If you are one of those who put a picture and a cliche quote from Gandhi as the only thing on your post. You most likely are not making use of your greatest potential. With more and more people coming to the platform and the opportunity to promote our own work, we are starting to get a lot of responsibility for the quality of our own posts. With great power comes great responsibility and that is why we all should strafe for becoming "the good blogger".
So how do we identify if we are "the good blogger" you might ask?
The good blogger: A person that uses her/his understanding and acceptance of skills to create only the best content he or she is capable of in order to gain respect and appreciation.. that AND who reads this whole damn guide without skipping to the headlines
The good blogger rule 001: Nobody wants to read about your grandmother!
Quite subjective you might think since it all depends on the people's interests as well as your own. But by drinking the magic elixir mixed with * Self-reflection, clarity and a tiny bit of realism* you will find it unbelievably easy to find out if your post is worth a vote or not.
Before you even start writing a post, make yourself the favour and take a step back(not literally since you probably sit down by the computer), but just imagine the act instead.
Is the topic you chose to write about something, someone else would like to read? would you like to read it if it was made by someone else? That is where you realise it is a big fat red "NO", nobody wants to read about your visit to your grandmother last year... unless something truly spectacular happened like she has been in a wheelchair for 10 years and the moment you stepped through the door she started dancing Salsa with you
Instead, try to look around on the platform you are writing on(Steemit if you should happen to be in doubt) and see, what do people want to read and most of all figure out how do you stand out from the other competitors who write about the same? If you write about travel, what will draw peoples attention to your blog and not the girl next door?
the good blogger rule 002: Make it juicy, nobody wants to eat a dry orange
Making a post juicy is not the same as picking an interesting topic to write about. Because interesting topics can be unbelievably boring if you don't make the interior interesting. This is subjective on so many levels and it is up to you how you decide to find the balance that will keep the reader's attention. But a mixture between good headlines, pictures and text that feels like worth reading, your odds will be in your favour.
Let me ask you a question: if you saw two topics about the EXACT same thing "how to create a facebook picture", what one would you continue to read?
"Okay guys, now when have understood the purpose of social media and approaching step 97, you are now ready to understand how to create your very own profile picture on Facebook. But first, let's take look at this paragraph from Gandhi.."
or
"Nobody likes facebook, so now on our first step, we will head to this kick-ass website: www.steemit.com. Here you can ALSO create a profile picture, but it is too damn complicated so don't bother. Instead, let's talk about this conspiracy on how Gandhi might have plotted a murder against Michael jackson.."
Jokes aside being original in the way you write and write with passion will get you further than write in a way hundreds of others have done. If you write about travel, make it juicy and don't just show a bunch of pictures. Maybe even make the pictures part of the story? tell about the acid in your legs, when you climbed the mountains or your concerns laying alone in your tent in the middle of nowhere. We want to hear your experience and passion, not somebody else.
The good blogger rule 003: Please read what you write.. unless you are blind of course
There's nothing like reading an article that you can see the person wrote with heart and soul into it. Only the find out the damn guy didn't bother to proofread his work just once. Surely many of us non-native English speakers got an excuse and usually, people(including myself) don't require the grammatical part to be 10/10. But it would be nice if the person who wrote the post could just proofread a little bit. No matter if there are a few typos hnestly just make it somewhat readable before exposing it to us.
The good blogger rule 004: To "don't judge the book on its cover" is complete bullshit
Go to your feed or if you dare the trending page of Steemit(dun DUN duuun). Scroll through until you find something you would like to read or at least click on. Now let me ask you did you pick the most generic and horrible looking article you could find? Or did you click on that article with a catchy title and a picture of an absurdly well-taken picture? If you chose the ladder congrats, you now understand the "law of catching the readers attention"
When you make a great article it is all worth nothing unless you manage to convince the readers to press exactly on your post and not the one above or below it. If you forget to make your article look attractive from the outside. Think of it as if you were to go to a job interview, what would you then wear?
Just make sure the title, the first few lines, and your first picture of choice hit the head on the nail. When the people then get into your post they will realize how dead gorgeous your inside are as well. (that truly sounds disgusting though). But you get my point.
You skipped to the headlines, didn't you?
Now you might ask, is that it? are there only four steps for becoming "the good blogger"?
I only have this to say for such a question:
The good blogger: A person that uses her/his understanding and acceptance of skills to create only the best content he or she is capable of in order to gain respect and appreciation.. that AND who reads this whole damn guide without skipping to the headlines
-holm
“Relationships are based on four principles: respect, understanding, acceptance and appreciation.”
-Mahatma Gandhi