The cost of this is steep enough that you’re probably better off quitting rather than dragging out a mediocre blog. Here are a few reasons and then a couple solutions for writing a good blog post:

Competition is Fierce

There are a host of experienced tech-savvy folks who have lost their jobs and are now concentrating their energy on creating top-notch web sites. In addition, the number of blogs out there are growing daily, so the competition for readers will on increase for the time being. They are using networks, offers, partnerships, advertising, and giveaways to attract readers to their excellent posts.

Your Contract with Readers

In posting content online you are asking are offering content in exchange for someone’s valuable time and attention. This is a contract that should not be taken lightly. Violate that contract too many times and readers will stop dropping by—turning you into the little blog that cried “Content!” I like some bloggers out there as people, but I’m not a big fan of their blogs, having been disappointed one too many times. Poor posts take a toll on readers.

Your Reputation

While you don’t want to risk annoying your readers with frivolities, you also don’t want to compromise your position as not only a helpful, but hopefully an authoritative writer. Have a look at Michael Hyatt’s blog. He’s the CEO of Thomas Nelson, the top Christian publisher, and his helpful blog only further seals his place as the leading Christian publisher, if not one of the top publishers overall. Through excellent posts he has become a defacto CEO for many in the publishing industry who look to his lead.

There are other Platforms

If blogging isn’t your thing, you can still advance your ideas and create buzz around your work by using Twitter and Facebook. If you have an idea to share, just post it as a note in Facebook. These forms of micro-blogging are great ways to network and to get noticed without the drag of maintaining a whole blog.

How to Write Good Posts

If you’re in a content slump, but you don’t want to give up, write a post today announcing a 30 sabbatical. With Christmas going on I suspect that your readers won’t mind all that much anyway. Announce that your triumphal return will take place in 3-4 weeks.

Take the following month to list the topics you’d like to blog on, set up Google alerts to send you updates related to those topics, follow a few popular blogs such as problogger.net, make a list of 4-5 ideas to write about each week on these topics, and select a few books to read. Take those blog post ideas you’ve listed and write up one-paragraph summaries of each post or a rough 4-5 point outline. Complete sentences are optional at this point.

The night before your return, write out a good draft of your first blog post. Proof read it in the morning and then post it. Later that afternoon or evening write up your draft for the next day’s post, and then proof and post it the next morning.

Plot out some rough ideas for topics, series, books, or articles. Keep track of your news alerts for blogging fodder and make sure you read at least 5 key blogs in your area of interest. As you plan your return it will be crucial to commit to a 30-day period of posting. You need to develop good blogging habits, and 30 days will be sufficient to send you well on your way.

The next post this week will be: Why you have to market your blog…

Even if you have a great idea and some excellent writing skills, here are a few ways to improve your blog post:

Let It Sit

Whether a few hours, days, or weeks, it often helps to distance yourself a little bit from a post. You’ll be better prepared to work on your introduction, transitions, and conclusion. A second draft ALWAYS makes a blog post better.

Write Content People Care About

Step back for a moment and ask, “Why does this post matter?” If it doesn’t, rewrite it so that it connects with the needs and interests of your readers. Adopt an angle or include information that is relevant and of interest.

Edit and Condense

You said it in four sentences, but try saying it in two. While you’re at it, show your readers some respect by catching all of your grammar and spelling errors.

Use Lists and Bold Font

Write your articles so they are easy to scan, but still provide enough content for those who want to take their time reading it. You typically have a few seconds to catch a reader’s attention.

Write a Better Title

Think of journalism’s five W’s and one H: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. Make sure your title is relevant to readers and gives them a reason to keep reading.

Did you enjoy this post?

In the part of the presentation on blogs I spoke highly of Windows Live Writer as THE top blog post editor. It’s free, easy to use, and supported by lots of great add-ons, including an automatic update to Twitter for each new blog post. However, PC user that I am, I overlooked the plight of bloggers who use a Mac.

Someone brought up this point, and the only editor I recall hearing rave reviews about is Ecto. You have to fork out a bit of cash, but heck, Mac users are already tossing away two to three times the cash of a PC user. They should be used to spending money on their cool computers.

I did a bit more digging and found that Ecto is still one of the top programs out there for bloggers on a Mac. However, there is the option of running Live Writer on your Mac, it just takes a little work.

I also found a list of suggested Mac programs that confirmed the excellence of Ecto, but also listed some other great options. One of them is Blogo, a program recommended elsewhere.

So if you don’t mind dishing out $20, not bad for a program if you ask me, you can find a very suitable blog editor to use on a Mac. In the meantime, I’ll be running my virus-software, rebooting regularly, and cleaning up junk files on my PC, while taking small comfort in knowing that I at least have a superior blog editor.

This is a purely subjective exercise, as I’m sure others will have different takes on this. However, if you’re new to blogging or are struggling to find your way, I hope this list will help you.

What I’m typically looking for:

• Chronicles interesting experiences. It’s not usually interesting to read about someone’s day at work or what they had for breakfast, but there are bloggers who lead unusual or fascinating lives and have the writing skills to make it shine on a blog. I personally enjoy reading about Jordon Cooper’s experiences working at a Salvation Army. There’s always a story to tell. Example: www.jordoncooper.com
• A unique, passionate, and informed perspective on news, events, or ideas. This is blogging for me in its purest expression, offering up ideas and adding to public discourse. Example: www.swingingfromthevine.com
• Ideas in condensed formats for easy browsing and skimming. Using bold font, bullets, or a solid summary in the beginning helps me figure out if I want to read the whole post. I know you poured your heart out in those 500 words, but I don’t always have the time to read every 500-word post. As a reader, I need help figuring out if this post will be something I want to read. With an overload of information out there, this is essential. Example: www.toddhiestand.com
• Obscure or helpful links. Sometimes you just want to laugh or to watch something interesting. While these blogs may sometimes wow you with a solid, informative post, sometimes it’s fun to visit a blog that offers up helpful information just for the heck of it. Example: www.jesusneedsnewpr.blogspot.com
• Interaction with other blogs, providing summaries and insights. You can’t read every blog, and so it’s important to find a reliable guide to the blogs you want to browse. In addition, far from simply sharing links, these blogs help you sift through and evaluate their finds. These blogs not only elevate the level of discourse, but also help you find blogs doing the same. Example: www.tallskinnykiwi.com

What I’m not looking for:

• Links to news and information everyone already knows about. If I can find this article on my Google news page, why are you linking to it on your blog? Enough said!
• Links to news and information without any helpful commentary or perspective. Many bloggers link to something in the news and then say, “This is important, what do you think?” As a reader I’m not motivated to put my own ideas on the line because the blogger hasn’t taken the first step. In other words, the blogger hasn’t really started a conversation, but rather asked other people to do the work for him/her.
• Long, rambling posts without structure or editing. The ideas may be good, but the author needs to take the time to organize the thoughts better and make them accessible for readers who may not want to sift through the whole post.
• Self-indulgent, life-chronicling posts that are neither unique nor interesting. You blogged about going to breakfast, which is nice and all, but you haven’t offered anything of value like a restaurant recommendation or insights into what you thought about while out for breakfast.

That’s my list of criteria, what is on your list of do’s and don’ts?

Church Communications Pro is updated regularly and has some great archives that are of real value. My favorite is the series of posts on using Word Press for a church web site. The best part is their content benefits churches and non-churches alike.

My fledgling blog on Vermont, South West Vermont.com uses one of their nicest themes, though I am intrigued by their latest “newspaper” themes.

And speaking of Word Press Themes and blogs, I’ve been keeping track of useful web site resources, especially themes, at my new Blinklist account. Since I’m using my del.icio.us account to track theology resources, I opened Blinklist for all other items of interest, particularly web design stuff.

Originally posted on inamirrordimly.com

When choosing a theme, it is crucial to find a lay out that supports your content. Clutter is the enemy, so choose wisely.

In the case of this blog I wanted readers to have the option of reading through the content or utilizing the side bars. It’s as if the site is divided in two. Some may only want to browse my links, while others will only want to look over the posts.

For inamirrordimly.com, my blog on theology and whatever else happens around our Vermont home, I wanted to content to be at center stage. The sidebar is there, but almost everything on the sidebar revolves around the content. Links and resources are on other pages.

On yet another blog, swvermont.com, I chose a clean three column theme that provides a host of resources, links, and navigation options. The key to this site in my estimation is what visitors see when the first arrive. Therefore I’ve place my categories and search box at the top. That enables them to quickly find what they want.

Take some time to evaluate the lay out options out there and compare them to the kind of content you plan on publishing. A good lay out should put your best content in the reader’s line of vision.

ProBlogger Darren Rowse adds some qualifiers.

The bottom line for me is that each blogger must determine the goal and audience of his/her blog. For example, a more specialized blog such as cooking, history, or theology may only require weekly posts. Tech, politics, and news may be a different story.

blog

Technorati Tags: blog

“In a bid to attract new members and shed their persistently Luddite image, churches across the country are embracing technology and Web sites like MySpace. Blogs and podcasts have become part of religious leaders’ communications with congregants, and photo-sharing sites like Flickr are increasingly used to depict a fun-loving, casually-dressed community of churchgoers.”

The whole article.

While many non-profits are loath to add another item on their “to do” lists, this is such an important area. Non-profits must learn to communicate with today’s upcoming generations in their media formats of choice. Blogs and web-based applications are the future. A good example of a web accessible non-profit is The Well.

blog, church, non-profit

Technorati Tags: blog, church, non-profit

Todd also has the usual list of programs, including Bloglines and Firefox (two programs that I cannot imagine life without), but give his list a look. You may find a gem that has escaped your notice.

While there are a number of reasons why this is a good thing, the number one reason for myself is that I’ll waste an entire morning reading the news at bloglines or from my google home page. The wireless card just sits on the table with a little sticky note stating the time I’m allowed to insert it. I can then post furiously without the temptation to read my mail, other blogs, or the news.

While many say that Ecto is the best program, Ecto also costs $20. While this is not steep for a program that does everything but write the post for you, I’m very satisfied with w.bloggar and have found that it is very easy to use.

The best part is that it keeps all of my blog passwords stored so I don’t ever have to log in. I should also note that it provides a lot features that basic blog editors simply do not have. Simple file uploads, font colors, various heading settings, and other font options make it really useful when customizing a post. It was a little tricky to set up Wordpress with w.bloggar, but a quick visit to the forums at their web site cleared it all up.

technorati tags: w.bloggar, ecto

Free
Wordpress
Blogger

Perfect for beginners
1. Typepad: you have to pay a few bucks a month, but nobody makes it easier to put a nice looking blog together.
2. Wordpress: a close second. There’s a little less versitility in the templates and you need to know some basic html to post book lists and other images to your link lists.
3. Blogger: I was surprised to see how many people use Blogger and still Blogger does not have an optional interface for posting links. While they make it easy to write up the html yourself, I would think that it’s fairly easy to make two ways of adding links such as wordpress.

Free and Versatile
Blogger: while wordpress gives you quite a bit for free and Typepad will give you all the features you could want if you’re willing to shell out $15 a month, Blogger lets you customize their templates completely. My Blogger site has been revamped in some major ways and I have yet to exhaust the options. You need to know how html colors work and have additional html knowledge, but they make it as easy as they can.
If I Had Only One Blog . . .
If I had only one blog, I would probably host it with Yahoo and then run it on wordpress. I use wordpress on this site and find that I can easily edit the format of the blog while using simple features to add links and other content to the site. It is the best of both worlds.

The pro plan for Typepad is nice, but it doesn’t quite compare in my book. I think that Typepad has a sharp blog product that is easy and fun to use, but who wants to pay so much when you can get a bunch more with wordpress. Perhaps it’s a draw, but I have to put my money on wordpress for now.

Blogger is fun to use if you want a free blog that can be fully customized, but you have to know quite a bit of html in order to make it of much use.

It looks very attractive at this point, but I need to take it for a test drive first. You can get an idea of what it does by looking at some blogs they list: East Central Elementary School, Amnesty International USA, and Platform 27. Click here for a full list of Platform 27’s features.

Technorati Tags:blog, community, 21publish

And personal blogging aside, organizations can also use Blogger to make some very nice web sites. Jordon Cooper, whose blog I peruse daily, has a nice clean blog design that utilizes Blogger. He recommends a series of blogs/web sites by Pernell Goodyear. There’s his wife’s site, his church’s site, and his church’s blog.

I’ll have to start up my own blogger site in order to give it a review, but the price is right so far as I can see and it’s possible to customize it quite a bit.

Technorati Tags: blogger

Though the title is somewhat provocative, the subject material is essential for every business, especially non-profits to consider. Non-profits cannot afford to miss out on blogs. Since they rely so heavily on relationships, service, and donations, there is no such thing as too much trust or too much communication.

Technorati Tags: naked+conversations, blogging

I have had a Typepad blog since April of last year, while the Wordpress thing is new to me as of this year. Though I could say a lot in comparison, here’s the short cut to my point: Wordpress takes a little bit of time to learn and requires even a minimal knowledge of html code, but it’s free. Typepad is really easy to use and makes buidling links and editing your content really easy. The down side is that the extra convenience costs you $6 a month.

The thing is that both programs allow you to do basically the same things in their most basic versions. So if you can spend a little bit of time messing around with what works and what doesn’t, Wordpress is for you. In addition, you can use Wordpress for free if you don’t mind buying a domain name and having it hosted. You pay a little bit more, but then you have an incredible amoung of flexibility that equals the Typepad Pro option.

More to come, but that’s a start.