The last couple of weeks have turned up some valuable blogging advice for those who are working to hone their craft and become better blog post writers.
Not everyone falls into this category—some bloggers are happy with the way they write. Others publish videos or sound files instead of text. And that’s fine.
But for the rest of us, I wanted to put together a little roundup of advice on each of the parts of a text-based blog post.
- 4 Post Headlines that are Guaranteed to Get Readers Excited
This post by Greg Ciotti was published here at ProBlogger late last year. It has some great ideas to help you focus as your writing headlines, and produce really compelling titles. - 10 Tips for Opening Your Next Blog Post
I designed this post to help you overcome Opening Line Paralysis (OLP)—something I suffer from often! - How to Write Irresistible Blog Intros
In this post, Andrea Wren analyses possible introductions, providing a different perspective that I found valuable. - How to Write a Great Paragraph
Tackle the techniques of great paragraphs with James Chartrand. This post is a great one for any blogger who wants to keep readers glued to their posts. - 5 Tips for Creating a Truly Valuable Tutorial
Sharpen your skills in writing tutorials and how-tos with this straightforward ProBlogger guide. - Finding Truth in Fiction
Andrew Dubinksy’s post about the power of story, which was published on Jeff Goins’s blog, is guaranteed to help you bring life to the story you tell in your next post. - How to Use Images in Your Blog Posts
Karol K covers all the basics of using images to accompany your text content, so even if you’re not technical, this guide’s perfect. - 8 Quick Tips for Writing Bullet Points People Actually Want to Read
I found Robert Bruce’s Copyblogger article very interesting. I’ll be trying some of these tips myself—who wouldn’t? Great advice. - Is Your Link Text Letting You Down?
Here, Georgina explores a few different ways you can include links within your blog posts. - 7 Powerful Ways to End Your Next Blog Post
Of course, today we published Ali Luke’s advice for wrapping up a post—great ways to avoid having your post trail off into nothing.
Have you seen a great article on crafting quality blog posts recently? Help us build this list by adding it in the comments below.
Wow – huge and comprehensive list. I thought Erik Hare’s post here about storytelling might be a good addition. http://erikhare.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/the-heros-pitch/
Very good read, thanks for the rec!
And thank you Darren for featuring my guest post here, glad folks enjoyed it :).
After reading the article by Georgina about link text, it reminds me of when I made a number of changes in this regard.
As much as “click here” or “Link Here” may do the job, they are not as effective for linking topic matter, or in the eyes of Google. Link text provides an opportunity to add a few keywords that relate to your linked pages(posts).
The other post by Andrea, regarding eye catching blog post intros, has some interesting ideas.
That is something I start off doing, though, the post occasionally fizzles a little afterwards.
Wonderful resources, Darren. I’m definitely working on making my posts better for my readers and for myself. Thanks.
I also found your recommendations very helpful Darren, especially the sixth one ” how to use images in your blog post”. it enables me to find out valuables tools to optimize my blog content.
Thanks a lot
Great pointers and tips! In addition to your blog, I also like to go to Hubspot for tips: http://blog.hubspot.com/ as well as the SocialMediaExaminer: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-tips-for-writing-great-blog-posts/
Excellent collection Darren although it seems like link #9 is broken. May be that was part of the trick on how to end your blog post;)?
I know I should add some great blog posts to this list. But I’m not commenting to do that. I just want to say thank you for this wonderful resource.
Darren,
Thanks for sharing this “little roundup” of tips for being a better blogger. I just read that 7 powerful ways to ending your next blog post and it was a fantastic article all of us should take to heart. I’ve been doing a call to action, but there were some really great suggestions for varying my endings that I plan to implement.
Would you be open to me republishing it on my new WordPressVideoDemos tips blog? I’ll give you due credit of course and link back to your page.
Thanks!
Joseph
Wow. This is exactly what I was looking for.
Thank you so much for putting these valuable information and links together.
I will study it this weekend and integrate it in my personal blog.
My main focus will be No.6 – how to use images in blogs.
~Anja~
These are some good links. It does take an element of knowing what exactly we should do to be able to get our blog posts to be tweaked better and also how to be able to get things better organized. I’ll definitely be busy looking through these links and reading up on what they have to say.
Awesome collection to write a well knit blog post. But to start a blog post, I always prefer referring some old article or a common problem which generally users face. And sometime a quote attracts the readers, with not much linking into it which might woe off my readers. Ending a post with a controversial question, or asking their experience works great, if the content being shared is hot!!
Thanks for sharing this well bind blog post..Quite a lot of improvements to do. :)
Posts like this are great. Definitely a lot of good information and inspiration for when you’re in a rut or trying to learn some new tactics.
This was one of my favorite “better blog post” finds for this week: 17 Copy-And-Paste Blog Post Templates http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/blog-post-templates/. It really helps to understand the types of blogs people will read over and over again. Thanks for the great links. I will spend some time working my way through those.
wow. What a useful info. This helped me a lot to improve my writing. Good job Darren. Keep this up. Problogger rocks.
Hi Darren,
Super powerful list of resources here.
Studying from pro’s is the best way to become a better blogger. I like reading PB, Copyblogger and other top shelf blogs to gain insight into how to grow my readership. Do what pro’s do, become a pro. Pull away, you remain an amateur. It really is about making a powerful impact in each moment, and holding the intent no matter what.
The mistake is pulling away from what works. I make this mistake at times, forgetting to reference my in depth tutorials on these sites. When I stick to what the pro’s do, I do well. When I pull back, I do not do as well.
I like the opening line post as I intend to improve my intro’s. Nothing like improving that hook, to bring readers in and digest your work, and take your call to action. So vital to grab the attention immediately and go from there.
I will feast on this list today Darren, thanks so much!
Ryan
I am new at here and missed those all post. Thank you for sorting some of best post.
l look forward to see more post like this, there are lot of new people here who miss those year old great post.
Thanks for the link! Great list here.
Great list, Darren. I definitely strive to work on my writing continually and I think we all should.
Now more than ever I spend more time perfecting each blog post rather than churning out content, I believe you need to have a balance between quality and quantity. I published a blog post checklist of 15 things to do for each blog post last week. (http://www.jamienorthrup.com/new-blog-post-checklist/)
Hey Darren, thanks for featuring my piece on the Power of Storytelling. I’m honored to be included on such a great list. I appreciate it.
Great information here. I’m going to incorporate some of these in my blogging efforts. Thanks!
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thanks for good explanation here. it is so informative. thank you very much.
now i know why all like problogger. great site i ever came across. super job.helped me to improve my writing skills.