view and our style. Why would we put a link to another post that has nothing to do with what we are writing about? Why would we create a post to carry those links? There is a reason variety shows and general readership publications mostly no longer exist. Readers have expectations of their pubs, including blogs, and I doubt they include a listing of links without purpose other than to spread link love.

Here's My Conclusion: I'm old-fashioned (emphasis on old) and believe we owe it to our readers to write for them and, yes, sometimes about them. But I think we do a disservice to them and, most important, to our readers when we share a post made up of links that do little more than add another link to someone's Technorati ranking. Again, if someone is worthy of a link, they deserve more than four or five words. If they are link-worthy, they are post worthy. And that is my view.

P.S. What am I missing here? Where am I wrong? Why does the above piss you off, if it does? Or why does it resonate positively with you? Shouldn't we always ask the following question before posting: How does this post help my readers?

Writing for and to Readers

A few weeks ago I was surprised to learn that some of us don't write for readers but for ourselves. I was  surprised because my first professional writing job at age 16 came with but one piece of advice: Know your readers and write for them. As I moved through the writing ranks, from reporter to columnist to feature writer to freelance writer to editor to marketing VP, that advice was the gospel among those I worked with.

And then I penned a piece for the Daily Fix called 10 Tips for Keeping Your Blog Fresh, in which I offered this: "Finally, write for readers, not links. When we write for readers, we create words and ideas that are authentic, heart-felt, credible and worth reading. Readers are the audience, and in writing for our audience, the links will come. Going back to my first professional writing job, my editor told me repeatedly to write for readers, not for myself. All of my subsequent editors ensured that I remembered that lesson."

Several commenters disagreed, saying they write for themselves, what interests them, not for their readers. To some extent I think we are saying the same thing. Except when writing on assignment, and even sometimes then, all writers write about what they know and what interests them. But when they are writing, they have readers in mind. They know who those readers are, what their readability levels are, and what inspires those readers to go beyond the headline into the body of the story.

I relate writing to marketing in almost every way. To be successful, we first must determine the ideal audience (customer or client) and understand their wants and needs. And then we must provide a solution for those wants and needs, or the audience will go elsewhere. We must communicate in our audience's language, in a style that meets their needs and in a way that makes sense and is clear to them. If we don't, our messages will not be read. And that includes whether we are creating marketing messages, advertising copy, web site content, magazine articles, newspaper Op-Eds, fiction or non-fiction. If we want to be read, we need to write for the audience that we are trying to reach. But beyond that, we also need to write for the medium(s) that we are using to reach that audience.

Styles, length, vernacular, and even language must be created somewhat differently for every medium. A magazine article for Travel & Leisure will be different from one on the same topic written for the LA Times. The magazine article should be written for readers sipping wine, sitting in their favorite chair, with the fireplace blazing. The newspaper article should be written for someone taking a break at work, or commuting by train, or flying to a business meeting. The styles and the length will vary because of the reader's wants and needs.

In closing, as in marketing, writers can write for themselves and create a niche market. Or they can write for readers for which there already is a market. I have been on both sides of that equation, and in my experience, creating products and services where no market already exists is far less likely to succeed than meeting a current market's wants and needs.

But you be the judge. Think about the pros and cons of the two strategies. What is you end-game?

How to Get Unstuck When Writer's Block Strikes

I am over at the Daily Fix today. Here is the lead:

Few things are more important in life and in business than communications that are clear and concise. And, I think I can safely say, few things are more scarce in life and in business than those kinds of communications. That said, while few I know seldom have problems speaking, many of us have or will experience writer's block. What to do?

Best advice, do what I am doing right now--write.

Read the entire article here.

Writing that Sells

For the past 35 years, my writing and communications skills have earned me a decent living. In sharing  what I have learned, I often surprise my readers and listeners when the first thing I share is that selling your writing has more to do with your approach and marketing than with your writing skills.

Having worked as a book, as a newspaper, as a newsletter and as a magazine editor, I can honestly say that most submissions that are read, as opposed to those that are tossed, are well written. And those that are tossed are usually not read; the accompanying letter is what moves the editor to discard those written submissions.

Although no one can teach you how to write for a publication in a blog post, I can offer a few suggestions that might at least get your submission read. Here are some basic tips:

1. Don't query with an idea, unless you have a writer's reputation or have written previously for the publication. You will need to submit a finished piece.
2. Your submission begins with a cover letter that is a one-pager describing why the publication you are submitting to would want to publish your piece (this is where you show your understanding of the publication and its readers and why the readers care about what you have written). The letter also should include your piece's angle and a little about you, especially any writing experiences.
3. The letter has to motivate and inspire the person who reads it. To be worthy of an editor's time, there must be no misspellings, no typos and no grammatical errors. The letter should follow AP Style or Chicago Manual of Style. Forget adjectives. Write using nouns and action verbs. The style of your writing should mirror the style of your submission.
4. Your submission should be a story on a subject the publications and its readers expect. Unique articles on a subject that the publication has never before featured are seldom used.
5. Your submission must have a beginning, middle and end. Seems obvious but based on my experience writers sometimes don't understand this simple and basic but necessary principle.
6. Your submission should be about the length (word count or column inches) of a typical article within the publication.
7. You must submit the article to an editor. You usually can find their name(s) on one of the early inside pages, plus you can find the address to submit your article. If you cannot, go online where that information should be available. If all else fails, call the publication and tell the receptionist what you need.
8. Know the differences between writing for a newspaper and a magazine. By reading and analyzing articles in each, you should be able to figure that out. Also, know the writing styles and subject differences among magazines that cater to different audiences.
9. Do not mass submit. Most publications what first-time rights.
10. The only way to be a professional writer is to write. You should be able to submit at least one article a week, if you want to succeed as a free-lance writer.
11. The bonus tip: Know the rules. Every editor and every publication has different expectations.

Writing that Works for the Client and Delivers Profit

Yesterday, a fellow blogger realized he was bogged down in the writing process, costing him time and delaying delivery to a client. He reached out to me for help. This often happens to consultants who provide copy writing services within their marketing menu. When we get stuck, reaching out to a fellow consultant you trust is a good idea.

I shared the following process that has worked for me for the past three decades:

1. Begin with research. Ask the client for all their marketing collaterals, study their web site and do a search to read what has been written about them. You can never have too much information about your client.
2. Interview your client for at least an hour, asking questions such as these:

• What are your goals and objectives?
• Who specifically is the target audience? What are their wants and needs? How do you meet those wants and needs? What are the solutions to their challenges?
• What one or two key messages do you want the reader to receive?
• If your customer was sitting here instead of me, what would you say to them?
• What do your customer's say about you? (Get testimonials from the client and if they don't have any, ask the client to get some.)
• How do your customers know they can trust you? What makes you credible?
• What are some of your client successes?

With this information digested and understood, write the first draft. Write concisely, clearly and without jargon. Don't talk about the client; talk about what the client's customers receive and about what they can expect. Then send it off to your client with the clear understanding that you expect changes, revisions and additions. The client needs to understand that to create great copy, collaboration is required.

This is a brief explanation of the process I have successfully used hundreds of times. From start to finish should take about two weeks.

When Our Voice Changes, What Does It Mean?

In the past week or so, I noticed that one of my friends and fellow blogger's voice changed. Having been a writer for 44 years, including formal training, I learned to speak from the heart in the reader's language and pay attention to tone. So my voice changes depending on the subject matter. I am unaware of it as I write but in editing and proofing I note the tone, and carefully think about how that tone comes across to my readers. I also do that when reading work by others.

Therefore, when I noticed that CK's writing has become edgier, I asked her if she was feeling okay (in an e-mail to her). She replied that she is fine in a return e-mail in which she echoed my word change, and she wondered how aware of it we are.

In my writing, I am 100 percent aware. But in my life, I seldom recognize personal changes until someone mentions it to me. That seems dense of me, and more than a little scary. Because change within is caused by something, and that something may be external or internal. It may be good or bad. And if I am unaware that it is taking place, it may affect my mental and physical health, my relationships with others and the subjects I choose to write about. If that happens, I lose control. Can that be a good thing for me, for my readers, for my business, for my friends or for my family?

As most of my readers here are also bloggers, I ask if you are always aware of the changes within and  how those changes may affect your writing and all the important things and people in your life? Do those changes affect the quality of your work? Do they impinge on client relationships? How do they impact your friends and families?

These questions come from two sources: first CK but second a post by Gavin at Servant of Chaos entitled Too Close to Bare? that I encourage you to read. Your answers may affect the rest of your life and the ways you look at your profession, your clients, your friends and your families. The answers may make you a better person or not. They should make you a better marketer, designer, seller, executive, and so on, as when we recognize changes in our lives, we begin to recognize changes in others, as well, making us more sympathetic and empathic with people. As life and business are about people, we need to understand each other better to serve others wants and needs, the key to building relationships and businesses.

So You Think You Want to Write A Book, Part 2

I'm on a break. That's right. I'm taking a break from my book. Not the writing part, the editing part.

You see, the writing is easy. You do the research, shrink it down to bite-sized digestible parts, and mix it with your own thoughts, to create a book with substance and style... maybe. The reviewers and readers make that call.

Editing is the hard part. It can be extremely painful. I am on my fourth round. That's 200 pages of changes times four. Leave your ego at the door, because it is not welcome at this party. Clean your glasses, and if you don't yet need them, you will if you become a writer of books or a free-lance writer of articles. Everyday is a day of reading, writing and editing.

I have a good editor, which means more work than if I had a bad editor. Editors that care question everything. And writers that care respond to every question. Currently, I am on page 38 of what was a 203-page manuscript. Now it is 186 pages and moving downward, because good editors tighten our words with a plumber's wrench and then tighten them again with a hydraulic wrench. Ouch!

Here's the good news. Once I make it through this round, there are but two rounds left: proofing (reading the entire book one more time) and publishing. Oops! Make that three rounds. After the publishing, I have to work my butt off marketing and selling my book.

So, you say you want to write a book, Bunky! You know. It can't be that bad. This is my fifth. Then again, maybe my long-term memory is in the dumper. Oh, well. It's back to editing. Say a little prayer for me.

Note: Check out Seth's Book tour update: When the funnel gets flipped for a great marketing idea. Also, See Seth's post on the value of business books, Do business books work?