How to Write a Blog In FOUR EASY STEPS!

My co-worker Chris is scheduled to teach a class for the University's Extended and Continuing Education program on blog writing. She is going to teach four ninety-minute classes over a four-week period starting October 29.

Personally, I think she has her work cut out for her.

If I taught the class, it would likely wind up meeting one time and lasting about 2 minutes. Here are the four steps I apply to almost every blog I write:

1. Find something that interests me.

2. Start writing.

3. Stop when I think I am done.

4. Revise as necessary.

That's the whole class if I were to teach it. I'd give my two minutes of sage advice then ask my students if anyone wanted to go get a beer. Since I've written a blog or two that involved beer I think that would be OK. We could consider it field research on blogging.

Granted, I probably don't write what would be considered a "traditional" blog. A lot of blogs are journals documenting the blogger's daily life. Essentially they are online diaries. However, I don't believe SEMissourian.com has many bloggers like that. We have more bloggers who specialize in posting about a particular area of interest or expertise.

Since, I am interested in many things and claim expertise in absolutely nothing, I tend to write about whatever attracts my attention. In many ways I'm a lot like the dog in the animated movie Up who is constantly distracted by wildlife.

SQUIRREL!

OK, I know I said my blog lecture would be only about 2 minutes long. Well, that was the Reader's Digest version. Basically, I cut out all the fluff in my two-minute version.

Usually, when I actually write a blog, I leave all the fluff in. Sometimes there's so much fluff that you can't even tell what the point of a particular blog actually was. Sometimes, I don't even know. Didn't someone once say, that sometimes the journey is more important than the destination?

Anyhow, for the sake of filling space, let's go over my PATENTED four-step blog writing process that can be ALL YOURS for the LOW, LOW PRICE of only $19.95 plus shipping and handling. BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! If you order RIGHT NOW we'll throw in our FREE GUIDE showing you how to name your blog -- a FIFTY DOLLAR VALUE -- absolutely FREE if you order WITHIN THE NEXT TEN MINUTES! Operators are standing by so DON'T DELAY!

Sorry, about that. I occasionally find myself possessed by the spirit of recently deceased pitchman Billy Mayes. It's kind of annoying.

So let's look a little closer at my four-step process. Before you write a blog, you need to find something that interests you to write about. It can be anything. I tend to be fascinated by the minutiae of life that often gets overlooked.

Oh sure, I could write about BIG PICTURE issues like Obama's healthcare reform initiative, but that requires a lot of work. Do I really want to read a 1000-page document that is only a draft? Nope.

And I think too many bloggers tend to base their opinions on the opinions and summations created by others rather than reviewing the original source material on a given issue. If I'm going to write about something, I prefer to use my own interpretative lens.

After you come up with your idea, the next step is to start writing. When I start a blog, I rarely have any idea how it will end. Sometimes I never figure out how a given blog will end. That might explain why I currently have approximately 150 blogs in various stages of development filed on my laptop. Starting is one of the top three hardest things about writing a blog. The other two are stopping and putting the stuff in between.

My goal in starting a blog is to make it grab attention. Is paragraph one interesting enough that a reader will want to read paragraph two and so on and so forth?

After getting started I just keep writing. Sometimes I try to write to cover an entire topic, but that is rare. Often I will write at least 500 words and then start thinking of braking. As I said, stopping is the second hardest thing about blog writing. Since most of my blogs are intended to be more humorous in nature -- they make me laugh anyway -- I like to end on a chuckle if I can.

Some bloggers like to question their readers, and will ask them what they think about a particular issue. The way I look at it, you don't have to ask the readers for feedback. If they have an opinion, they will give it to you whether you want it or not.

The stuff between starting and stopping is sometimes challenging to write. I find that if you have a good start, the middle just writes itself. Of course, it helps that many of my blogs are not what you call "research intensive" like the efforts of SEMissourian bloggers Sheri Robertson or Tyler Griesenbrock.

Those bloggers do -- or in the case of Tyler, did -- lots of research for their respective blogs. Personally, I don't want to work that hard. I write these things to amuse me as much as anything.

The last step of my PATENTED blog writing process is to REVISE, REVISE, REVISE! YOU TOO can revise your own blogs in JUST FIVE EASY STEPS. Learn how to edit your own BLOGS that can be PUBLISHED on the INTERNET where they can be SEEN by MILLIONS OF PEOPLE.

If you call RIGHT NOW we'll send you our PATENTED four-step blog writing process, your FREE GUIDE on how to name your blog -- a FIFTY DOLLAR VALUE -- AND our guide to revising your own blogs in JUST FIVE EASY STEPS ALL for only $29.95 plus shipping and handling. Operators are standing by. CALL NOW!

I'm so sorry. I'm really not sure why the ghost of pitchman Billy Mayes is haunting me. If this keeps up I may have to look into an exorcism.

SQUIRREL!