Lately I’ve been seeing a rash of posts on blogs that are telling people how to write blogs. Of course, I have my own blogging tips, which I hope some folks have checked out here and there, but what I’m seeing are the same tips over and over from other people.
Let’s face this fact; just how many times do you want to read “first come up with a keyword rich topic, then write a keyword rich article on your niche?” No matter how many times you read that and how many ways someone tries to write it, nothing is different. How different is reading “write in your niche so that people will find you on search engines?”
I’m not saying it’s not true; I’m just saying it’s boring seeing the same thing over and over. And I’m not saying what I’m about to write is any better than what you’ve seen someone else say. But it will be different, and I’m thinking that’s my little niche. Let’s begin.
Believe it or not, the longest part of my blogging is trying to figure out what I want to write about. For someone like me, that doesn’t often take long. For this blog, since I pretty much write about what I feel like, it doesn’t usually take me longer than a couple of minutes. The same for my business blog, because I know my topic there. For my finance blog, it takes a little longer. I usually scour the news to see what feels like it might be interesting enough for me to expound upon, then I’m ready to go.
The next step, if needed, is the research. For instance, when I wrote my post the other day on my 13 favorite singers, that one took a long time to put together because I had to first list my singers, go find the videos for each of them, and then find the product links for each artist. For the last post, 34 questions, I had to actually answer the questions first. I could have answered them once I started writing, but I had some formatting I wanted to do so I answered them before I posted everything. For my finance blog, research is always essential, because I don’t want to use only one news source to write those articles from.
Next it’s time to either start writing or paste certain things into the writing area. When I’m writing, I go into my zone and just write, and I don’t usually stop until I’ve finished the article. That’s why it doesn’t take me all that long to write. If I have an opinion on something, my mind just puts things in the order I want to talk about them in and I go for it. Kind of my own Mozart thing going on. If I’m just pasting something, most of my work is already done.
Now it’s time for my internal linking. I don’t have full recall of every article I’ve written, but obviously I know my topics. So I go back through my topics to search for articles I’ve previously written on a topic. The internal linking serves two purposes One, it helps my site show off previous material that I’m hoping someone might be interested enough in to want to check it out. Two, at least on my finance blog, it helps with the SEO in reinforcing topics I write about there. This blog does okay in the search engines, but it probably will never get its PR back, which means probably only my affiliate advertising will ever be here, whereas that blog has a high PR, does okay on Alexa, and if I can increase the visits a bit more it’ll be prime property for financial advertisements.
Next is something I don’t always do, but I will check for it. Since everyone says text advertising is supposed to be so great, I go back through my words to see if there’s anything I said that can link to a product. Then I go looking for a product that I can link to and add that link, with the new blue lines.
The next to the last piece is trying to decide what I’m going to highlight at the bottom of each post. Will it be a product? Will it be just a banner ad of some sort? I certainly have plenty of stuff to choose from, so that usually doesn’t take much time either.
And now, the final pieces of the puzzle. I go to All-in-one-SEO and I write something in the description box on what the piece is about. I type in my keywords. Then I go up and type in my tags for the post, which is something I just started a few weeks ago. I select the overall category for the post. The last thing depends on if I’m posting the article immediately or on a delayed basis. If I’m delaying the post, I set the schedule for when I want it to post. Sometimes I write my posts a couple of weeks in advance, so that works great.
And there you go. Now, it takes me less than 5 minutes to write a post, but all the other stuff I add on is what builds up the time. It may eventually take me 10 to 20 minutes to fully complete a post, but that’s okay because the possible rewards for the extra stuff are worth it if you ask me.
Now, whether you fully agree or not, wasn’t that better than the cookie cutter posts you see all the time? 🙂
OK Mitch. What exactly is let’s fact this fact? 😀
I must admit that you do a hell of lot more work than I do when writing a post. But in regards to all the different blogs saying the same things, I suppose they may be aiming at newbies, and perhaps most of them are newbies themselves trying to break into the blogging market.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..Qondio Or Qassia, They Both Suck =-.
I made the fix; thanks Sire. As to the other, I tend to think they are new people just regurgitating what they’ve read elsewhere, sometimes just copying it word for word. No one will ever be able to accuse me of that.
Taking Sire’s comment a bit further, I think it’s about some of the more experienced online folks doing some self-exalting. “This is how I know it should be done.”
Worse yet, the qualifications for being one of the “more experienced online folks” is having a blog or website for more than a week.
They learned it from somewhere, right? Why aren’t they more open about their sources?
From where I stand, the blogosphere has slowly lost a bit of that liberal link love in the past 12-18 months. Furthermore, most linking that goes on is deep internal linking to the blogger’s own network. That’s fine and all, especially if the writing style resonates with the core reader group.
But…
There are so many ways to raise one’s “street cred” and self-promo is only one such way.
(Whips out cane and shakes it ’round in the air) Bring back the good ole days of true link love!
Of course, I’ve been off of coffee for more a few weeks now so I may either be hallucinating or crabby. Or both?
Maybe both, Natasha. lol Actually, I do add links from other blogs or other websites whenever I find something relevant to what I’m talking about, but only if I’m talking about it at that time. Sometimes I’ll throw in a link to something when I use a term that I know everyone doesn’t know so they can decide if they want to learn what certain words mean.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being so-called selfish, as long as it’s fresh and relevant in some fashion. But yes, the idea about sharing with each other is pretty nice.
For me thats just too much. 😀 im a tad lazy guy in terms of posting. But again I think its all about each one’s uniqueness that counts..
Thanks Melvin. It may be a bit much, but it’s done its job for both the blog and for other readers, I figure.
I personally like the way this article pays detailed attention to every aspect of keeping a blog and coming up with readable posts. As for myself, I can really relate to the part where Mitch speaks about being in the zone for writing. I am that kind of a writer myself and keep going on once I’ve decided on a topic.
Overall, a well-writ post that should be of help to both successful, as well as aspiring bloggers.
Thanks Abhigyan; I give it my best shot every time. ;-P
Well, the first one is a kick in the pants. However, I have to say that many people still say that they get people to click on their text links more often than banner ads, though I don’t know how true it is.
On the second, well, I guess I’ll just toss that one out from this point on and stick with the tags, which helps me more because it gives me more to link to.
I think you have a good strategy to write your articles. The best is better 🙂
.-= gland´s last blog ..Retrouvailles coquines entre filles =-.
Thanks gland. I’m certainly giving it my best shot.
I have to say, I didn’t realise that people put so much effort into their blogs! Still you obviously work very hard to ensure that your blog is a success, well done!
Thanks Jez. I appreciate the kudos, and will always try to keep doing the best I can.
you commented:
>tend to think they are new people just regurgitating what they’ve read elsewhere,
I think that’s often the case. I think it is because when someone learns something new that excites them they want to share it. Your approach, to write something unique is obviously much better.
As to your writing technique, I am floored that you can write so fast. I take as much time or more than you, without ever doing all the extra work you do.
.-= Ned Carey´s last blog ..Quote of the Day =-.
Thanks Ned. You know, I just have this stuff that wants to get out of my mind, and I’m glad to write it all out here, and on my other blogs. As for the new people, well, I think you’re right, but I wouldn’t mind it so much if these folks could just figure out a way to put it in their own words sometimes.
You really put a lot of work in writing all your blog posts and that’s a very good thing. I think many bloggers don’t think that hard about it and just write the first thing that comes to mind, which is often something regurgitated from the things they’ve recently read, like some people here have mentioned. I recently started a blog in which I write tutorials, and I’ve realized that those posts usually take me an hour or two to write even though I’m fairly familiar with what I’m writing about. Just because I have to think hard about them and plan them out, as well as find images and etc. So I can definitely appreciate the work you put into researching and writing your own posts. -Mike
Thanks Mike. I have some posts that take me only a few minutes to write, and some that take a couple of hours because research takes time, linking takes time, etc. I try to give value while at the same time giving my opinion on stuff. I’m glad some folks appreciate it, and I thank you again for saying it.
it’s really a good feeling that with a blog we are free to write whatever interests us. Mitch, I have also experienced writing one blog post for an hour. Well it was a review for a Spa I frequent so I just have to get it detailed 🙂
.-= Rian´s last blog ..Gift Suggestion – Syma Radio Control Helicopter =-.
Nice disclosure there, Rian; the FTC would be happy with it. lol
Yes, it is nice being able to write about whatever I feel like, at least here. Lots of liberty with it.
Like Rian it’s take me over an hour to write some posts. Blogging can be really time consuming.
.-= Rose´s last blog ..How to make a twitter background =-.
Rose, I guess I’m lucky in that not being one of my problems. I type fast, and once I have an idea the words just flow. True, when doing one of my research posts it can take a long time, and going back to do internal linking can sometimes take a little bit extra time, but otherwise I do pretty well.
>once I have an idea the words just flow.
When I go for a walk the ideas just flow but when I sit down to write I often have a block. I have been thinking about using some technology, audio or video recording to help.
.-= Ned Carey´s last blog ..1099s Are Due! Have You Sent Yours Out? =-.
Ned, sometimes the internet is enough to get the mind flowing about things to talk about. I sometimes can’t believe what I seem to fall into, which inspires things for me to write more and more things.
I’m VERY new to blogging. Still just getting my blog(s) up and running really.
OMGoodness was that a lot of information to digest. I’ll have to come back when in the process of actually creating a post (or posts) so I can get the most out of it.
Thank you so much!
Lesley
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Lesley. Good luck with your process; I’m sure you’ll find it all quite fulfilling.
Hi Mitch,
It’s been a while and I’m going back to visit some of the blogs I visited last Summer.
I’ve been busy growing my business and building new niche sites. I still have a way to go with my business but I’m keeping at it!
I hope all is well with you!
I remember you from last year, Lesley. I hope you see my 2-part series on Better Blogging, which is what it’s called, since I remember your looking for that type of information last year.