Seven Important Things to Include on a Blog

There are millions of blogs on the internet covering every topic you can imagine. Some people write blogs just to vent their emotions through their writing, while others write blogs to make money, educate others on a topic their passionate about, or simply just to connect with other people.

As I continue to build my blog, Blessings from Above, which is still in its infancy, I've learned many important elements that belong in a blog. I've already implemented many of them and am continuing to work on adding more. Blogs are truly works in progress and always will be.

If you are planning on creating your own blog, be sure to include the following things to make your blog a success:

An "About You" section
Readers want to "know" you and know more about your life. Have an "About You" section gives more life to your blog and makes it more personable. Through this section of your blog, your readers will connect with you better. Include a brief biography that highlights your experience on the topic you are writing about. Then let the reader in on a little more about you, like do you have kids, are you married, what's your passion, what are your hobbies, how many pets do you have, what's your favorite color? Just be sure to avoid dangerous things like your address, phone number, and social security number. You don't want readers to come knocking on your door some day. Be smart about what you include and be safe.

Photographs
Photographs make your blog more aesthetically pleasing and helps your reader to more clearly understand what you are posting about. It also gives them a chance to feel like you are friends. Again, be sure to be safe about what photos you are posting on your blog. Don't stand in front of your street address so everyone knows where you live.

Respond to comments
If you find that you are getting comments from readers on your blog posts, make sure you take the time to respond to them. This will make them feel like you are addressing them and will encourage them to come back to your blog. Try to keep your response positive and don't ream them out if you aren't happy with their comment.
An RSS Feed and email subscription
If you'd like to have a big reader base, it's great to try and find new people to hit your blog, but that is going to be hard to do every day. That's why it's important to include an RSS feed that readers can use to sign up to receive content in their RSS feed with new updates when you make a new post. Or if they prefer, they can sign up to receive an email.

Interesting titles for your posts
Chances are those that are visiting your blog are short on time. Who isn't? More than likely, they'll scan the titles of each post to see what looks interesting to them. Make your titles strong and relevant to what you are talking about.

A tag line
It's not enough just to have a catchy title for your blog. Sure that may attract attention, but you need something that clearly helps your reader identify what your blog is all about. You've lost them if they have to take a long time to figure it out on their own. For example, my blog is called, Blessings from Above, and my tag line is "Recognizing God's blessings in our everyday lives." That helps doesn't it?

Links to other resources
People love additional resources and since you want to make visiting your blog worthwhile, you want to give your reader as much as you can. Include various links to things on the topic you are blogging about. On my blog, Blessings from Above, I've included: Christian favorites, Christian videos, Christian podcasts, Educational Christian Resources, links to more of my online work, a blogroll, and Christian books that I recommend. You don't have to limit yourself on your blog though. You can include whatever you want.

To get started on your own blog, visit Blogger or WordPress to fill out user friendly templates to create your own blog.

If you like to visit or subscribe to my blog, Blessings from Above, please visit the links section on this page.