Lewis, I liked #4, "write shorter" and #9 "occasionally be provocative". It's OK to take a provocative stance, but you have to be willing and able to strongly argue that position. That's not always easy.

As a relative newbie to blogging, there does appear to be an art to keeping blog writing fresh. Some of the tips here are simply good blogging, and not necessarily keeping the content fresh. Tip #4 "Write shorter" makes sense, but the content could still be stale. My #11 tip would urge writers to be both original and genuine in their thoughts and how they're expressed. It's surprising how a little clear and novel thinking will go in the blogosphere.

I try to practice one and only one blogging rule: BE INTERESTING TO GET PEOPLE INTERESTED.

If you are boring, readers won't read. However, if you write about interesting people, places, and things ... then people will be interested and read over and over again.

Lewis -- I like #8... "Throw in a fun post once in a while." To that I'd add... Loosen up. Lighten up. Have fun. It's only a blog...

I don't mean that pejoratively, either. There's a lot of freedom in blogging... because it doesn't HAVE to be fully baked.

Thank you all for your comments.

John and Ehab, you are correct, uninteresting writing cannot be helped much by these guidelines. One assumes, however, that if your blog is a year old, you have readers, so you've already figured out how to write on interesting subjects. If you don't have readers after a year, I ask: Why are you still blogging?

Paul, yes being provocative can be dangerous and expressing clearly one's thoughts in a short post can result in misunderstandings. But that is blogging. We don't have the space always to discuss complex issues, but that shouldn't prevent us from bringing them up. That is what the comments are for: To ferret out the details within the conversation. And you are correct: if you provoke, you better be able to respond to your reader's points in ways that make sense, whether or not they agree or disagree.

Ann,

I hear you. Lighten up. If we worry about a fully baked post, we will spend all our time discussing the obvious. And if we can't stand the heat that a half-baked post creates, well, you know the cliche.

"If you can't stand the heat...."

... take your head out of the oven?!

; )

I like all your points here, Lewis, especially the one about keeping it short. With so much to read both online and off, shorter posts are less daunting.

I try to write a few posts to save in reserve, in case I get busy or have a dry spell. It hasn't always worked, though.

I also believe in quality over quantity. I know many of us want to put up a new post every day, to keep readers coming back. But I've seen some lame stuff that was just an attempt to write anything to fill the day's space. I'd rather put up good posts a few times a week. And, maybe, it gives my readers something to look forward to.

This is a great post and all of your tips are tops. When I started blogging, about a year ago, I went through some training called "blogger boot camp" offered by Durbin Media. I learned a lot of the tips you mention and I especially liked number #6. At first, I felt I had to be overly creative and eloquent, but I was encouraged to read aloud my posts before posting and if it didn't sound like something I would say then it was not me speaking and I should write like I was "saying" it. This has been great advice. I want my readers to get to know me and not someone I am not.

Lewis asked, "If you don't have readers after a year ... Why are you still blogging?"

Why? Because one desires to. Because one enjoys having an outlet to express their opinions, feelings, etc. Because one can.

Does it matter if a blog only attracts ONE reader or ONE THOUSAND readers? If you measure success only in terms of readership, then yes ... it does matter.

I think we get too hung up on rankings, technorati authority figures, number of comments, number of trackbacks, etc.

As a business blogger, I'm just as happy influencing one marketer as I am one-thousand marketers.

Good ideas, Lewis. I would add, "Be true to thine own self." Genuine. Honest. Real.

I’d like to read more comments about #4: keep it short. It’s true that short posts are popular, especially for busy, impatient blog readers. (As a new blogger, I’m trying to take more time to write less.)

But I agree with Ehab, it’s the content that counts, not the length of that content. I will eagerly read a long post if the idea is particularly fresh, relevant, or informative.

I agree with johnmoore. Blogging is tedious unless you do it because you have a desire. I've been blogging since before it was called blogging - long before I worked for a company that paid me to do their business blog. It takes a special breed to do this. We are a special lot. We are bloggers!

Hey Lewis,

Glad you brought this up. My approach is the "Popeye" theory - "I am what I am!" We come at the world from different angles based on what stratosphere we're orbiting in. I love the way that blogs give you the straight talk most of the time and you can get to "know" who the person is from their blog. Keep fresh!

Jeanne

Melissa and John,
I don't disagree with you. If you want to blog and have no readers, go for it. But in my mind, without readers, our words have no value to anyone but ourselves and we might as well create a diary, which we can work on privately. But I wouldn't discourage anyone from blogging. John, rankings are not measured by readers usually, they are often measured by links or by RSS feeds or by a combination of things. I don't care about rankings either. When they are measured by readers and readers only, I will care. And here's why: The number of readers we have is directly proportional to the value of our content. No readers or one reader sends a very different message than 300 readers. And as writers or bloggers, I think we should listen to the messages our readers or lack of them send.

David,
I agree and have recently removed more than 30 blogs from my blogroll because in my opinion the quality had declined to a point where I no longer wanted to recommend them.

Kristen and Elaine,
Yes, be true to yourself and write like you talk. Wow! Right on!

Gwyneth,
I disagree with Ehab in that long posts likely get read by many fewer readers than short ones do. So long posts less influence and value to the community. Now, if as John says, you don't care about how many readers are drawn to your blog, it doesn't matter. But I will say this: Writing short should not affect quality. And writing long does not guarantee quality. In my experience, writing long has more to do with the writer than the content.

Sorry if I am being less gentle with my comments today. I am reading galleys for my next book, and visiting here on my very quick break. By the way, most of my changes have to do with reducing verbiage, so even as a book author I believe concise is better than long.

Lewis,

Terrific points, all around. I can't wait to hear more about your book.

Here's my feedback: package the information for skimming.

The reality is that people don't read so much as they skim, so I try and craft my posts to be skimmable (and yet still informative). In my view, there are three methods that do that best:

* Bullet points
Breaks up information into more easily digestible chunks

* Lots o'links
Shows that you're participating in the conversation and not the center of the universe

* Cues
I've found that people like active cues that direct them to take action. For instance, I use "Learn more:", "More info:", or "See an example" a lot.

Click to see an example:
http://www.womma.org/wombat/blog/2006/07/howto_joining_t.htm

Great thread, folks. Let's keep it going.

...Michael

----
Michael E. Rubin
Arment Dietrich, Inc.
Call me -- 312-787-7249 x212
See what I’m up to -- http://twitter.com/merubin
See a picture of an orangutan -- http://tinyurl.com/yosceb

Jeanne,

I love the straight talk, as well. Even when I disagree. At least I have a chance to learn something from another's honest point of view. Besides, so little is painted black or white. Life, business and especially the business of marketing are more complex than any one person's ideas. Blogging allows us to see all the grays and other colors that ideas can offer.

I didn't say I don't have readers! I just believe you have to have a passion for it first or it's just an awful lot of tedium. And unfortunately, that will show through to the readers. And it will make everything difficult until your readership it built up.

nice info, thanks for the article :D

Lewis … you believe “the number of readers we have is directly proportional to the value of our content.” I’m not on board with your thinking.

I think the content value of Fast Company magazine is much greater than US Weekly. However, US Weekly has a circulation of 1.67 million and Fast Company has a circulation of 750,000.

I’m sure many people believe the Investor Business Daily delivers greater content value than the National Enquirer. However, the Enquirer reaches 2.76 million readers while the Investors Business Daily reaches 210,000 readers.

I find the content in Jay Ehret’s MarketingSpot Blog of more value than the content in Steve Rubel’s Micrpersuasion. However, Micropersuasion has thousands more readers than Jay’s MarketingSpot blog.

If my blog only interested 10 readers, I would still blog. I blog about marketing stuff that interests me. If thousands of others are interested in what interests me, GREAT.

We seem to be getting at the question of … If a blogger posts and no one reads it, does the post exist? If its cached, then YES … it does exist despite no one reading it.

It really depends upon the subject you're covering in any given post but, as much as possible, and with respect to people's time (and need for some levity), keep it short and snappy.

I prefer mixing up the content, too. Sometimes I'll deviate from marketing a bit to cover current events.

John,
We'll just have to agree to disagree. As a former magazine editor, I assure you that in your examples the higher number of subscibers mean that more people care about the content than those magazines with fewer subscribers. (Value is a relative term; you can take readership numbers to the bank.) On the other hand, the magazines you cited are doing exactly what they want: reaching the readers they care about. But if their readership declines below profitable, the magazine goes away. It's not of much value then. As for the two blogs, the answer doesn't lie in which ones I prefer but in which ones most readers prefer. My final point: I believe that if we aren't writing for our readers, no matter the number, it is no different than if Starbucks existed for themselves instead of their customers. I write for readers, not for myself, and that is what I recommend all writers do. However, I am not King of anything, and everyone is free to ignore my recommendations, and many do.

Michael and CK,
Great points, and I, too, believe blog readers mostly skim the content, looking for the one nugget they care about.

Melissa,
Didn't mean to imply you don't have readers. Sorry! My point is that if a blogger has no readers, they should understand the message being sent and either fix their content to increase readership or continue to write about what sparks their own interests, which is fine.

Dan,
You are welcome.

I'm going with Mr. Moore on this one.

It's not the number of people you connect with, it's the connection you make with your people.

We blog about all sorts of stuff on the Brains on Fire blog. Some are about naming. Some are about identity development. Some are about word of mouth. And some are about our people. Random things that happened in the office. We blog because we want to share our ideas, but also our culture. We blog because we want to find kindred spirits out there. And god knows we hope that everybody that comes across us IS NOT a kindred spirit. We don't want to appeal to the masses. We don't want every company in the world to be our client. So we don't write for every company in the world, we write for those that have courage and the balls to take a tired company to an inspired one.

You say you don't care about rankings, but you care about the number of people that read your blog. I say that's the same thing.

XOXOXO,

Spike

P.S. You see that (especially on here) I take #9 to heart.

Spike,

I do care about readers, but just like you I care about the right readers. If someone ranked us by readers and broke that data out, I could use that information to do all the things that Brains on Fire wants to do.

We actually agree on everyone of your points. I check who my readers are and where they come from everyday. And I write for those readers I want to reach, not for the masses. That's not John's point, as I see it. He would continue to blog if he only influenced one marketer. I would not. Furthermore, if after a year of blogging, which is what we are talking about here, I had fewer than for argument's sake say 50 readers, I would have to evaluate whether this is a good use of my time.

My blog represents my marketing firm, specifically me. If it isn't a good use of our time, it must go away. And we measure that based on the number of readers and who they are. I don't write because I can, I write because I have always written and because it builds my brand and my business.

It's okay for others to write for other reasons, but I am answering your comment based solely on my goals. (See number 1.) Most of the readers here, at my blog, and at the other three blogs for which I write, are people I want to reach and share with. If they weren't, I would be doing something terribly wrong and something that is a complete waste of my time. I am not blogging just because I can.

Maybe one difference between a good blog and a bad blog comes from the reason for the blog. A blog created just to get a web presence will tend to be a bad blog since the author will have little passion about what she is writing about and little interest in what her readers say. If you have a genuine interest in the subject matter and write about it in an interesting way, I have to believe the blog will catch on.

I'm not saying you shouldn't market good content though. Just that viral marketing of a blog requires a good virus in the form of good content.

Well I am way late to this party, but did want to comment on this:

"I’d like to read more comments about #4: keep it short. It’s true that short posts are popular, especially for busy, impatient blog readers. (As a new blogger, I’m trying to take more time to write less.)"

Write whatever length post you are comfortable with. If you do you best writing in 2 paragraphs, fine. If you need 2 pages, that's fine too.

As long as you are producing relative, informative, and entertaining content, its length doesn't matter. Personally I like longer posts, both writing them and reading them.

Great tips..thanks

I agree with keeping it short, sweet, to the point and in simple language.

Nothing turns me off quicker than a wordy, pontificating blog.

I'm looking for "get to the point" language every, single time.