This thread over at the Problogger Forums (registration required) about the lessons we can learn from our most commented blog posts got me thinking about the general qualities that make up the best blog posts.

As I look through my own top posts they are all quite different at first glance.  But collectively they give me some clues about the qualities I should be aiming for when writing my blog posts if I want them to be successful (and of course I do!).

Readability

I’ve got a few sloppily written blog posts in my archives, but one thing that stands out about my top posts is that they are well written.  They are free of spelling and grammar errors.  They tend to have short, readable sentences and no big “wall of text” paragraphs.  Sub-headings and bullet lists are used to improve their scannability and highlight the key points.

Planning

I’ve bashed out blog posts on a whim before and published them with little thought, but for my best blog posts I can clearly remember them first appearing as ideas in my head, evolving into a strong structure, and going through more than one draft and review before they were published.

Timing

I use an editorial calendar these days for my blogs to establish a good posting rythm and try to maximise traffic.  I never used to do this, I would simply blog any day of the week and publish straight away.  But I soon found that when I posted on certain days, even for what I thought would be a good post, traffic would stay flat.  Now I instinctively avoid posting at times of the day when I think my audience will not be very responsive.

Recently I introduced interview posts into the mix.  The first one went live on a Sunday night (in my part of the world) but traffic didn’t start to pick up until about 12 hours later.  The next one I tried on a Saturday morning, and again it was fairly flat.  Once I moved the interviews to Thursdays they have achieved a better level of traffic pretty much straight away each time.

Solutions

By far the most successful blog posts in my archives solve a problem for the reader.  Whether it is the challenge of integrating Twitter with your blog, the intimidating prospect of starting a mailing list, or the difficulties of picking a blog topic, if your blog post removes a pain point for someone they will be grateful.

Evergreen

Sometimes you need to write a topical blog post about current events but for a lot of these types of “newsy” posts you won’t get the long tail of traffic that helps build your blog in the long term.  Evergreen content that stays relevant and useful for years to come keeps the traffic flowing into your archives.

Discussion

I’m trying to get better at generating discussion in the comments of my blog posts, but there is a definite link between my posts that I think will be good and those that end up getting a decent number of comments.

Shareable

This point has proven to be key to driving traffic to the blog.  One of my blogs is mostly search engine traffic and my posts are written with that in mind, whereas this blog tends to be more word of mouth and referral traffic.  With that in mind I do try hard to create useful blog posts that people will want to share with their own friends.  This seems to come down to a combination of the above points, as well as making sure I use a catchy headline and use tools like the Retweet button to make it easy to share.

Do you have tips on what makes the “ultimate blog post”?  If so please do share them in the comments below.

Image Credit: Flickr

Tagged as: Blogging, Editing, Social Media, Writing