Last night Jeff Herring, The Article Guy, asked The Blog Squad this question - how is writing a blog post different from writing an article? Good question and important to professionals who want to leverage their writing on the Web to get known and get found.
For me, when I sit down to write a blog post, I look at other blogs and see if there is something going on that my readers might like to know. Or, what am I working on right now in my business? I set out to write 200-300 words. I try to get to the point directly without prelude. I ask for reader input, and try to use strong emotional words to stir up responses if appropriate.
For an article, I identify a problem, expand it by giving examples of how bad it is, and then provide some solutions. I may tell a personal story to illustrate what I mean and to make it real. And I love to throw in a few
statistics. I aim for 500-700 words if it is an article for submission to article directories, or for one of our ezines.
To find ideas, I usually use what our clients are telling us is a big challenge to them. If we have a product sale going on, I'll write about the problems that that product can solve. The big question is should you write both articles and blog posts, and we say yes, although you can use the same ideas in both. Their styles may be different, length may be different. Doing both article submissions and blog postings will mean that people will find you more easily.
(NOTE: We'll be talking more about writing for your blog on this Thursday's Blogging and Beyond radio show; we're interviewing expert Brian Clark of Copyblogger.com. Don't miss it. )
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