Writing a successful post

There’s no magic formula for writing a good blog post, and for every good post a blogger writes, there is sure to be at least one not-so-good one. There are many different kinds of posts, and an exhaustive list is impossible. Instead, what follows is a fairly good formula for writing a post about current events

The key to any good post is to add value. Some blogs just cut and paste reports from media outlets. This gives readers little incentive to read the blog rather than just reading the story on the website of the news agency that published it. Blogs that add something extra to quotations from media reports, on the other hand, do give readers a reason to visit. With that in mind, here is one possible way to write an interesting post:

• Find a subject: Read news websites to find potential subjects. Perhaps you will find a unique story you want to bring to your readers’ attention. Maybe you’ll notice two stories that tie together nicely. Maybe you’ll notice something inaccurate or misleading in a report you read.
• Introduce your subject: Begin your post with a brief introduction of the subject and a mention of the story on which you are commenting. 
• Quote: Include excerpts from the story to which you’re responding. 
• Analyze: Respond to excerpts as necessary. If you notice something inaccurate, explain what is wrong with the quoted section. Perhaps the quoted text will inspire you to write on other issues. Each case will be different.

For numerous examples of this style of post, visit the blogs at neweurasia (www.neweurasia.net).