The Secret To Great Blog Posts

Guest post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess

Intriguing headline, right? While I don't have all the answers, I have certainly been blogging, and speaking and teaching about blogging long enough to know what doesn't work, what hasn't worked for me and others, and from that I have been able to glean a few insights into what makes a great blog post. 

Whether you're writing for the pet market or pursuing any other entrepreneurial endeavor -- and pet blogging is such an endeavor, here are a few quick and dirty secrets I've discovered on what makes for a great blog post: 

1. KISS -- Yes, Keep It Simple Sam/Suzy (!) works amazingly well for blog posts. Don't try to impress readers with "big words." Instead use simple, straightforward language and quick and easy to read sentences. This doesn't mean you can't cover complex topics in your pet blog posts, but make certain that's what your readers want from you. 
2. Talk to the reader. Refer to "you" when writing. Notice how I am addressing the comments in the post to you, the reader? It's because blog posts are all about the reader -- even if they're learning from your experience, you are still writing the post to the reader. 
3. Teach the reader something. How-tos are popular. How To Write Amazing Blog Posts; How To Approach A Skittish Dog; How To Introduce A New Kitten To The Family... you get the picture. Check out the trending topics and write a how to about one of them.
4. Write "series" posts. There's nothing I like better than being teased with content. The Secret To Great Blog Posts, The Series! I mean, you'd come back next week for the next installation, wouldn't you? I would. If you have a topic that lends itself to a series, by all means break it down into bite-sized chunks and start a series. 
5. Start a conversation. The beauty of blogs is that if they have the comment section available, you can communicate with the blogger. You can ask questions, tell them what you learned from their post, offer your own advice. 

There are more secrets to writing great blog posts so check back for the continuing series!  

Comments

[Team Unruly]

These are all great tips! Over at TeamUnruly.com I think we do a pretty good job of keeping things simple. We have a couple of multi-part posts going right now - our resident photographer is writing a series on "Pet Photography Tips" (#2 just went up today!) and we also have another blogger doing a series on raw feeding! We could definitely do some more how-tos, especially because the goal of our blog is to teach people more about training and competing with dogs. We need to start some more conversations, too, but we need more readers to get involved!

[caren gittleman]

great advice!!!!

[Glogirly and Katie]

We have lots of fun doing series posts. Usually we'll pick a topic and run it everyday for a week. Since we tend to get wordy, this helps break it down into bite sized portions. It's also a great way to share lots of fun photos without overwhelming one post. : )
~Katie & Glogirly

[HutchAGoodLife]

That is good advice. I have found that putting questions at the end of posts encourages coversation in commenta which is fub and useful.

Regarding keeping it simple, I think of the animal mind (or guinea pigs at least) to be quite simple so when they 'write' they don't need to use big words to get their point across!

xxxx