Improve your blogging – Learn from 300 years of blogging experience! Navin Kabra http://punetech.com @ngkabra and @punetech on twitter
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
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A blog is a
mini-newspaper /magazine
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Gather info Select Improve/Expand Opine
Publish, rinse, repeat
What does a newspaper do?
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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
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Traditional media has perfected some aspects of this
Learn from them
Traditional Media =300 years of blogging!
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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
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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
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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?
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Don't blog everything that comes to your mind
Think about what your readers are interested in
Reader more important than Writer
Select
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Other things to learn from traditional media
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◦ 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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Links “Quotes” Further reading
Cite Sources
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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
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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: [email protected] Linked-in: http://www.linkedin.com/in/navinkabra
About the author(aka blatant self-promotion)