Learn How to Blog

January 31, 2013 By adamlu,

I am not a great teacher like Muzzy (No, those kids aren’t French), but in the past couple of months I have learned enough about blogging to teach some lessons. I received this new found knowledge because we set goals here at Digital Operative, and mine was to post one blog a week. My hope was to rekindle my love of writing and pick up enough skills to be the writer that I knew I could be. There have been some major challenges, and some pleasant surprises in the experience. However, I think most of what I learned can be distilled into one sentence: just do it. When I spent too much time thinking about what the topic would be, who would not like my topics and which jokes were and were not funny; I freaked myself out and didn’t publish it. In the world of content marketing - not publishing is the complete wrong thing to do. When I started writing and getting into the groove of blogging it got easier with every post. In addition to the main lesson I learned (just do it), here are three more lessons that I am happy to share about how to blog like a pro.

1. Make the Blog Relatable

In my blog post, “Your SEO Plan is Kim Kardashian (Low Quality and all Over the Place) I began experimenting with mixing digital marketing tips with popular culture. This was a far step from earlier posts where I was basically just giving a how-to’s that were boring and no one cared about. Choosing a relatable topic gives non-technical people insight into the technical world and makes dry topics more palatable.

2. Never Be Boring

To become a better blog writer, I performed research and read many (MANY) different blogs. Some writers were interesting, informative, and opinionated like a good Adam Corrolla podcast. While others lacked any passion at all for the topic. What I did notice is that good or bad, if the author took a view and wrote with passion I would finish the article. Passion creates interest and it shows in the way the blog reads.

3. Have a Great Team

There is no way I could do this without the help of my team. Sometimes it felt like I was writing in a vacuum, so having a team helped to check myself. I have a great editor who tells me when I make no sense, when no one will get my references (I stand by MC Skat Kat!), and when my spelling is atrocious. Additionally, I have fantastic support from upper management, who do not restrict me on topics I choose to write about while pursuing this interest. Overall, if you want to learn more about blogging - just do it! Some posts will be great and some won’t, but with each post you will know more about what it takes to makes a good blog post ... and knowing is half the battle. Adam Lundquist graduated from Blog University. Connect with Adam on Google+.