Blogging is better when you're not doing it by yourself. Get 10 tips on how to blog for an audience from a blogger who has been doing it since 1997.

1. The Learn Phase: How to avoid masturbation in the blogosphere
Prepared by @adamkleinberg
December 2nd, 2010
hashtag: #learnphase
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415-962-5800 www.tractionco.com

2. BLOGGING
Making
is like
415-962-5800
Love.
www.tractionco.com

3. It’s better when you don’t do it alone.
415-962-5800 www.tractionco.com

4. Here’s 10 tips to make sure you don’t.
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415-962-5800 www.tractionco.com

5. 1.
Have an
opinion.
Take a stand.
Believe in something.
Be passionate.
Angry.
Sarcastic.
Funny.
Righteous.
My first blog... in 1997!
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415-962-5800 www.tractionco.com

6. 2.
Back it up.
No free lunch.
If you want respect,
back up your opinions.
Use facts, logic,
insights, observations,
examples.
OPINION:
ROI is driving brands >>
toward commoditization
BACK IT UP:
Imaginary conversation
illustrates the point to >>
make it undeniable
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415-962-5800 www.tractionco.com

7. 3. Don’t talk shit.
Never bad-mouth a competitor. Take the high road.
Point out a wrong, but do it intelligently. Don’t just
talk shit for the sake of sounding cool. You look dumb.
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415-962-5800 www.tractionco.com

8. 4.
Keep it snacky.
Make your content bite-sized
so people can digest it easily.
Long, blocks of text are guaranteed to be ignored.
LEARN FROM THE PROS
Keeping it short and sweet >>
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415-962-5800 www.tractionco.com

9. 5.
Organize.
Snacky doesn’t necessarily mean short.
You’re creating content. Sometimes a
resource needs to be thorough to create
value. Break it up. Make it easy to read.
Use subheads and short paragraphs.
My most popular post ever (on iMediaConnection) was long as hell,
but 50,000+ read it the first week.
• Consistent format for each example (Megatrend, Brand that gets it)
• No paragraph more than 2-3 sentences
• Videos, art are part of the story
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415-962-5800 www.tractionco.com

10. 6.
Use pictures (or videos).
Make it fun to look at your post.
Info-graphics come in many forms.
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415-962-5800 www.tractionco.com

11. 7.
Titles that don’t suck.
Spend more time on your title than any other part of your post.
If the title isn’t compelling, you can bet that no one is going to read past it.
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415-962-5800 www.tractionco.com

12. 8.
Build a format.
If you want to build a
following, give them
something to follow.
Consistent themes convey
what’s going to be ahead
—in this post and the next.
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415-962-5800 www.tractionco.com

13. 9.
Use key words.
Make your content discoverable.
Try to include keywords in your title, content and tags.
WHEN BUZZWORDS ARE OK
Everybody’s talking >>
about Content Strategy
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415-962-5800 www.tractionco.com

14. 10.
Share.
Create a karmic circle.
Share other people’s stuff and they’ll share yours.
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415-962-5800 www.tractionco.com

15. The end.
{ © 2010 Traction }