I read a really interesting article the other day written by an attorney who is also a blog writer, and he makes a lot of good points in Why Your Blog Sucks (and What To Do About It).It's the text of a talk he gave and it's rather long, but it's worth a read. It made me chuckle, also.
He was aiming at an audience of lawyers, but 98% of what he said applies to all small business owners.
If you don't have time to read the whole article, here are some of the points that really resonated with me:
"Maybe the they think their sucky blogs are awesome because some SEO consultant says their keyword density is optimal. Those gurus and SEO consultants suck, too. They are part of the problem. Like sucky bloggers, they have forgotten what things that don’t suck look like."
[your blog sucks] "… because you don’t read other blogs, comment on other blogs, or write about other bloggers’ posts. Blogging is taking part in a conversation. A good conversationalist listens and responds, in order to keep the conversation going. Or, you could converse like my grandma, who responds to everything you say with a completely unrelated story about her childhood. That’s what it’s like when you blog in isolation."
[your blog sucks] "… because you don’t love to write. This is actually the Number One Reason your blog sucks. A love of writing — in fact, a compulsion to write — is the only good reason to start a blog. Without it, your blog will suck."
[awesome blogs] "…help the reader scan content by using clear headlines, and break up posts with helpful subheadings. Most people who visit your blog will not read past the title of a post unless you give them a reason. If they get that far, more will drop off unless your first sentence is compelling. And more will drop off if they are faced with a wall of text."
To be helpful, he gives some tips on how to write a non-sucky blog:
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Good bloggers have something to say.
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Good bloggers have an opinion.
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Good bloggers get to the point quickly.
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Good bloggers are sometimes provocative, snarky, funny, or ranty.
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Good bloggers are able to write tight, focused blog posts.
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Good bloggers sometimes write long, in-depth blog posts.
"...your readers are your referral network. They are not people you want to scare off with a sales pitch or offend with insipid blog posts. They are people you need to take good care of, so that they spread the word about your blog — and about you."
As I said, there's a lot more to the post, but these are some highlights. He makes a lot of great points. The one thing he doesn't say - because it's not relevant to him - is that if you don't have time to write a blog, you can still get someone to write it for you. Like me.
I actually LIKE writing blogs for lawyers. Call me weird. (It's more fun than hitting myself in the head with a brick preparing discovery responses...)
Talk amongst yourselves.