E-therapy: 8 ways to be a better blogger

Experts agree that blogging (maintaining a website online where you post updates or commentary) can be therapeutic. Writing helps us process our feelings, as well as communicate with others. So how can you improve the quality of your writing to make it even more enjoyable for yourself and your readers? Here are eight tips.

Define your purpose. Why are you writing your blog? To stay in touch with others? To express a point of view? Exchange information? Is it more of an online journal or a commentary for issues and trends? Whatever your purpose, keep it consistent to manage expectations and keep your readers coming back.

Know your audience. Understanding who you’re writing to will help shape an appropriate voice and writing style, be it straightforward, witty, conversational or authoritative.

Engage your readers. Create a strong connection with those who read your blog. Tell them who you are (you don’t have to use your real name) and relate something interesting about yourself. Interact with them through comments and answer their questions. Add photos to your posts. Use photos to add visual interest and to deliver a more powerful impact than just words.

Mix up your approach. Keep readers interested by varying how you deliver information in your posts. Some ideas include: a post that examines the pros and cons of an issue, a post that is inspirational, a post that interviews an interesting figure, or a post about current events in your niche.

Keep it brief. Most readers have short attention spans, so keep it simple, tight and interesting. Don’t feel like you have to write a lengthy tome. If you do have a lot to say, break it up into smaller paragraphs and make it easy to skim with subheads or bullet points.

Provide links to other helpful sites/information. Good blogs expand their readers’ world through outbound links. Link to other bloggers, articles and sites that you feel will provide added value to your readers.

Proofread and edit yourself tirelessly. Because blogging is so personal, some people don’t bother to review what they’ve written before hitting “Post.” Take the extra 10 minutes to hit spell check and eliminate run-on sentences. Your readers will thank you for it.

Taken from Carepages.com (http://cms.carepages.com/CarePages/en/ArticlesTips/HelpfulTips/BetterYou/e_therapy.html?ipc=nlsept_aby_1)