Blogging is an art

So that’s taught me already. Apparently, blogging is an art.

There are a couple of articles covering this, such as How to Write Killer Blog Posts and More Compelling Comments and How to Write a Better Weblog both providing useful and insightful comment.

So here’s a summary paraphrasing and adapting both sources, with a few additional thoughts thrown in:

• Keep text short and snazzy - keep it quickfiring if possible
• Use descriptive titles - entice the feedreaders to stop and look at your post while skimming titles
• Omit unnecessary words - if you can remove a word without killing the meaning of a sentence, then do.
• Aim for around 250 words - enough information to be worth reading, without the length being intimidating
• Link a lot - link to information that provides useful background information, but vary your sources
• Break text into short sentences and small paragraphs
• Don’t be too self-serious - crack a smile on your reader’s face
• Write to deserve reader attention - reward them for giving you their time, by making an effort with posts
• Be informal, loose, relaxed - and your audience will be, too
• Emphasise text - when necessary
• Make sure text is easy to read - readability is especially important on the web
• Be unique