3 Reminders to Make Your Blog Better

When people hear I've worked in social media, I typically get a lot of questions - how should I promote my Facebook page? How many Twitter followers is good? Can you show me how to...(fill in the blank with some minor adjustment Mashable suggested).

Frequently, blogging comes up. It's a hot topic right now. Everyone is convinced they should be blogging by the articles and even books teaching that "content is king" while hypothesizing what other efforts are part of the marketing royal court.

Metaphors aside, if you have decided to take the step to blog or want to improve your current blog it's important to remember this back to basics advice to make your blog better.

Write Often: I break this rule because I never set the right goals. Set a realistic goal and stick to it. Remember, writing every night is a lot of work! All my respect to the people who write daily but I’m just not that person. I think for the average person writing at least 1x a week is a good goal to start if your goals are oriented around becoming a better writer. If you want organic traffic, I’d suggest 2-3x per week of solid, question-answering content.
Answer 1 Question: I can’t stand a blog post that’s 1000 words long. I came here for 1 answer to 1 question. Get to it already! Those bold lines don’t make a difference either.
Be Original: Please stop writing blog posts about why small businesses should use social media. We get it. We got that 3 years ago. Talk about how you’re solving a unique problem. Answer people’s questions.

What’s your back-to-basics tip for blogging?

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Comment by Matt Charney on May 12, 2014 at 3:02pm: Hey Katrina - awesome post and a great reminder to our members. My advice is generally write about what you care about, not what you think others want to read about. Also, sound like a real person - and always be real.

Comment by Anna Brekka on May 12, 2014 at 5:27pm: Nice post and good advice.

Comment by Recruiting Animal on May 12, 2014 at 6:12pm: I liked this because it was short and advised bloggers to keep it short. However, you make it sound like the blogging question is new and you must know that it isn't. All the articles now are about: Is Blogging Dead. http://bit.ly/1gwFBsk

Comment by Matt Charney on May 12, 2014 at 6:44pm: Animal: If blogging was dead you wouldn't be commenting on one.

Comment by Tim Spagnola on May 12, 2014 at 6:46pm: I smell a a guest spot for an upcoming installment of the Recruiting Animal Show.

Comment by Kelly Blokdijk on May 12, 2014 at 7:19pm: I think these are appropriate tips, Katrina!

For me, writing is merely a creative outlet. It is something that I always wish to do better for the sake of getting better - not for clicks, likes or shares.

It is interesting to see so many people or content platforms focus on quantity versus quality OR blogging because *someone* says *someone* should.

A recent article I posted was about one single topic and thought, yet so many of the comments were from people absolutely outraged that I didn't write about this, that and the other - meaning some other aspect of that subject or a different one all together. My reaction: because THIS article is about THIS not THAT.

Love the suggestion to be original. Even when I write about common topics, I strive to put my own flavor on it. IMHO there is an obvious lack of originality in the majority of available information.

Not that it improves the blog itself, but one tip I would add is to remember that posting anything publicly entails be prepared for critiques and critics of all varieties and not being too sensitive to handle that type of "rejection"