DISQUS

Missy Caulk · 1 year ago

Nice tips Chris, I try to keep mine personal too at the beginning or interject my thoughts on a comment I made. The call to action is great too.

Louis Delage · 1 year ago

Useful tips for my French blog posts too. Great stuff!

Steve · 1 year ago

Thanks for the tips. I follow a couple of what you mention but I am really unstructured at times. I think this will help, don't you?

Aaron Strout · 1 year ago

Chris - thank you for sharing your process. It's helpful to know how one of the best and certainly most dilligent bloggers gets it done day in and day out.

Two quick points to make if I could:
- Shipping News is one of my favorite books of all time. It was tough getting through the first 50 pages but after that, it was amazing.
- One other thing you do well but didn't call out is your regular "shout outs" to other bloggers and community peeps. Everyone likes to be recognized once in a while and when they are, a deeper connection with that person is created.

Thanks again!
@astrout

Paul Rj Muller · 1 year ago

Great post Chris.

I attended a seminar on writing specifically for the web and everything you say is dead on by their accounts, I could have saved myself some coin if i just waited to read your thoughts on this.

The best improvement i made in my style is frankly one of the first ones you talked about put the important stuff up front. Great post.

Stu · 1 year ago

Kudos Chris .. nice stuff.

1. Having a picture just makes sense. We are hardwired (most of us) so that our eyes veer straight toward it.

2. Love the final question. Does it work? It's such a simple but so important question for the nature of this post, and of blogging really in general.

I'm glad to hear your community is increasing organically. Hey! I guess that makes me part of that :).

shawn smith · 1 year ago

This is very similar to how I write posts, except I usually search for a photo after I've written the post. Do you contact the person whose photo you've used? the subheads and bullets stuff is something I think most beginning bloggers struggle to understand. Most web readers want to skim, they won't read your long in-depth paragraphs. But if you give them a way to skim your post, it's much more likely they will read the majority of the words

Don Lafferty · 1 year ago

For the flavor of stuff you write, your approach and structure work well.

It’s interesting to hear you describe your personal creative process: Blog = Idea + (Title + Picture) + (ala carte components). I’m always curious to hear how that works for other writers.

Since your blog has evolved into a How-To resource, your style and structure deliver consistent content from which your reader can easily pull the most pertinent action items for their personal self improvement.

I like that you don’t outline the takeaways in the way of a summary. It adds to the ala carte feel of your work, although when translated to book form, the How-To editorial minds may push you in that direction.

Ed Stafford · 1 year ago

Chris,
Thank you for sharing. I'm always looking for good tips to help me improve my blogging skills and these tips will surely be helpful. I'll definitely be referring back to this often.

Thanks.
Ed Stafford - @pixel8r

Julie · 1 year ago

Hi Chris,
I'm a new blogger and I found your post to be very helpful and informative. I enjoyed your use of the actual blog post to demonstrate your points.

I have found that my own thought process is the same way. My ideas typically come while I am running on the treadmill or in the shower. I don't actually title, categorize, or tag my post until right before I publish it. I've found that my original idea might start out one way and the final post is something totally different.

Thanks for sharing your process with us. It's definitely cool to see another perspective!

Julie

Dungeekin · 1 year ago

Hi Chris

Thanks for the thoughtful and informative article, and it's certainly good advice to bear in mind when I'm blogging my thoughts on politics and the like.

However, I think this approach is best for Blogs like yours or any with mostly factual and advisory content.

I often find that for me, the whole post can spring from a sentence that pops into my head (normally one that makes me giggle) - and the post, and its structure, then tend to be built around that.

It's not what you'd call a scientific method - and it certainly wouldn't work for everyone - but for creative writing, I find it a good approach.

Keep up the good work, I'll keep reading!

Regards

Dungeekin

Peter West · 1 year ago

I'm a former newspaper and national mag editor. My suggestions: Write everyday. Write about what matters or interests you. Good writing comes from good rewriting. Read "The Elements of Style" (which I gave to everyone of my editors). It's available online at http://www.bartleby.com/141
Read it - often.

Jez · 1 year ago

One thing I am trying to implement in my blog (t'InterWebs) is an 'Executive Summary' that is a maximum of 255 characters. If someone adds it to del.icio.us then they can cut 'n' paste into the summary box and then add tags they think will be useful!

At the moment it's a work in progress ;)

Sonia Simone · 1 year ago

I think it's interesting that you select the photo before you flesh out the post. I often rework or revise my posts after I pick the photo, esp. when I find something really interesting like the little-boy-samurai photo that I used last week. But just as often, something comes organically out of the writing that drives me to look for a particular kind of image.

I also have giant lightboxes that I've created on istockphoto and a nice chunky "favorites" file on Flickr, so sometimes I can "go shopping" through stuff I've already browsed and get something perfect.

My mental map for writing a post is very similar to yours, but I hadn't been really conscious of it. Thanks for shining a light . . .

One last step I do is to look at the first sentence and a half and ask myself: if I saw only that, would I click through? That worked particularly well for me last week with a trackback to a Seth Godin post.

Kai · 1 year ago

I love these concepts and agree wholeheardedly - I'e found a tool that helps me get images too called Zementa (though I had to make sure YOU hadn't recommended it in the first place ;)) - its a nice plugin for my browser that pulls up both blog posts and a gallery, based on what I'm writing. I'm still testing it, but I'll try and get the review on my blog as soon as I can. :)

Kai · 1 year ago

OOps, sorry, its called Zemanta, not Zementa. My bad ;)

chrisbrogan · 1 year ago

Really exciting to see what folks had to say. Will you share YOUR writing methods with us on your blog? Post a link.

aka_monty · 1 year ago

I think I'm one of the few people who doesn't really take blogging (I mean to say, MY blogging) seriously. Your tips are all fantastic and I'm sure very helpful, especially for people who are targeting and specific. I think a lot of people will definitely benefit from your advice.

My approach is more like Dungeekin's...something strikes me funny, makes me angry, hurts me - it somehow develops itself into a post.
I've gotten emails that say that people like it because it's in a conversational tone and they can hear me saying the same thing.

Sometimes blogging isn't about "good writing". Sometimes it's just about heart and soul. :)

Ivana Taylor · 1 year ago

I follow that same process, But sometimes I feel like I'm stuck in that same kind of rut. Do you think that sticking to a pattern gives readers something to expect or do you think it bores them?

LisaN · 1 year ago

Chris,

Thanks for the additional ideas. Several of these I do already (leading paragraph, picture, intriguing title, and ending with a question, bullets, and lists), but the one I only do now and then (strong paragraph tags) will start to become a daily integration.

Lisa

Todd McKinney · 1 year ago

That's a really useful post. I'm nowhere near thinking it would be a good idea to share my approach, unless you were just looking for a laugh. I did attempt to model my last post around your tips and I think it helped quite a bit.

I have a couple of follow on questions that weren't addressed here. You may already be planning on tackling these topics, but how do you do the research once you've got the basic idea and structure out of the way? Also, how do you pick or decide how to split up a topic? The whole issue of one long rambling post vs. five specific ones vs. a series of 100 is something that I'm trying to put some logic to. It really seems tricky at times to get the right balance.

bhc3 · 1 year ago

Ah...nice post Chris. I like the process you go through to pick a topic, and then figure out the best marketing approach (picture, title, best stuff first). I think the picture aspect is a good tip. My own posts tend to be long form with text. A picture would be good. One of my most popular posts has a picture of a baby with peanut butter smeared all over him (relates to the Yahoo Peanut Butter Manifesto, BTW).

Also - good tip from Sonia Simone above above about making the first sentence of the post impactful.

How about a little more thought on short posts versus long form posts?

Finally, I just published my own thoughts as a fairly new blogger, The First 20 Blog Posts Are the Easiest: http://tinyurl.com/ynkzgh

Ike Pigott · 1 year ago

Chris...

Instead of using (Strong/Bold) as your section separator, use the built-in Heading-3 and Heading-4 formats.

If you don't like how yours look, change them in the style sheet.

It makes your entire post more semantic, and easier to follow.

tyson crosbie · 1 year ago

This is a great breakdown of the process for me.
I never really thought about it too much, blogging is a lot more conversational than writing an essay. So the best posts for me are the ones that communicate effectively as a conversation and not just as an essay or article.

Solacetech · 1 year ago

Blogging 101...I'm taking notes!

Shey · 1 year ago

Nice post Chris, I like your style and I think it works well for you.

Thanks for recognizing that there is more than one way to go about it. Depending on the topic, I sometimes like to build up to my best stuff, rather than hit them with it first — with good writing style, it can be effective.

I also only look for images after my first paragraph since it usually gives a good overview of where the rest of the post is going to go.

Thanks for sharing your methodology!

John Lockwood · 1 year ago

Nicely done. I've been writing those stupid ineffective blog posts for years. I should switch to this kind.

Missy Caulk comments on your blog and you know Dan Steinberg? Wow, that's pretty cool.

I get to play blogospherical geography here because it's on topic.

Jay (Twitter @qthrul) · 1 year ago

When I entered high school over two decades ago the most common assignment I recall from English class was writing essays.

Being lazy and math/science oriented, I calculated that the essay had to have 5 paragraphs minimum, 5 sentences per paragraph minimum, and I wasn't allowed to use certain words like 'like' (anti-crutch mandates). i.e. 25 sentences.

Seriously. I approached it like some kind of word problem in math class. I was and still am fascinated by bare minimums.

I'm going to try your approach with my next full thought blog entry! :)

Lisa · 1 year ago

Thanks for writing this article Chris
It is simple to point and can be implemented in no time.
I often wonder to write on my wall at facebook (something new for me within the last month)I usually write what is going on. I like the end it with a question I actually did that last week. I wanted peoples feedback, now I will do more often,
Thanks so much
Lisa
"Illumination Divine Inspiration from my heart to your heart" paintings that heal, words that inspire a timeless treasure for all walk of life

lee · 1 year ago

I never thought about the question idea, but it sounds like a great idea because it is more inviting to responses.

Donna Emperador · 1 year ago

I have recently started blogging, and your tips are useful. My paragraphs are too long, and I think the entries themselves are too long.

Leonardo Souza · 1 year ago

Very nice and useful tips, Chris! And it remembers me of something that I learned both in Communication classes and in a screenwriting course that I took.

It was good to be reminded of this. I'll try to pay more attention to my posts structure from now on. :)

Best,
Leo

James Clark · 1 year ago

Chris, great process. I'm always thinking of what cool photos I can put in my posts.

An influential article for me was Ryan Caldwell's "5 Simple Points to Avoid the Dreaded Text Desert"

http://tinyurl.com/2dq4a8

What I like about your approach is to place the controversy/challenge/opinion up front to engage.

Steve Ellwood · 1 year ago

Thanks, Chris.
I've decided to give your approach a try, and the image addition certainly seems to add something.

As has segmenting with strong.
I foresee lots of playing about with div and float in the future... - and I gave as hout to you on my latest posting - but it looks like the trackback didn't follow through

Sandy Blair · 1 year ago

Chris, is there any reason you say the strong tag for sub headings rather than subheading (Hx) tags?

I know they'd look the same either way so its not a big deal, but semantic mark up might help a wee bit for things like search engines, folks using assistive technology etc.

Josh Budde · 1 year ago

Chris,

Thanks for the tips!

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grom2 · 1 year ago

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Ike Pigott · 1 year ago

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Without your valuable contributions, there would be less spam in the world!

Dennis Royman · 1 year ago

You have a solid talent for writing. Chris I will visit your site again and look for more of your work. Keep! up the good motivating.

Lara Kretler · 1 year ago

Chris, just found this post of yours and I plan to put it into action this week in my blog. Thank you!

Miraclestudios -- web design c · 1 year ago

I think blog post must be written from heart .......

Liza James · 1 year ago

Thanks!
very helpful...

Mahaneesh chandra · 1 year ago

thanks! nice post about blogging man. More of such posts pls

Cheryl Rainfield · 1 year ago

This is really helpful information, thoughtfully laid out. Thank you!

John Spartan · 1 year ago

I've been doing the titles first to attract and addin images, but am afraid to ask the readers questions because our site has just started picking up. But I'll try that.

Eric Schwartzman · 1 year ago

I find your blog posts on the whole, very useful. In fact, you've inspired a number of slides for my "Effective Writing for the Net" workshop I'll be leading in Asia next month. But my big question for you is, "What does it take to as prolific and connected as you are online and still maintain a fulfilling personal life offline? Is there a delineation between the web and the world for you? How do you keep balanced?

phefland · 1 year ago

Nice post - thank you for the pointers!

Brandon Buttars · 8 months ago

This is a great article. I try to do thing similar but I like how you've explained your "First Moves" and your "LeadParagraph". I like to use strong within my paragraphs too to make them even easier to scan. I should use Flickr more too. Good suggestion. I always end up making my own graphics just because I'm one of those guys.

Thanks for the tips. I'll definitely take some of your suggestions to improve my blogging.

AbsoluteBreeze · 3 months ago

Chris, This articles great, clear and succinct.

Thank you!
Tony (@absolutebreeze)