The last four blog entries (1, 2, 3, 4) have touched on eleven vital tips for crafting good blog entries and keeping your corporate blog going. In the last tip in the previous blog post, we talked about putting together a checklist to make sure that all of the most important details are touched on in the blog entries that you write. Rather than leaving you to craft your own checklist for this purpose, we have created a fairly basic one that you can use for your own purposes.

- Headline -

- Is the topic of your blog entry clear to someone who begins by only reading the headline of the post?

- Have you used a keyword in your blog post title, or have you used one of the catchy title examples mentioned in the previous article?

- First Paragraph -

- Does the lead paragraph in your blog post tell your reader who the story is about and what the story is about? Does it indicate to the reader why he or she should care about the blog post?

- Did you touch on the 5 W’s, Who, What, Where, When and Why in the first paragraph of your blog post? Is your blog post written in a journalistic style, and even more importantly, does it make an honest effort to be objective how you have written it?

- Post Clarity -

- Is the angle that you have used in your blog post one that is likely to appear newsworthy to your readers?

- If someone who knows absolutely nothing about your topic reads your blog post, will they understand what you are talking about?

- Is your blog post completely free of technical jargon and other confusing or unclear terms? If so, remove them now.

- Ending your Blog -

- Did you remember to ask the readers of your blog a question at the end? You need to make sure that you are stimulating your readers to write comments and offer up feedback. Ask them a question, ask directly for feedback or find some other way to essentially say “Hey, talk to me!” because blogs are excellent for the purpose of facilitating communication and correspondence.

- Did you remember to write the entire blog post while keeping your reader in mind? Do you remember WIIFT? Make sure that your readers are getting something out of your blog. If there’s nothing in it for them, why should they stick around and read?

- Finally, run through your blog: Is it free of errors? Run a spelling and grammar check and make sure that there are no glaring errors, because your readers can and will notice them!

Run through this checklist every time you write a blog, and if everything is satisfactory, click on “Publish” and sit back knowing that you put out a good piece of content that your readers will appreciate.

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Originally posted 2009-03-04 05:48:36. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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If you are completely new to corporate blogging, it can be difficult to know how to format your blog so that it is reader friendly. Here are some tips to help you create a blog that is easy and fun to read.

1. Avoid run on sentences.

Practice the art of effective communication by keeping your sentences short and to the point. Don’t be afraid of the period. By keeping your prose pithy and direct you will run much less risk of boring your readers. In addition, shorter sentences are easier to follow than those that just keep running on, missing the point and wandering off of the issue until you are not really sure what the whole point of the sentence was in the first place and you’ve lost your reader’s attention – like this.

2. Break up your paragraphs.

This is an important concept that many companies follow in web design and content, but miss when it comes to blogs. The fact is that shorter paragraphs are easy to follow. The reader will not get intimidated. A good rule of thumb to follow is that each paragraph should be about two to three sentences long and never more than four.

You can also use this formatting technique to get your point across. The written word can be pretty static and sometimes, a statement will come across as more forceful when it stands alone on a page. When you need to make a point don’t bury it in a paragraph.

Give it its own space.

3. Don’t be afraid of pictures.

There are numerous sites out there that offer royalty free images that can be included in a blog. You can also include your own pictures. This really makes a difference and will make your blog much more interesting. It is a very good idea to include pictures of your corporate events as well.

This can make a story about a company event come to life since you’ll have the pictures to show what happened. In addition, this shows that your company is full of people that you are about enough to showcase. Pictures really are important and although you shouldn’t go overboard and have ten or more in a post, at least one per post is a very good idea.

4. Bullets and bold.

Bulleted lists are easy to read and will engage your reader. Again, if you’re trying to make a point, having a visually interesting post will assist you in this. Bold text is also very useful when you need to make an emphatic statement. Moderation is key, but this can help you get your point across more effectively.

If you’re stuck on how to format your blog, you may want to work with a blog management company that can assist you in planning and execution. These services are very useful when it comes to creating blogs that get noticed and meet corporate goals of traffic and increased customer confidence.

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Originally posted 2008-06-19 05:09:53. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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