Make a great blog post and watch your friends and associates add value.

[Karen Maskall]

Making a great blog post is one of the best things you can do , for YOU and YOUR business on any social network. And I'm going to give you a little bit of information that will help you,and I'm also going to reveal a great way to make sure your post get's value added and commented on by members of Pledging for Change.

I hope this post will inspire you to add a blog post. I'm sure it will.

Making and contributing to posts is the "art of good social networking" and it's one of the best ways that you can find friends and business associates that are interested in your niche. People get to recognise you, know you,trust you, and want to associate with you. And one day they may even become a valued customer of yours.

Youv'e probably heard it all before but I'll add a few of the most important aspects for writing a great post.

Your post should ideally contain most or some of the following elements:

• be interesting and informative
• be a personal account or reflection of your feelings and thoughts about the subject matter
• contain some links to other websites to show that you have done some research or that your post is relevent to other professional discussions and theories
• use keyword rich content so that search engines can pick up your post easily
• start with a brief outline to draw your readers in.(If they don't relate to the first few lines then they will more than likely leave your post without reading it)
• use the middle section to get your point over but try to avoid too much waffle. Bullet points or numbered one liners, can be a very effective way to do this
• Try to keep your posts to the point and as short as possible. I've heard that approx 250-300 words is good practice
• Consider adding an image to break the post down into a more manageable read.. make sure your images are relevent are not someone else's. You will certainly be found out!
• Conclude your post with a call to action. Invite your readers to comment and add value. "What do you think" "Have you had experience of this".Give your readers a clear invitation and opportunity to reply.
• 
  "That's all very well but I really haven't got that much time to add posts on social networks and they hardly ever get noticed anyway"
  
  Your Great Blog post with many of the above criteria will be featured in our ezine. It will reach a growing target audience interested in YOUR niche. YOUR blog post will be going out over and over again and we will be making it our business to make sure your post gets the attention it deserves.
  
  Avoid at all costs making posts which are directly selling. You don't want to see what others are selling in posts do you? And nobody is interested in seeing yours. Selling in blog posts is really just a BIG TURN OFF! As is making friends so that you can email them with YOUR NEXT BIG THING. People will check out your profile and connect with you for being genuine and sincere and for being someone who they can really relate to.
  
  And you might want to consider moderating comments.That way you can be sure that comments add value or are a direct appraisal of your post.
  
  
  I'd love some feedback if you get the time! Do you have any more ideas about making a great blog post? How do you feel about your posts being featured in our ezine? How do you feel about reading featured posts and being invited to add value?
  
  PS.
  This post will be featured in our ezine. And YOUR Comments will be read too!
  

[Ces Loftus]

great blog Karen and I'd add from a brand awareness / professional business image point of view it is good to keep a clear business message in a way that will engage the readers and invite them to respond and also to use your business colours and images to show professional brand consistency with a personal touch.
Ces x

[Trinto Mugangu]

Thanks Karen for all these opportunities. I was so busy and now I will use the venue you aree giving us to promote our charity and giving opportunities for rape victims in DR Congo as well as the orphans there who need schooling.

Meanwhile those interested should visit and spread the word about our two sites:
www.GiveMeaning.com/project/microcredit in which we strive to empower women who are widows and rape victims of warfare in eastren DRCongo; or
www.GiveMeaning.com/project/nyabunkungu for the construction of classrooms for orphaned children there.
All the best.

Dr. Trinto Mugangu
www.fondamu.org
www.facebook.com/trinto

[Jason Reece]

In the process on working on a blog or two .Content is the critical thing. Good advice hopefully going to help.
Jason.

[Karen Maskall]

Thanks Chris...look forward to hearing from you..in a great blog post!

Jon...you are welcome to bring your posts over from ur blog as posts on here. They will be featured in our ezine with calls to action.... I hope you also have an awakening on Pledging for Change as you did on facebook...don't forget to cross post eh?

[Chris Tero]

Fantastic advice; I'm loving the intent behind it as well! Expect to hear from me soon. Thanks and best wishes, Chris

[Jon Symes]

karen this is great - I blog at www.jonsymes.com (actually a wordpress site) and would love to simple offer this content across onto a PforC blog - have a ook and see if this will work. Is it even what you had in miind?
Love
Jon