Improve your blogging – Learn from 300 years of blogging experience!

Navin Kabrahttp://punetech.com

@ngkabra and @punetech on twitter

http://punetech.com

Those who blog for readers

NOT: those who blog for self-expression

Target of this talk

http://punetech.com

A blog is a

mini-newspaper /magazine

http://punetech.com

Gather info Select Improve/Expand Opine

Publish, rinse, repeat

What does a newspaper do?

http://punetech.com

Gather: Constantly thinking about what to blog

Select: Deciding if something is appropriate for blog or not

Expand/Improve: Collecting further information

Opine: Add own opinions

Rinse, Repeat

A blogger does the same

http://punetech.com

Traditional media has perfected some aspects of this

Learn from them

Traditional Media =300 years of blogging!

http://punetech.com

Media spends much more time/effort (as a percentage of their total effort) on this aspect.

Most bloggers don't focus so much on this aspect

Blogger: I'll blog about whatever I think about.

Not good enough!

Gather: Media vs. Blogs

http://punetech.com

Newspaper reporters can't say we'll write about whatever news we run into as we go about our lives.

They have to seek out all news that their readers interested in.

Same with your blog. meetu/wogma can't review whatever

movies she happens to see.◦ Must watch all Hindi movies and review them

Gather: Blogs should do more

http://punetech.com

Google Alerts (subscribe for keywords related to your area)

Twitter (use “search columns” on tweetdeck or seismic desktop)

Mailing lists (join as many relevant lists as you can)

Events (attend all relevant offline events)

Syndicate content (seek out content by other bloggers and ask permission to republish on your blog)

Gather – How?

http://punetech.com

Don't blog everything that comes to your mind

Think about what your readers are interested in

Reader more important than Writer

Select

http://punetech.com

Newspapers have a space crunch Blogs have an imaginary space crunch

◦ Can’t waste readers’ time with too much content◦ Can only fit limited stuff on first page

Select – Space Crunch

http://punetech.com

Don’t blog everything – drop less relevant content

Reduce size of each blog post Have subsections

◦ Relegate some stuff to subsections◦ Front page has just links to subsection articles

Get an editor for your blog (friend, spouse)◦ Someone who brutally tells you which posts are

boring

Select – Space Crunch – Ideas from newspapers

http://punetech.com

Newspapers/magazines don’t just excerpt another publication’s article with an excerpt & link Neither should you!

Don’t just echo◦ Add value

Simplify Check for accuracy – confirm info independently Add alternative points of view Add more info (wikipedia, etc)

Improve / Expand

http://punetech.com

You’re already doing most of this!

But consider: ◦ Opinions by guest bloggers◦ Posts containing your opinion & and one opposing opinion

Imitate Newspaper Columnists◦ Develop a distinctive style◦ Have a consistent opinion

Opinion Pages

http://punetech.com

Other things to learn from traditional media

http://punetech.com

◦ No-one has time to read all your blog posts◦ Even those reading your post, don’t read each

sentence in detail

◦ Everybody skims! ◦ Write so as to hook the skimmers

Write for skimmers

http://punetech.com

Newspapers spend lots of time on headlines◦ Sometimes headline writers are different from the

reporters◦ Headlines grab attention◦ Good for SEO

Spend lot of time thinking of an interesting (clickable) headline◦ Which should also contain appropriate keywords

(for SEO)

Write for skimmers - Headlines

http://punetech.com

Newspapers give a quick overview in first paragraph◦ And then fill in details in rest of article◦ So those who read just one para still get the

whole story Try doing the same

◦ Your content reaches more minds

Write for skimmers – First paragraph

http://punetech.com

Photos most “looked at” parts of newspapes/magazines

Skimmers can’t “avoid” photos◦ Then high probability of reading captions

Tell your story in photos and captions

Write for skimmers – Add photos and captions

http://punetech.com

Break up long articles into sub-sections Give useful sub-headlines to subsections

Use “excerpt boxes”

This hooks reader “just glancing” over article

Study how magazines do this

Write for skimmers – Sub-headings

http://punetech.com

Which is correct?

◦ Write to show your command over language

◦ Write to be easily understood

◦ Write to NOT be misunderstood!! Small sentences Simple words Avoid ambiguous constructions Get an editor!

Radical Clarity

http://punetech.com

Links “Quotes” Further reading

Cite Sources

http://punetech.com

Much more effort into gathering data Be selective about what you post Expand/Improve: Dig into the story Write for skimmers (headlines, pics,

sections) Radical Clarity Links

Summary

http://punetech.com

Navin Kabra Background: Computer Science - B.Tech, IIT-Bombay,

Ph.D., U-Wisconsin, USA Currently: Co-founder at BharatHealth.com

But: Better known for my websites! http://punetech.com, http://smriti.com

Twitter: @ngkabra, @punetech

More info: http://punetech.com/navin Email: navin@punetech.com Linked-in: http://www.linkedin.com/in/navinkabra

About the author(aka blatant self-promotion)