Here are three handy tips for crafting great content:

Revolve your piece around your reader

• Be useful  to your reader – share expertise, thoughts or news they need or want to hear about.  Enlist your creativity but ensure content revolves around your reader, not you!
• Educate and entertain with people-based stories and useful high-quality facts. Give your reader a reason to read your piece by offering value and benefits.
• What attracts your reader? People like visual content – photos, videos, graphics.  Bold headings and sub-heading offer visual cues of what is happening and are effective ways of drawing readers into your piece.

Use a simple format  

• Plain language. Write in a conversational way that speaks to your reader – natural, plain, concise, common-sense style. Remove words you don’t need and sharpen any words or sentences that aren’t clear.
• Get to the Point. Say it up-front – don’t bury your points deep within the content.  Offer your key message in your first few sentences then expand on it later. Reinforce your key idea creatively throughout your post.
• Simple Format.  Use short sentences and short paragraphs (3 – 4 sentences) underneath catchy headings. Headings are vital as people ‘scan’ for interesting material – something useful to them – rather than read deeply.  Use bullet points, headers and sub-headers.

Crack your own whip

• Commit to a deadline. It’s easy to underestimate the workload and persistent involvement a blog entails. Deadlines motivate! Set up dates on a calendar so you are well ahead of the urgency and give yourself a pressing reason to have to stick to the set deadline.
• Responsibility. Great content is about sharing expertise, thoughts or news.  Your blog gives your perspective, your voice, which you develop over time. With this ‘power’ comes responsibility to contribute positively and usefully, and avoid  any offensive or defamatory comments about a person.

Need content ideas?   See Wordbalance writing tips.

Want to know what attracts your reader?  This article will help.

For some inspiration, visit Richard  Branson’s latest blog “Behind the Scenes: how I write blogs”