In many areas of life, what you say matters, but how you say it matters nearly as much.
<Insert your own tale of misunderstanding in a friendship, marriage, work team, etc.>
How you say things in a blog matters, too, but not really because you’re worried about being misunderstood or hurting someone’s feelings (though this may be worth considering whenever you post or comment. Ever sent an email you were sure was free of “tone,” only to find out you’ve created a big mess on the other end?).
How you present information in a blog post matters because your goal is to get read and start a conversation. And there are lots of ways well-meaning bloggers keep people from reading or responding. Here are some helpful do’s and don’ts.
DO stick with a schedule that’s sustainable.
I know people who blog every day, no exceptions, and I know people who blog once a month. More is usually better, but it’s far better to blog consistently once a week than to blog every day for a month and then drop off the face of the earth for the next 5 months. Nothing says “dead blog” more than your last post dated 4 months ago.
DO keep it brief.
Anyone who’s ever read an email of mine or gone to coffee with me will tell you: brevity is something I have to work at on a daily basis. But in the blog world, it’s especially important.
Unnecessarily long posts don’t get read. Call it busyness. Call it a short attention span. But in blog-world, it’s not changing anytime soon, so just keep it in mind. Don’t be scared to break a post up into multiple parts if it’s getting too lengthy.
DON’T miss a single opportunity to invite people to respond.
I’m a comment glutton. Loooove those comments, and I’m not above offering a giveaway (translation: bribe) to get the lurkers to come out from hiding.
Why? Well, other than the fact that it feels nice to know I’m not writing to a black hole of nothingness, it allows me to get to know people better. It helps me see their needs. It starts conversations that I wouldn’t have predicted.
Ask people to tell you what they think. As often as possible. Their answers might surprise you.
DO break up the text so people’s eyes don’t begin to bleed.
Use appropriately-sized pictures to create visual interest.
Hit return to break up paragraphs.
Enter a horizontal line by typing <hr /> into your HTML editor.
Use H1 and H2 subhead tags, like I’m doing on each DO and DON’T.
DON’T, under any circumstances, use yellow. Ever.
More seriously, try to take it easy on ALL CAPS and 5-exclamation-points-in-a-row.
A writer friend once told me that whenever she sees an exclamation point, she hears Jerry Seinfeld yelling in her head. It’s helped me use moderation since.
Emoticon usage is still an addiction, I’m sad to report. 
DO link search engine phrases back to appropriate pages on your main website.
The how-to specifics are their own blog post, but linking keywords like Seattle copywriting back to the Copywriting page on your WordPress website helps Google rank your page higher for those keywords (meaning more people can find you). It’s pretty cool, and easy to get used to.
DON’T forget who your blog is about.
See yesterday’s post about finding good blog content. It’s about them, not about you or your business. Navelgazing doesn’t earn loyal readers (unless your navel happens to be extremely interesting — this is the exception).
Make sure everything you post has something to offer the kind people who take time out of their day to visit you.
They’ll usually keep coming back.
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What are your favorite blogs? What keeps you coming back? I’m always adding to my list of favorite blogs, so please share in the comments section below!
Here are a few blogs I’m unabashedly in love with:
Sustainable schedule…those are the words that have been my/our challenge. Tough stuff because what is sustainable now isn’t next week, at least for me. So what are you doing? What is your sustainable schedule?
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My goal is 3x/week. If I can do more, great. If not, that’s okay too. I once blogged everyday for years at a time, and I find that once I get into my rhythm, I really enjoy it.
One thing I’m learning to take advantage of is 1) writing & scheduling a few posts in advance so I’m ahead of the game, and 2) being okay with posts that are shorter when I’m buried — pointing people to other good resources, asking a focused question of readers, etc. As long as posts are interesting and have a gift inside, as a reader I don’t mind if some posts aren’t quite as content-heavy as others.
And, of course, the REALLY smart bloggers utilize guest posts from other smart people. I was checking out his blog recently, and Hugh McLeod (http://gapingvoid.com) does this a lot right now.