Engaging Blog Content

Conundrum: Friend/Colleague asks you to review a blog, you like it, think it is better than some that you pen, but have no urge to respond. What do you tell them to change? How do you rationalize giving them feedback, when you honestly think it is more engaging/relevant than most of your own postings?

I always give feedback. If you know me you know my mouth doesn't stay shut. A chance to argue/voice my opinion is a chance never wasted. Jenn says she likes her iPhone, and I being a huge Apple fan boy do the completely rationale thing and tell her five phones I would rather have. After destroying all hopes of impressing "computer guy at the company" I promptly go ask the IT people if they can get me an iPhone, or an Nokia N95. Hey at least I gave them options right?

By the way that was just the answer to how I justify giving feedback when I probably am completely unqualified. So back to the blog thing right? Yeah, that actually happened. I was given a blog post to review, thought it was overall great, but wasn't at all driven to reply. Why? I think the biggest thing was the post was generally agreeable, didn't push my buttons, and was a little to broad to focus my tweenish angst and hyperactive mindset.

How did I respond? I wrote a reply posed as a reply to his post. I tried to add the completely irrational line of thought, the hate/love push of extremism and descriptive narrative that would make someone "have" to respond. Then I went to lunch, bought some food-court Chinese, and wrote a bulleted list of things that I think make a good blog post. Over the next few entries I will try to cover what I think makes the "perfect" blog post. The next series of posts will focus on a few things I think can help writers create a more engaging blog experience.