Anyone can write a blog–in fact, it’ll take you less than 10 minutes to set up a free account. Unfortunately, about 99% of the blogs that are polluting the Internet today aren’t worth reading. You see a lot of personal rants, bad grammar, and a whole lot of information that (quite frankly) nobody wants to know. ‘Oh, I’m so bored, I really don’t know what to say.’ Duh, then why are you saying it?

Here are tips on how to improve the quality of your personal blog posts. This article can help you break through blog writer’s block, and create content that your fans—yes, fans!—will want to read, building traffic and your reputation.

Make a point

Ask yourself, ‘What will my readers gain from reading this post?’ A good laugh? A valuable insight? A strong opinion that’s well explained and supported that will make them think or react? Tips that will make life easier?

Keep it short and easy to read

Keep your posts under 300 words. People are busy. Besides, shorter posts are easier to read on mobile devices, and more and more people are doing their surfing through phones and tablets. If you have longer articles, break it up with bullet points or section headers/sub headings. For search engine optimization, use key words in these headings.

Add a great title

Study magazines and newspapers and how professional writers grab attention with titles.

Develop a key voice or style

It’s just like your favorite magazine: you buy it because of a particular selection of topics, writing style, and even sections. Create that sense of predictability in your blog, from the way you write to the type of information you provide.

Don’t promote yourself too much

Nobody wants to read post after post of how wonderful you or whatever product/skill/service you are selling are. That’s annoying at cocktail parties but it’s absolutely insufferable in a blog, and visitors don’t feel the need to politely sit through your boasting. Even if you are running the blog to build your reputation or business, it’s best to offer useful information and then subtly interject the self-promotion at the end of the post. (For example, you can add two lines like ‘For more information on___, download my ebook.’)

Idea generators

Stuck with bloggers block? Readers like Top 10 lists, tips, commentaries on current events, humor, and tools. These types of blog posts have great potential to go viral—shared on Facebook and other social media—especially if they’re on a topic that strikes a deep chord in your readers. You can also invite or interview guest bloggers, or do web archiving: compiling a ‘best of the web’ set of links on a particular topic. For example, if you have a food blog, then do a post on ‘best cookbooks of 2011 ‘ or ‘chefs to follow on twitter.’

Photo from careerealism.com