Don’t just sit there….

So, there you are. sitting at your computer, staring blankly at the screen.  Sweat begins to roll down your temples. You blink, “got nothin”. You frown and wonder, “What the hell do I write about?” You have heard all the rhetoric about how you should be blogging. You relented and had WordPress installed on your website. So, here you sit. Thoughts run through your mind. Unfortunately, they aren’t the type of thoughts that you want your readers to see.

Don’t panic, take a deep breath and relax. You can do this. Let your mind wonder back to when you were in high school, sitting in English class listening to your teacher explaining how to structure your writing  by outlining (I must admit, I skipped most of those classes to go to the park and throw around Frisbees, but I digress).

Getting Started

Before we begin I want to give you a few pointers on “how to write your blog.”  When writing for an audience you must keep your article on track with one main idea. After 10 plus years of writing copy for clients I have discovered people lose interest quickly. People are looking for solutions to their problems, but they really don’t want to have to spend a lot of time reading to find them. It is recommended to keep your blog between 250 and no more than 800 words.

Copywriters for newspapers and press releases have used a formula for years when submitting their articles. They write a catchy title, followed by their most important point at the beginning of the first paragraph.  Each succeeding paragraph would begin with the next supporting point in its relevance. This way the copy editor would cut from the bottom of your article to fit the space available. The process is the same with blogging. Except the copywriter doesn’t cut you off, the reader does.

Begin by brainstorming topics, collecting information, taking a lot of notes, and asking a lot of questions. Keep your notes and sources organized as you go.

When developing your topic, look for patterns and relationships. See what conclusions you can draw. Try discussing your ideas with your peers. A new perspective can help shake up your thinking, and keep your momentum going.

Organize Your Writing

Develop an outline to help you stay on track as you write, identifying your main points and your conclusions. When making your point always state clearly at the beginning of the paragraph what that point is. The remaining paragraph should support that point.  Keep in mind basic essay structure:

• Title:
• Introduction: Give your reader an idea of the blog’s intent
• Body: Present the evidence that supports your idea. Use concrete examples and avoid generalities.

• Point 1
• Point2
• Point3

• Conclusion: Summarize and make sense of the evidence you presented. Make a call to action. This is a marketing message that directs visitors to act in some specific manner such as requesting a brochure or joining you email newsletter.

Using headers will help the reader understand where you are going with this article at a glance.

What’s a Keyword?

WordPress has an option to make your blog “search engine friendly”. No, I don’t know why it is an option (It seems to me that it would be a no-brainer.) To become “search engine friendly”, you will have to consider the keywords you want your particular post to be found for.

Keywords are the words people type into a search engine when they are looking for something.  Keywords can be just one word or several words. Keywords form the basis for much of the web’s advertising and online commerce. There is whole business out there built around key words. But for now we are going to concentrate on using keywords in your titles to help you get better results from the search engines

The following procedure may seem a little to “techie” for most, but if you do not find the right keywords for your audience your blog may not be found. Ask yourself, “What is it my audience is looking for? What problem can I solve? Finally, what words would they use in a search engine to solve their problem?

Targeting Keywords

The process of finding and using keywords is called “Targeting Keywords”. There are a several ways to accomplish this. What I have found most effective is using the expertise and free tools that Google has made available. Here are a couple of them:

1. Wordtracker Keyword tool: Wordtracker has a free version of their service that will assist you.
2. Free Keyword Tool for AdWords: You can use the free keyword tool to get an overview of the your market.

Check out your competition and see what keywords they are using. See how they write their title, how content is written and how keywords are used in their posts and duplicate the process.

In Summary

Remember to keep your articles short and concise. Look for those keywords that will help your audience find your posts. To many, targeting keywords is a foreign concept. But, with a little practice, you will be creating keyword-rich titles and articles in no time at all. So, break out the handkerchief, wipe of your brow, be yourself and have fun. Don’t worry about perfecting the article, just write. Eventually you will develop your own style and develop a following.