What Will Make You A Better Blogger?

What Will Make You A Better Blogger is the kind of headline I hate using because it caters to the lowest common denominator of how to get more readers.

All you need to do is blog about blogging and you’ll find more readers come flocking your way but unless you provide more substance than the 918,432 other people blogging about how to blog you’ll see your bounce rate soar.

I was thinking about it today because several people stumbled onto a post called

How To Write Powerful Headlines that isn’t the vanilla sort of post people think it is. I’ll share an excerpt with you, but I warn you in advance I am often unfiltered.

“This post may not be what you think and it is probably not safe for work. I just stumbled across another 198 posts about how to generate more traffic and they are all some version of a weak “how to” post that tells you that the writer doesn’t really understand what they are writing about but hope to get a little link juice from the headline.

It is reminiscent of the woman who says that she loves oral sex but what she really means is that sometimes she likes to lick it around the edges. Or to use a tired a sports analogy when you take the rock to the hole you better go up strong because otherwise we will knock you on your ass and laugh at you while you lie their flopping around like a dying fish.”

What will make you and I a better blogger isn’t going to be found in the same tired platitudes and silly advice that is passed around the blogosphere like a bong at a Grateful Dead concert.

We need to find a way to use our words to paint a picture that captures our reader’s attention and compels them to continue to read all the way through.

It needs to be something that helps them relate to us as people and encourages community.

That is part of why I installed Postmatic and part of what got me excited about It Is What Every Blogger Wants.

Because I saw flashes of the old time blogging community we used to see here and all over the blogosphere. I saw people talking not just with me, but to each other.

When you build a community the community helps to sustain each other and you.

I tell my children all the time that when you find a way to give back good things happen.

A Skill I Want To Learn

I am a big Johnny Cash fan.

One of my favorite songs is the cover he did of Nine Inch Nails song Hurt.

Why do I like Hurt?

Maybe it is because I love songs that tell a story and because I can relate to it. Maybe it is because when Johnny took it on he adapted it so that it told part of his story too.

Maybe it is all of those things and more.

But what caught my eye today was how someone took Johnny’s cover and integrated clips from Walk The Line into it.

I watched it three times and wished I had the skills to do something like this because to me it takes storytelling to a place beyond where I have normally been able to reach.

It adds another layer and that is something as a storyteller I always want to be able to do.

What Will Make Us Better Bloggers?

What will make us better bloggers?

The ability to add layers and complexity to our stories as needed.

Don’t misunderstand what I am saying here. You don’t always need an extra layer. Sometimes the best thing you can do is provide a very simple tale that involves a beginning, middle and an end.

But there are moments where you want and or need something more. It is like when you are on the highway and you push on the pedal and think that it would be cool if you had another gear to shift into.

Or if you are a geek like me you wish you were piloting the Millenium Falcon and were able to kick it into hyperspeed.

Never hurts when you are out running an Imperial Star Cruiser.

Anyway, you can add how to work with video and music to my list of things I want to learn.

How about you? What do you have to add?