Zillions of blogs – that’s what I feel the internet is cram-packed with.  There are so many wonderfully written blogs worth reading and following; I have blog-reader guilt weekly because I have no time to read them all.  But, there are a lot of blogs out there streaming pointless content for the sake of making noise in cyberspace.  I have written blog content for a number of companies and groups and have found that if I can answer yes to four pointed questions about any topic for any blog, then I can feel good about putting it out to the world.

Here they are shared with you:

1.    Is it topical?

Don’t write a blog post on the history of computer keyboards unless you can relate it back to how a simple USB keyboard made it possible for the company to create today’s hottest new gaming gadget.  If it isn’t relevant to the here and now, readers will move on to something that matters to them.  You should be confident that the topic is something that the blog’s audience will find interesting today. The hottest trends and news are the stepping stones for relating company ideas and culture to what is relevant now.

2.    Is it interesting?

That said, we all get a lot of news quickly these days. How much of it is really interesting to your blog readers?  Rehashing news just for the sake of putting something out there is a much lower form of content creation than writing something genuinely original and interesting.  Reviewing the stats and comments for the blog to see what topics readers latch on to can help you look for topics that are of interest to your audience. Write a blog post interesting enough that a blog follower would refer it to a friend and colleague. 

3.    Can it be summed up in 140 characters?

The Twitter mentality feeds all forms of written content these days. Online users now expect to get their news in short bursts of words.  Blog writers have to start competing on that level.  When blogging you have to be able to summarize the point of your content in 140 characters or less if you want readers to stay on the page long-enough to learn more.  Even if they don’t have an interest in one specific post, they will understand the site enough to know whether they want to come back to read again.  Long blog diatribes only deter returning readers.  If you find that your blog post is not easily summarized in a sentence or two, consider it a sign that it may best be used for a longer-form content piece like a web page, whitepaper or user guide.

4.    Does it say something about the company, individual or services?

Every blog should have a personality that reflects the company, person or service that is sponsoring it.  Blog posts should say something about the mission, objectives or services of an entity, whether blatantly or subtly.  The content should support the blog’s search engine objectives but it should also support a broader marketing objective.  There should never be a question as to why the post was written for that particular blog.  The content should be an extension of the larger entities vision and perspective for the world in which they live.