Making blog content 'effective'

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John Chow has made a posting titled "The Art of Creating Content" where he captures some ideas about how content on a blog site is all important and I agree with most of the ideas in his post.

Assuming that you have arrived at what to blog about let me try to present a simple questionnaire that I usually employ to assess if the content that I am generating is useful or not both to my readers and me.

1. Is this content original - as John says does it have my spin and a hint of personalization ?
   
2. Is this content meeting one of the two objectives - attract more visitors / retain a higher percentage of my existing visitors ?
3. Is the content current - Not always necessary but is your spin / personalization current ?
   
4. Does blogging about this content satisfy me - after all people see me via my blog ?
5. For a blog post anything above a few hundred words in my opinion is counter productive - so keep a check on the size
   

If the answer to any of or all questions is negative you might still chose to blog about it - but remember to ensure that at least a good percentage of your posts answer the questions above in the affirmative.

Now does the job of a blogger end after you blog about something - hardly the case. After you actually generate the content remember to ensure the following,

1. Content is clean and to the point - there are just too much on the web today and lucid and elegant writing will go a long way in keeping your visitors locked to your blog
   
2. If your content was generated as a result of an idea you saw on one or more blogs - remember to let readers on those sites know about your posting
3. If you think it might be worth of submitting to a Digg / Del.ico.us do it - you will get some traffic. As a beginner I want traffic be it from anywhere.
   
4. Follow up on the comments on your posting and ensure that you 'address' them in a effective and timely manner - always look for further blogging ideas there.
   
5. Keep a track of the ratio of posts at least on a weekly basis if it was targeted towards new visitors or retaining visitors - ensure you maintain a balance
   

Tags: blogging tips, content, checklist