Writing a good blog post is a little bit of science and a little bit of art. Having a bit of creativity along with an approach to getting text on the screen can go a long way in getting interesting and informative information to your readers.

Write about what you know

If you're a lifelong resident of the city, don't think you can get away with writing about living in the country. People will be able to read between the lines and determine that you probably don't know what you're talking about. It would be like that salsa commercial--"New York City!" Ahem... anyway, back on topic. If you write about what you know, you shouldn't have any problems coming up with content. You will likely have formed a point-of-view about a subject that others would probably be interested in. For instance, if you're a dog lover, you have likely formed an opinion on what type of flea spray works best to keep the pests out of your house (and boy could I have used you a few months back--they were biting us like CrAzY!).

Use good punctuation and grammar

I probably should say attempt to use good punctuation and grammar, as my grammar isn't perfect. Use a spell checker, and make sure to read your posts before hitting the "Submit" button. If you have another set of eyes nearby, have them take a look and see if they can spot anything you might have missed. Try not to use run-on sentences even though it is very similar to the stream-of-consciousness idea I mention below because although it may sound good in your head it may not be the best way for your readers to understand your point and you may change topic and that should probably be handled in another sentence instead of the same one and I like chocolate ice cream. Dude, wait--what?

Look elsewhere for inspiration

Sometimes it is a good idea to take a look around for a topic to add to your site. Sometimes I'll do a search on AdSense, or blogging, or occasionally something completely unrelated looking for ideas to write about. The key here is to not waste too much time doing so--I can easily waste an hour in front of the PC accomplishing nothing and forget my goal of looking for an idea. Make sure to read books and magazines about your topic. If there is any kind of social group that gets together regularly that is related to your topic, make sure you join up. You may even be able to post their meetings online.

Just Write!

One of my biggest mistakes when writing an entry is to ponder too long about what I'm going to write about. Sometimes it is a good idea to put these thoughts that cause you to procrastinate on hold and start typing. I made that mistake today. I'd been thinking about what to write and was browsing other sites looking for ideas, when I decided to stop wasting time and now words are flowing onto the page. If you don't have an idea of what to write about, a good tactic is to start writing in a stream-of-consciousness style, which is writing about any fleeting thoughts that you may have. Often times these fleeting thoughts turn into several different topics that would make great blog entries. Make a note of these and start writing about one of them. Save the other ideas for future posts. Instead of no ideas for an entry, you now have several! (This is the inspiration for the picture in this post--hopefully the words will flow like water--water on Mars to be exact!)