There are millions of blogs on the web today, and the count is increasing every day. However, have you ever thought, why few blogs are better than the others? Have you ever tried to figure out the essence of such top blogs? I have, and I got some great techniques to create a compelling content. Here are few of them.

1.    Eye-Catching Format

Your post shouldn’t be just a bunch of words jotted together. Don’t make your readers run away from your blog of boredom. Make your article eye-friendly by using bullet points, Sub-Headings, UPPER CASE, bold, italic, and so on. Why would someone read your long, boring article, when similar information is available elsewhere in a systematic, easy-to-read way, probably with nice pictures.

2.    Use Examples

I don’t like reading technical content after a certain limit. And I guess no one does. Examples make your article entertaining, simple-to-understand, and interesting for the readers. Give them what they want.

3.    News Updates

No, I am not asking you to start a news website, or keep giving your readers every bit of what’s happening out there. However, if possible, put the latest piece of news in-between your post, only if it’s relevant to your post. You cannot talk about Michael Schumacher’s car or Angelina Jolie’s tattoos while discussing historical monuments.

4.    Interviews

People like reading information in Q&A format, especially if it’s an interview. Now, you don’t really have to chase a celebrity for this. You can simply get a person whom your readers would like to listen to.

5.    Motivation

Motivational articles are good to read. However, by this, I don’t mean you must post an entire article on ‘You Can Do It’ or ‘You Are the One’. No. Give them tips about some thing, and motivate them to do it today. Change is probably the most difficult thing to adopt. Tell them how to do it.

Humor is something that I could have suggested to all the readers. However, I have seen several writers trying to create humor in their posts, but they end up messing it all up. Hence, use it, only if you are sure about what it means. Besides, these five tips are enough to make any article compelling.

Last month I met a blogger and we had a long chat about trends in blogsphere. Although he was quite adept in his field and had an extremely polished vocabulary, he was facing few problems with his blog.

He had started a blog just a month ago. He was, however, out of topics. He felt there was nothing more to write about. Everything he knew was written by him in just 17 posts. There was definitely a problem which he failed to notice. Hence, I promised him to check his blog and provide necessary solutions within a week.

After reading all his posts, I derived my conclusion instantly. He was a very skilled writer and had enough knowledge about the topic. His problem, however, was not end of topic. But he had taken his level of knowledge for granted. Explaining basic things in his niche didn’t make sense to him. He thought it was too obvious, and people would definitely know all these things.

I explained him the importance of starting from the basic and writing a separate post about every possible topic he had learned over years. He was not quite happy with my solution as he wanted his every post to be unique; something that was never written about before.

I faced a similar problem when I started this blog. I thought blogging tips are available all over the web, what difference I could possibly make. I wanted my every post to have some piece of information nowhere to be found on the web. I soon realized this strategy wouldn’t work if I want to have a long term blog.

Instead, I focused on the importance of simplicity. Breaking down things into many posts and explaining each point in-depth is the key. There may be many people smarter than you around the world. However, a major part of world’s population is still looking for simple information, with essential elements.

And it’s completely okay to be out of ideas. Instead of trying to hard to think about new topics, here is what you can do to post simple topics.

• Mention some experiences you had
• Write about the problem you faced recently and how did you overcome it
• Write about how you learned a significant lesson
• Think like an expert, write like a beginner

Remember, it is not necessary to write everything you know in a single post. Break it down into small topic and cover the depth of each of them.

A great article, product, or service definitely attracts numerous people. If, however, the approach of selling it is not confident, the quality would be useless. Having a defensive mindset would help you in nothing but start miles behind your competitor.

There is, however, a difference between being confident and being arrogant. Confidence implies assurance, while arrogance involves fear.

And answer this, if you aren’t confident about what you write or what you sell; if you aren’t confident about your product, how can you expect others to be? Presence of confidence assures people they are making the right decision, or at least assigned with the right person.

We write a post, read it over and over again, and conclude it’s not good enough. Who do you think is a perfect writer? Stephen Covey? Robert Kiyosaki? Let me tell, none of the writer in this world is perfect. I don’t mean to boost your confidence by speaking ill of others. I am simply stating the fact.

So how do you write confidently?

Writing confidently, if you aren’t, is an art you need to practice; and with time, you will be one of the best writers. Here are simple ways to do it.

1.    Don’t take things seriously

If someone says your article stinks, or you get a bad comment, what would you do?

What would you do, if someone gives a bad review about an article that was constructed with extreme care? Would you ask for an apology? Would you send them some kind of compensation? No, not at all.

Remember, you will always encounter people who would like what you do, even if no one in the world can do it better than you. And even if you are the worst person, why should you care. If you write something to please all your readers, you are probably in the wrong business. Write for yourself, it’s your blog, write what you feel like writing, without self-doubt.

2.    This is the best one

I know it’s difficult, but transform yourself into a perfectionist. Every article you write, make it simply perfect. Use the right words, place the right images, select the right topic, and post it right. Make every post your best one.

And how do you know it’s right or best?

It’s you who will decide. Once again, don’t write for others. If you think it’s right, it has to be perfect.

3.    Push It

Writing is very much different from giving birth. There are, however, few significant similarities between the two. It’s painful yet joyous. It’s fearful yet wonderful. Another significant similarity is: The thing inside you, let it come out.

You don’t have to practice writing to be a confident writer, you have practice believing in yourself. The more you believe, the more confident you are.

You will agree with me when I say it’s not possible to be at our blog all the time. However, you will find it little difficult to concur when I declare that not being at our blog doesn’t mean we can’t improve the blog. We definitely can, that is, if we want to.

And you probably wouldn’t believe if I say that being away from your blog is actually the best you could do to improve it.

If you are among those who are always thinking about their blog, its performance, its traffic, etc. then probably these tips a re tailor-made to suit your needs. Sometimes, I just sit against my computer and stare at the blank word document because I don’t know what to write. My mind is as blank as the word document. Perhaps, it might have happened to you as well.

That’s the time you need to be away from your blog. Here is how it helps:

1. Coming up with Fresh Ideas
   This is something that even the best blogger of the world might not be consistent in. It requires a calm and clear mind to generate new ideas. And do you really think sitting in front of your computer for hours would help? It wouldn’t.One possible option is to get away from your PC and relax for a while. Then, take a pen and paper and start jotting down all the topics that you have written about. Select any topic among them and try to look at it from a very different perspective, from all the possible angles.

   Ask yourself: have you covered all the sub-topics that could possibly be created from this topic? What else people would need to know about this topic? For instance, ‘Blogging Content’ is a topic or an idea. However, there can be numerous sub-topics or sub-ideas created from this topic like ‘How to write good content?’, ‘What is bad content?’, and so on.

   This is a very good exercise that promises consistent flow of ideas. You would never have to stare at the blank screen and keep thinking for hours.

2. Relate with the real world
   The real, refreshing outside world probably has much to offer. It can help you to come up with something that the internet wouldn’t. How do you think a new idea is generated? It is generated when we look at various things and think about it differently. Look at everything around you, everything in the outside world, each or any of them could be your next topic, or a new blog.Let’s look at something concrete for now. Pick up any magazine and you will find hundreds of article, which is no different from a blog. Magazine itself is a big blog.

   Next, a business. Any business. My father owns a departmental store. His business, in many ways, can help me to improve my blog. No, I cannot start writing about shopping habits or prices of groceries, if my blog is about improving the way your blog. But I definitely can learn  lot from the smart business models, new ideas applied in the store, how advertising affects the business, or just the way people act, and apply it in my blog someway or the other.

   If I can’t apply it, at least I would know how to operate a business. However, that’s not what we are focusing on right now. According to me, you will get something out of it. Remember, it all depends on how we look at something.

3. Use the technology
   If it’s really urgent to update something on your blog, or replying a comment, and your are traveling, or just far from accessing a computer, don’t fret. Just relax and enjoy the benefits of the improvement in technology. You can access your blog or edit it through your mobile, iPod, blackberry, PSP, or many other devices.An application called WordPress for iPhones can allow you to type and post your article on your blog. You can also edit blog pages, upload images, or reply to a comment. So, you aren’t actually away from your blog, are you?
4. Offline Advertising
   It is the most effective way to utilize your time improving your blog while you are away from it. Unfortunately, very less percentage of the bloggers today use offline advertising as a source of promotion. This can be very effective if your blog discusses something about the real outside world. Offline blogging can be done by distributing t-shirts, car stickers, posters etc. I will be soon writing about the various ways to advertise offline because I rally think it’s quite effective and least used.
5. Just Relax
   Here is another point on which you won’t agree with me, but relaxing does help to improve your blog.
   I have seen many bloggers face something known as ‘Blogger’s Block’ i.e. a time when they are not able to write, not even a word. Relaxing, then, is the best solution. Even if you are a bit overworked, relaxing will help you to soothe you mind and body, which is quite important to come up with new ideas regularly.Being relaxed is a way to calm your mind.
   Being relaxed is a way to be creative.
   Being relaxed is a way to be in a proper state of mind.
   Being relaxed is a way to improve your blog.

Okay. These were my suggestions on how can you make optimum utilization of the time you are away from your blog. Some people have the habit of carrying a pen and paper along with them, wherever they go. I do believe it’s a great idea because it helps you to jot down every idea you come up with.

I would really appreciate if you can discuss how you can utilize you “non-blogging” time. Would love to read your inputs.

Suggestions Please!