CategoryWriting Content

I’ve recently been reading The Story Factor by Annette Simmons and am convinced that stories are one of the most powerful ways of engaging and impacting readers. I’ve written previously on using stories in blogging (and will probably again) but am a firm believer in using stories as they: engage ...more

This is post 2 in the Adding a Personal Touch to Your Blog Series 2. First Person vs Third Person While there is definitely a place for third person writing in blogging – I know that I am much more drawn bloggers who place themselves inside their posts by writing ...more

Steve from Adventure Money submitted the following reader ‘quick tip’: Readers form opinions about your blog based on the quality of your content. However, even if your content is great, if your readers have to stop in mid-paragraph to perform some sort of mental gymnastics to determine the meaning of ...more

With the end of the year approaching the web surfing habits of the average web user changes. The way you position yourself now in the weeks leading up to this period can mean you’re ready to capitalize on some of these changes. I noticed this last year particularly when analyzing ...more

The following reader quick tip was written by Mike Murray: For bloggers just starting out, the hardest thing is to maintain the consistency that allows you to build an audience. The most helpful thing I have found that I do (which most successful bloggers do also) is to write a ...more

Randfish has a useful post over at SEOmoz with 10 Web Tools to Help Generate Blog Content Ideas. In it he lists a variety of tools including Google Groups, Technorati, Craigslist, Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Google/Yahoo News, Keyword Tools, Wikipedia, Digg/Reddit and Yahoo! Answers. I’d add to the list Topix.net (which offers ...more

One of the principles that I drum into my DPS readers that their photos need to have a point of interest or some sort of focal point that draws viewers into the image and holds their interest. I suggest that before photographers hit the shutter button that they as: “What ...more

Here’s a quick tip for composing the titles of your posts. Avoid putting full stops (periods) at the end of your titles. Most bloggers naturally avoid using them in titles (without giving much thought to it). However from time to time I see them. Why shouldn’t you use full stops ...more

Great post (as usual) by Brian over at Copyblogger titled 5 Simple Ways to Open Your Blog Post With a Bang. While we all agree that the title is the most important element of a blog post in terms of getting it attention – it’s the opening paragraph that hooks ...more