Photo by Gadget Virtuoso

As our blogs progress, we often hit a plateau where we become comfortable. Traffic graphs start to flatten, and our blog posts become a consistent 600 words of mediocre text.

While getting in to a cycle and a routine of blogging is a very powerful and positive thing, it can also mean we forget to step outside our writing comfort zone. We find ourselves in a zone where our articles become nothing but words, and forget to add excitement, flare, creativity and zest.

The WOW Factor

I’m sure you’ve all experienced it. A normal day. RSS feeds full of new blog posts. You’re excited to read and learn new things. You’re looking forward to lots of exciting, thought-provoking, engaging blog posts from a wide variety of diverse people. But as the early sun rises outside your window, you read the blog posts with your coffee in your hand, and you realise something:

Every single blog post in your reader this morning is boring.

Sure, all the blog posts talk about topics you’re interested in; commenting strategies, online relationship building and social media promotion, but while the title of the posts and the potential they have excite you, the content is nothing more than mediocre. Nothing more than boring opinion, with long and winding sentences of text that almost make you wish you were reading a dictionary.

But then comes a glimmer of hope. Right at the end of your list, you come across a post with a witty, interesting title that immediately grabs your attention. You begin reading, and soon realise the post is a guest post from somebody you have never heard of before. The content is incredible. It’s funny. It’s eye-catching. It’s engaging. It makes you want to jump from your seat and shout “YES! I know exactly what you mean! I feel that way too!”. You nod your head as you read the article. This guest poster talks so much sense it’s unreal, and she does it in a way that entertains you. As you get further in to the article, you find yourself leaning forward towards your monitor. A smile creeps upon your face. As you reach the end of the article, you begin to wonder how this amazing writer is going to finish. Surely the post won’t just fizzle out. It MUST have a bombshell. It must have a splash and a bang at the end. You continue reading and wait for the splash. There! There it is! Bam! It’s controversial, it’s challenging, it’s exciting. It’s the biggest splash you’ve seen in a long time. It’s the best article you’ve read in months.

The post you just read was far more than mediocre. It was pure entertainment. It provoked thought, and provided lessons. It made you laugh and smile, and resonated with your current position. It made a connection with you, and now, because of that one single post, you feel you need to make a connection too.

It may sound simple and stupid, but a blog post that is more than mediocre, that exceeds expectations, forces readers to connect by commenting and subscribing.

The very fact that so many bloggers publish posts that are nothing more than mediocre suggests falling in to a writing comfort zone is a very easy thing to do. I’ve been there myself, and for the most part I didn’t realise I was there until I was out of it and looking back. To avoid falling in to this comfort zone again, there are four questions I ask myself before I publish every single blog post. By answering these questions, I’m confident every post I publish will be something more than mediocre. It may not be the best post you have read in months like the example earlier, but I’m confident it will provide entertainment and provoke thought, and most important of all, stand out from the mass of mediocre text that enters our RSS readers each day.

Ultimately, all four of these questions fall back in to the grasp of just one question:

Before I publish this article, how can I make it something more than mediocre?

I break that question down in to my four bite-sized questions that help improve every blog post I write.

Question #1. Can I add screenshots to this article?

It’s one thing talking about and giving opinion on a subject, but it’s a whole other ball game when you’re showing screenshots to back up your opinion. Does your article talk about a piece of software? Show screenshots. Maybe your article discusses common things that bloggers do wrong. Show examples via screenshots. I used this method more than ever before when I wrote the case study ‘How to find the perfect blog for guest blogging‘.

Use screenshots to put pictures to words. It’s common knowledge that pictures say more than words, so be sure to use them!

What’s the Best Way to Take Screenshots?

Jing (Windows & Mac)

I hadn’t heard of Jing until earlier this evening when I asked my Twitter followers what they use to take screenshots. Mike and Lindsay both recommended Jing to me, and after spending a little time playing with the program, it looks fantastic. Not only can it take still screenshots, but also record videos of your onscreen actions (perfect for screencasts). View Jing

Little Snapper (Mac only)

Little Snapper, a Mac only program, was recommend by Christine. Unlike Jing, this program can’t capture video, but seems to be a fantastic choice for taking still shots on a Mac. View Little Snapper

Fireshot Firefox Extension (Windows & Firefox Only)

Fireshot, recommended by Rhys, is a browser extension for Firefox, making it very easy for Firefox users on Windows to grab a screenshot of a Web page they are viewing. View Fireshot

Print Screen Or CMD+Shift+3

Of course, if you don’t like to use a program, you can use the built in screenshot functions that come with Windows (Print Screen button on your keyboard) and Mac (cmd+shift+3).

Question #2. Can I research this topic and find facts?

Facts present authority. They reinforce the point you’re trying to make, and most of all, they show your readers you’re willing to put in the time and effort to research the topic you’re writing about.

Everybody loves the opinion of a writer, and ultimately blogging is about giving opinions. But with that opinion, there must also be facts. You must give your readers a reason to listen and believe what you’re saying.

A reader is far more likely to recommend an article to a friend if they truly believe what was written in the article. Facts and research make people believe, so use them!

Where do I find facts?

The best places I’ve found to do my research and find facts is on other blogs discussing the same subject, and Twitter.

Other Blogs

Before publishing a blog post, I’ll often Google for blog posts which discuss similar things to the one I’m about to publish. Sometimes I’m just looking for similar posts to share with my readers at the end of my post, but other times I’ll use the opinion, research and facts in my own post that other bloggers have shared in theirs.

Other times, it’s just good to hear the opinion of somebody else. It often lets me see things from a new perspective, and gives me new ideas to write about in my post.

Twitter

One of the great advantages of having a decent following on Twitter is I can ask just about any question I want, and I’ll get a load of responses. It proves to be a fantastic way to gather my own research and facts.

Take tonight as an example. I asked my followers what programs they use to grab screenshots. I got a bunch of responses, and they helped me put together this blog post.

Question #3. Can I add any links to this post?

There are three types of link I try to get in to every post:

Internal Links – I always try to link relevant phrases in my post to articles I have written in the past. The more information you can give a reader, the more authority they assume you have.

External Links – If I see a phrase in my post that I feel needs linking, and I haven’t wrote about the relevant subject in the past, I’ll Google for a blogger who has wrote about it, and then link to that article. Again, the more information you can provide a reader with, the more authority you’ll be perceived to have. Linking to other blogs is also a fantastic way to build connections with new bloggers.

Further Reading Links – At the bottom of each article, I always try to provide three or four links to similar articles. These are usually a mixture of posts I have wrote, and posts others have wrote. The more info you give, the better it is for your readers, remember!

Question #4. Can I Add the ‘How’ to the ‘Why’?

As far as I’m concerned, there’s no point giving your opinion on why your readers should do something and providing facts to backup your opinion, unless you’re going to tell your reader how to do it too. Before I publish every post, I ask myself if I’ve clearly explained how to do what I have recommended in my post. If I’ve only explained the ‘why’ and not given the ‘how’, I go back to rework that particular section of the article.

As a prime example, earlier in this article I wrote about using screenshots. For a minute, I left it as that. I gave the reasons for why you should use them, but there was no ‘how’ you use them. I went back and reworked that section to include screenshot software recommendations, based on the research I did via Twitter. Are you just telling the ‘why’, or do you discuss the ‘how’ too?

Let’s Recap!

Mediocre blog articles are what most people publish. You don’t want to be ‘most people’, do you? Go that extra mile to provoke emotion, provide entertainment, and assert your authority.

Write – Write your article
Ask – Ask yourself the questions to improve your article
Publish – Publish your blog post, and feel contempt that you’re no longer a part of the masses

The W.A.P. theory, provided to create the WOW factor!

How do you go the extra mile in your blog posts? Are you happy to just write and publish, or do you seek ways to always make improvements? What methods do you use to research the topics you’re writing on? Let us know in the comments.

P.S. Yes, folks. After a 10 month break, I’m back. It was good to get away, but I can assure you, it’s so much better to be back.