Writing A Post Is Hard Work, Right?
Have you wondered what it takes to writing a blog post? I mean, aside from you know, the very easy parts such as coming up with an idea, actually writing an interesting post and catching the readers attention…….wait….wait a second.. those aren’t the easy parts. Well, I guess I made a mistake. Those definitely arent the easy parts, so what is it that involves writing a blog post? I’ll show you. Lets take some baby steps:
1) Coming up with an idea – This is probably the hardest part, atleast for me. Usually when I get back home from school, I think about a few ideas on the drive home but that doesn’t mean that all of them make it onto the blog. I usually have about 2-3 ideas out of which usually one makes it because I think about a few things:
(a) Is the idea unique?
(b) Is it similar to something I’ve done before?
(c) Will my readers enjoy reading this?
2) Writing The Post - After the idea is decided on, I usually spend an hour on the post but this could take a lot longer if I decide to look up and create images but usually I’ve stopped doing that to help my load time unless its a review or something that requires an image. Writing the post is usually based completely on what I think and this is why it seems so informal when I write the post, because its meant to be that way. Write the post based on your thoughts and your best opinion so that it comes off natural and this can be hard to do.
3) Catching the Readers Attention - This can be one of the hardest parts but the way to get around it is by thinking about the readers during the previous two steps. For example, if you come up with a title, think whether the reader will want to read it after seeing the title. Once youre writing the post, question whether you think the reader would want to read all that blabber or just move on somewhere else. Keep it concise, to the point and interesting and your readers will be hooked.
Now that you’ve done the previous steps, its all about how you promote yourself to keep readers coming to your blog and I’ll be talking about some of those ways sometime soon but in the mean time I have some things I wanted to mention.
I Want To Follow You On Twitter
Yes, thats true. All you have to do (to make this simple) is follow me on Twitter and I’ll return the favor and follow you. I like reading the updates and I’ll try to integrate my twitter followers into a post every once in a while so do consider that if you have twitter.
Updating the Top 100 List
During the next week, I’ll be updating the Top 100 Female Bloggers list which means that I’ll have to do about 30 to 40 rankings a day considering it is all done by hand but this is a last minute reminder to anyone who would like to nominate a female blogger of their choice. Just send me an email and let me know, its that simple!
I know at first when I started blogging I sucked at doing posts. I really didn’t know what the hell I was doing. It was even harder for me because I hate writing.
Now it doesnt seem to be so hard but just getting a topic.
I guess it really just depends on what you mean by hard work! I guess coming up with a topic can be quite challenging, but, for me, once I know what I want to talk about, I don’t have much difficulty in finding things to say. But…I have always been a “talker”.
I guess I’ve never really considered whether or not I was catching the readers’ attention. I guess that’s something I will most certainly have to consider in the future as I develop my blogging skills.
Thanks for the comment. I think the fact that you’re a talker definitely helps. I consider myself a talker too and maybe thats why it seems somewhat easy for me to talk about whatever I want to as well.
I can easily say I suck at writing good posts with a consistent message. Well, at least at my personal blog. I’m all over the place. Part of the problem is that I started out with something different in mind and my goals/intent have changed. With my other blog geared toward work at home moms, the target readers are defined…making it easier for me to focus my posts.
In some way Tina, the fact that you write posts that are not consistent keeps me interested because I dont really know what to expect but its always interesting to read because you bring up some great issues and topics. It keeps me hooked!
My problem is my grammar but I’m still able to earn more than $900 last August 2008 from writing stuffs.
BM, Thats some really great numbers. I’d like to see your breakdown because I’m looking to diversify my income stream a bit as well!
Yeah writing a good post is quite hard i think now everytime i visit some site that have a good content i usually subscribe to them to give more ideas to post.
I think reading new blogs gives me ideas but still writing the post and completing it takes quite a while so it can take a while depending what topic youre discussing too.
I am new in blogging and for me it is so difficult idea, i don’t know what about i can write, but when i have idea i can easily write.
Finding post ideas takes me the longest. Writing them just comes naturally as soon as I get a topic.
Hey Enkay- I think it’s great you keep track of the top female bloggers, even if it’s difficult to figure it out manually. Looking forward to seeing the updated list!
Thanks Dina. It will take longer than I expected because there was a Technorati error and I have to do the list again! Sadly, It didnt work out as I had planned but Im working on it!
I agree with the rest of the commentators who have said that the only truely difficult part is coming up with a decent topic. Although, once I have the post written, sometimes I’m not sure what to use for a title.
Once I have a topic and a general idea for a post, I find it fairly easy to type up a fairly decent post.
Sorry, you can’t follow me on Twitter because I haven’t signed up for it yet.
As for the top 100 list, I would like to nominate Andrea
I definitely already have Andrea on the list. She’s now an advertiser on the site and I’m going to add her ad today so you’ll be seeing her in my sidebar as well.
I agree that finding a topic is hard for me as well but sometimes writing a post for me can be hard if I start to over think the topic. Either way, I do think that youre right about finding the right topic.
hey
my only problem is time, finding a topic to write about is not so hard, its the time to write it. i enjoy reading blogs and surfing around so between that and posting on my 3 blogs is a tough act to balance.. still i manage
nice article enkay,i would have given a bit of emphasis to the actual research that goes into an article
Thanks for the article Kahthan. I think what you mentioned is similar to Nick. I find it hard to find the right topic myself sometimes so I agree with you on that as well. I can’t imagine writing on 3 blogs, it would be crazy.
thankfully my posts are haiku, so i just need to come up with 3 lines.
unfortunately, all i have are those 3 lines. :O
Hahaha, yes thats true but your niche is different so your haiku’s work well within your niche.
yeah I do say that sometime writing a post is hard.
yeaaaaaaaaah, I usually have an idea in the head. I always have a reserver of topics in my trusty book for when I don’t have anything. And as you know…I just let it flow man lol.
I do add picks to my posts, especially the longer ones, I think it makes for easy reading.
Coming up with the topic is indeed the hardest.
Joe, you just have the magic to make it happen unlike the rest of us man. I don’t really plan too much ahead of time so that it sounds as natural and casual as possible. The topic is hard for me as well because I try to make it interesting.