Blogging has always had its similarities with the act of keeping a diary or a journal with the exception that what you blog is intended to be read by an audience and not secretly hidden. The reason I blog has always been very simple - sharing information and when close friends stumble across my site, I think they have a preconceived notion that the content would be all about what I ate for breakfast or what a terrible commuting day I might have had.
Not to say that content like that has no value to anyone else other than the person who publishes it but sometimes readers can be very fickle in that if you’re not giving them something that will hold their attention, they’re likely to just leave.
As a reader I’ve done it before and I’m sure you’re no stranger to the act of unsubscribing. So what do you do to maintain that audience that categorizes having a blog in the first place? Leo Babauta presents some invaluable blogging tips and these are the ones that stood out the most for me which I always keep in mind before clicking that publish button -
- Write for the reader - While a blog can be a personal journal, if you want an audience of more than your friends and family, write for an audience. Don’t just write about your random thoughts and experiences, but think of what the reader wants to know, what the reader’s concerns are, what the reader is interested in, and how you can help provide that.
- Make it worth talking about - Don’t just write what everyone else writes. Write about something that’s a bit (or a lot) different, or in a way that’s different. Write about something that people will want to respond to, pass on, talk about with others. Be bold and be different.
