The advice Steve gives at my site: (link removed because I realize this is my 1st post and will come across as spamming):
Quote:
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Originally Posted by StevePavlina.com I believe that great content is the best marketing there is. Great content generates word of mouth, and word of mouth builds traffic. Forget about traffic-building tricks and gimmicks, and focus on providing real value to your visitors.
What is great content? In my opinion the best content you can create is the deepest truth you find within yourself.
What do I mean by that? Most people write about what they’re certain of. You’re certain about your knowledge. You’re fairly certain about your opinions too. But when you write about these things, you aren’t sharing a deep enough truth, so it isn’t going to resonate with people except in a superficial way. You’re simply creating disposable content, competing with a zillion other sites doing the same.
On the other hand, if you explore your uncertainty, you’ll be going much deeper. What are you unsure of, fearful of, or resistant to? What ideas bother you, but you can’t figure out why? What is your heart telling you that your mind can’t yet accept? These are the key topics to explore in your writing. When you dig deep within yourself, find new insights at the edge of your uncertainty, and share them, your writing will really resonate with people. And that will generate all the traffic you could ever want. |
It is basically accurate, and I suppose like most good advice it's taken me a while to fully grasp its full meaning. I find that the better I do, and the more I improve at blogging, the more the advice rings true.
I've built a moderately successful blog and have been posting on it for 2+ years - and I find that looking back at the original '06 posts, they are horrible. Many of them were like 2 sentences long and offered nothing original, or even funny.
Today, I'm still working out the right format and working on my skills as a blogger, though I'd say I've worked out the skills to be at least "proficient" in this area after posting about 3-5 times a week for two years.
The advice "write like you are going to be read by a million people" is also good. I'd say that to improve your writing, you have to learn about the focus required for each individual article and not compromising your message at all.