Make Blogging Easy

The following is based on a training I recently did for the staff of NOI. These guidelines were written with our blog in mind but I think they’ll hold true for anyone who wants to start blogging, or blog more often.

1. Write What You Know

Everyone is an expert on something. In fact you’re probably knowledgeable about several subjects that would make excellent blog posts including your work, hobbies and interests, or even your personal story.

2. Keep it Concise

Blog posts don’t need to be long. A blog isn’t a feature article so there’s no need to feel pressure to produce a long post. As a general rule, 3 to 5 paragraphs is a good length to shoot for. If you have more to say, you might consider breaking it up into multiple posts.

Atrios, one of my favorite bloggers, has mastered the art of the short blog post. Long before anyone knew what Twitter was, he and his fellow bloggers at Eschaton had mastered the art of blog posts that got their point across in few sentences.

3. Limit Your Writing Time

This is a good practice for writing generally. Set aside a block of 30 minutes where you can work without interruption or distraction. The goal is to write your entire post during that time. Don’t fret. You can always go back and make edits, but this process forces you to turn that idea swimming in your head into an actual post.

4. Enrich Your Posts with Media and Links

One thing I love about blogs as a medium is the variety of ways you can spice up posts with outside content.  Links, embedded videos, and images can take a good piece of writing to the next level.

FireDogLake does an amazing job with adding media to posts, especially embedded video.

5. Solicit Feedback

If you’re still not quite ready to share your blog post with the world, ask a friend or colleague to look it over for you.  A fresh set of eyes can be helpful both for feedback on your content and to catch any errors you may have missed in the writing and editing process.

Yeah, blogging is really that simple, at least to start.  So what are you waiting for?  Get to writing already.

Melissa Ryan is Director of New Media and Communications at NOI