Edit everything. As nagging as it can be, it is SO important! Editing shows how dedicated the writer is to their work. It entails fixing grammatical or spelling errors, making sure the words you wrote down actually make sense, and even rewriting entire sections of your blog. Like Brian Carroll says, “Editing is mostly about making choices and decisions – lots and lots of decisions.” You have to be picky. Decide what works and what doesn’t.
Identify your audience. This strategy is by far, one of the most important of them all. A good writer needs to have a clear understanding of who his/her audience is in order to get the message across appropriately. Once you identify your audience, you need to determine how your audience wants to interact with your content.
source: Google
HEADLINES! They’re all about excitement. Headlines are meant to catch your attention and make you want to dive in and read more, however, they still need to be direct, clear, and straightforward. It is important to maintain a balance between a logical headline and a fun headline. A well-written headline will summarize the content and give it visual identity, but most importantly, it will be simple. Brian Carroll provides two basic steps to compose a headline: “Determine what to highlight and decide how to phrase it given the limitations on space.”
Search engine optimization (SEO). This is just a fancy way of saying #hashtag. SEOs use key words, looking especially in headlines. The better the key words, the higher your content ranks in search results. Keep in mind: proper nouns make the best key words.
Include links for your readers to browse. There are different types of links, but they all determine where the reader goes when clicked. Some links connect to sites separate from the site or onto a new page and some take the reader to another post within the same page. Ugh, more decisions.
Writing techniques. Lynda Felder suggests tips and tricks for being a skilled writer on the web. She explains when it is appropriate to use certain punctuation, how to format paragraphs, maintain simplicity, and show your attitude. I incorporated some of these tips into this very blog post.
Ashley's Appetite 