My Musings: Sure-Fire Strategies for Better Blog Content

I first began blogging a little less than two years ago and I have certainly come a long way in this field since that first post. At first, it was a passive hobby, something to satisfy my knack at web and graphic design while at the same time being able to express or rather preach what God has been teaching me. Yet now, I love the passion of writing and the excitement of encouraging and challenging other believers.

A very large portion of my audience here at The Baptist Muse, is composed of other like-minded bloggers. Many of you find yourself somewhere along that same journey that I have been taking. Many of you want to improve your abilities to influence others for the cause of Christ through your blog.

"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." ~ I Cor. 10:31

I have, in fact, recently been receiving several requests for advice about creating a more successful blog. In this post, I am going to begin an introduction to developing just that, a successful blog. Throughout this post and a few follow-ups, I will discuss ideas for developing your content, tools to hone your writing skills, some basic design rules and guidelines, strategies for increasing readership and much more.

It is important to begin with content. Many other attributes of a blog, including design or marketing, are useless if you cannot provide your readers with quality entertaining, challenging, and informative articles. In fact, you may have the neatest design in the world, yet without great posts your readership will only be mediocre. Follow these guidelines to begin transforming the quality of your blog.

If you write it...they will come!

Quality Grammar - When I write articles for The Baptist Muse, I often make reference to my High School grammar textbook. I keep it right near my computer so that I have easy access to it. You see, the easier your blog is to read grammatically, the more likely your readers will return. In this age of electronic spelling and grammar checkers, there is no reason to produce poorly written content. Yet many solid Christian blogs are filled with distracting errors. Don't get lazy. Take the time to take your writing to the next level!
Fresh Content - Most professional bloggers recommend that you update your blog at least three or four times per week. If you produce less articles than this, readers feel like your site is not worth stopping at because each time they come there they only see information that they have already read. The more you update, the professionals say, the more readers you will attract.

Note: However, don't sacrifice quality for quantity. It is better to produce two excellent articles than four that are poorly written.
Targeted Content - Choose your niche. Although I invite anyone to read this site, here at the Baptist Muse, I cater most exclusively to Independent Fundamental Baptists and I try very much to create content that will be the most helpful to people in that category. If your blog topic is too broad, then often times you will not really attract anyone.
Creative Content - As they say in the corporate world, 'Think Outside The Box!' Or as they used to say at Taco Bell, 'Think Outside The Bun!' When you create headlines and articles that are unique and eye catching you grab the readers attention. Don't follow the same mold that everyone around you seems to follow. Be bold. Challenge people to think differently. Use personal and creative stories to illustrate your articles. Be different. The more creative you can be, the more effective your writing will be.
Original Content - Although it is certainly alright to publish entire articles that are 'copied and pasted' from a chain email or from another website, many readers become bored with these posts. Try to limit these 'copy and paste' articles to less than 20% of your content. Most people read your blog because they want to read your original content.