Have you ever read a blog post that just seems to have ‘it’? 
You arrive at the page, begin reading and immediately feel drawn into what the blogger is communicating. You can’t really put your finger on why – but there’s something about the way that they write that connects with you – that makes you want to read more – that makes reading easy.
That blogger has ‘blogging mojo’.
While there are many concrete things that we can identify about successful blogs – some things are hard to define. One of these is blogging mojo.
Some bloggers just seem to be able to write in a way that connects. They go beyond technically writing well to a style that just works.
How to Develop Your ‘Mojo’
I’ve observed ‘blogging mojo’ in a number of bloggers over the years and have done my best to identify why some bloggers have it and some don’t. Perhaps it’s partly natural ability, personality or learning how to write from a young age – but there’s one important factor that I’ve seen over and over again in successful bloggers.
Most successful bloggers that I question tell me that on top of any natural ability that they have that they’ve spent years experimenting with different styles of writing, different types of posts, different topics, different voices and different approaches to communicating that shape who they are today.
As they say – ‘Practice makes perfect’.
One of the best ways to develop your writing and learn to consistently produce compelling content is to practice writing in different styles and voices.
Of course this doesn’t just happen – sometimes you need to set yourself a challenge (or ask someone else to do so).
I chatted with a journalist friend recently who told me that he learns most about writing when his editor allocates him a story that takes him out of his comfort zone, when he’s asked to write on a topic he’s not overly familiar with or asked to write in a style that isn’t his normal one.
He said that when he’s given these challenging stories that he’s forced to learn and discover new ways to communicate. It doesn’t always feel good but each time he discovers something new about what works (and doesn’t work) for him.
Which leads us to today’s homework…
Your Homework for Today
Today’s homework task is to pick a style of blog post that you don’t normally write. For example:
- If you always write in the 1st person why not try writing in the 3rd person for a post?
- If your posts are always deadpan serious why not attempt something a little more light hearted and humorous.
- Try writing a post from the perspective of another person?
- Throw an opinion piece into your blog that is normally just covering ‘news’.
- Write a list post if your blog is usually more ‘essay’ like.
If you’re unsure what to write check out my list of 20 Types of Blog Posts – hopefully one of them will fit with where you’re at. There’s also a few of these types of writing posts in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog workbook.
The benefit of mixing things up from time to time is that you grow as a writer and you might just stumble upon a type of post that connects with your readers. Even if the post falls flat on it’s face and fails you’ve learned what not to do on your blog.
Once you’ve written your post and published it please come back to this post and share the link and share how you went with the challenge!
This post belongs to our current series on Creating Compelling Content. Stay tuned for more principles of building this type of content in the week ahead.
Great Idea.
Keep up the good work.