Chapter 9
Creating Great Content
IN THIS CHAPTER
Discovering who your audience is
Putting words on the page
Adding value for your readers
Planning for blogging dry spells
Many elements work together to make a blog successful, from a well-designed layout to fancy technical widgets, but none of those elements can substitute for good content aimed at the right audience. In fact, if you write (or podcast or take photos or produce video) incredibly well and you're reaching readers who are engaged by your style and content, you can actually be successful without spending much time at all on your blog's appearance. Amazing content can even make your readers forgive an awkward interface or missing bells and whistles.
So, if you do nothing else to make your blog succeed, focus on producing great content. Know what your audience wants and deliver it consistently.
Most blogs include a written component, or are predominantly word based, so this chapter offers pointers on writing well for the web and understanding what your audience expects from your blog. While all the other aspects of blogging, ...