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Single Step Toward A Journey Of Thousand Blog Posts

By alik levin

June 11th, 2009 | Blogging


Jump start massive blogging 
by emdot

I speak 3 languages and each one has a saying that goes along the lines:

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. - Lao-tzu

What’s the simplest single step you can take to jump start massive blogging?

Here is my take.

Create a high level architecture and design of your blog posts. In this post I share a collection of practical resources that helped me publishing consistent content on my blogs.


Post Title

Think of the Title that should be both SEO and human friendly. Daniel Levis offers 10 Winning Headline Formulas … :

  1. The “How To” headline: How to Avoid the Flu this Year, Guaranteed!
  2. The “How” headline: How This 57-Year-Old Nurse Works With Coughing, Wheezing, Sneezing People all Day Long and Never gets Sick — Not Even During Flu Season …
  3. The “Why” headline: Why Flu Shots Are a Bad Idea for Most People …
  4. The “What” headline: What Never to Eat When You Have The Flu …
  5. The “Where” headline: Where Flu Germs Cluster And How to Avoid Them …
  6. The “Question” headline: Are These Common Flu Medicines Safe for Your Family? TIP: Never ask a yes or no question. Make it impossible to answer the question without reading the copy.
  7. The “Numbered” headline: Three Delicious Veggies That Boost Your Immune System and Keep The Flu Bug Away …
  8. The “One and Only” headline: The Easiest Way to Stay Flu-Free This Winter …
  9. The “Irony” headline: Respected Doctor Says “Leave Your Hat and Mitts at Home and You’ll Never Catch the Flu”
  10. The “Who” headline: Who Can You Trust When It Comes to Flu Fighting Vitamins?

Blog Post Templates

Create blog post template and follow it when writing the post. Chris Knight offers Article Templates = Blueprints to Success:

  1. Traps and How to Escape Them
  2. Things to Do
  3. Top 7 Tips
  4. Golden Rules
  5. Pain Avoidance
  6. Checklist
  7. Principles of X
  8. The Pros and Cons
  9. I Love

Test Yourself

After you finished writing, test your work. Make sure you offer value to your readers. Skellie shares How to Avoid Fools Gold and Create Value-packed Content:

  1. It doesn’t alleviate problems a little — it solves them.
  2. It doesn’t make your readership think about doing things differently — it changes the way they act.
  3. It’s audacious — it tries to do many things at once.
  4. It expresses something your target audience didn’t already know.
  5. It answers a question your target audience didn’t know how to ask.
  6. It makes your target audience feel better about themselves.
  7. It helps them move towards whatever they’ve defined as their ’success’.

Practice This - Get Results

  • Create SEO and human friendly titles – attract traffic.
  • Create post templates – follow simple procedures and save time when writing.
  • Test your work – make sure you deliver value to your readers, build trust.


13 comments ↓

#1 J.D. Meier on 06.11.09 at 4:42 pm

So true. I think in terms of one post or one nugget at a time.

It’s ironic that you happened to hone in on headlines. I spent the weekend creating blogging templates and checklists to improve my blogging.

#2 Tess The Bold Life on 06.11.09 at 8:05 pm

Alik,
This is a shot in the arm. I needed a boost and this was it. Great info packed in one post. Thanks!

#3 alik levin on 06.12.09 at 5:47 am

J.D.,
Say, you still have room to improve? ;)…
Your stamina astonishes me.

Tess,
You are welcome!
Happy to be of help ;)

#4 Frank Gilroy on 06.12.09 at 10:25 am

Nice blueprint for a good blog post. I’m saving this one to my del.icio.us links. :)

#5 alik levin on 06.12.09 at 10:41 am

Frank,
Thank you. Happy to be of help.

#6 Sudeep on 06.12.09 at 1:17 pm

Hello ,
I personally like the suggestion that you gave with blog headings . They are awesome example how a single topic of flu can be tackled and increased public attention with different headers .
I will try to use those in my post .thanks
Regards
Sudeep

#7 alik levin on 06.12.09 at 6:31 pm

Sudeep,
Happy you like it. Please note - the examples given in the post are from Daniel Levis (the link to the original article is provided too)

#8 vered on 06.13.09 at 4:10 am

I never use post templates. I have to say, it’s not a bad idea.

#9 alik levin on 06.13.09 at 5:15 pm

Vered,
Thank you. Templates were one of my biggest time savers for blogging. If you use Liver Writer for blogging, you might be interested in the plugin i have created to write even faster:
http://practicethis.com/blog-post-template-plugin-for-windows-live-writer/

#10 theconsciouslife on 06.15.09 at 1:54 am

Alik,
Thanks for putting across these useful tips so succinctly. I’ve never used post templates before. But I’ll give it a shot and see how they work for me. Cheers.

#11 alik levin on 06.15.09 at 5:35 am

theconsciouslife,
Good to hear you liked it. Give it a try - it is serious time saver, it also helps to build your brand.

#12 Sheila Atwoodd on 06.15.09 at 10:34 pm

I learned tons from this post.

I have bookmarked it for future reference. I really liked “Test yourself”. I like the idea of having a way to make sure I have achieved my purpose.

I do use a blog template. As part of it I always keyword search my headline. Then repeat those keywords in my first paragraph and the very last paragraph of my post.

Sheila

#13 alik levin on 06.16.09 at 5:05 am

Sheila,
Thank you.
I also liked your take on SEO.

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