How to Blog Like Michael Jordan

Blogging is easy to start, but difficult to conquer.

Michael Jordan soared above everyone else and distinguished himself to become an icon. How can you do that with your blog?

Why are you blogging? If' it's for friends and family and you're reaching your target audience, then there is no need for your to keep reading. STOP right now. Don't sully yourself.

My blog met my original goal, and has since evolved (My 201st Blog Post), but  I always want to get better, I'm competitive.

What is the point of your blog?
This concept needs to be as brief as possible. If you can't be brief, you need to revise and focus the topic.

I realize my blog doesn't adhere to this rule, I post projects, thoughts & ramblings, and movie reviews. My blog really should focus just on projects as it's unlikely one person would want to read the three types of posts. They may unsubscribe because they are tired of seeing movie reviews every week.
I haven't modified my content approach because I don't want to maintain two blogs. 

My original tag line for the blog was something along the lines of "A log of all my creative endeavors including home projects like furniture building and home repair and other creative things I do to help me remember them if I want to revisit a project."

Wow. Now it's just "chronicling creative endeavors." It's not as specific as it should be, but at least no one will stop reading half way through.

Craft each blog post title. This is the first hook to reach people, if they don't like the title they won't read the article even if you've crafted the greatest article in the history of the world.

I could title a post Risk Assessment and it would get ignored, but if I title it Don't Swerve, Hit the Squirrel (and I did just that), it attracts attention.

People are intrigued, wondering what is that title about? And that ties into your post. Posts need to be personable, I started that post with an anecdote. it's easy to understand, avoids jargon, and will keep people reading just a little longer. big jargon will turn them off. and the problem with jargon words is that people don't search for that. If you wanted to know about it, for which terms would you search?

You want to craft your blog to keep people on your site. Format, colors, and topics will keep people interested or deter them. Include links to related blog posts at the end of each post.

What is your blog about? Include a page so people can see a quick synopsis on your blog and give them examples of your best posts.

Give people a page about you. People like to connect to a person. your face gives your blog a personality.

Market your blog. Find communities on Facebook, Google+, and Reddit. Don't just drive by post and leave. Stick around and engage. People can spot spammers easily. Integrate into the community and offer something valuable, your insight. Seeing other people's posts and creation will make you better. You'll see what makes other posts good and bad. To be a good writer, you need to be a good reader. A blog is a written medium.

Label your blog posts. That way if someone wants to see everything you've written on fire ants, they can click that label and see that. They will then stay on your site longer and read more. That's what you want.

Try to cross link blog posts, but don't be obnoxious about it. I've linked other posts I've written in this post because they are relevant.  While I could tell you to search for it, you won't do it. I have to provide it and put in the work. I should never put that on my readers because they won't do it. I wouldn't.

It's cliche, but you need to enjoy it. When it becomes a chore. your posts will suffer and your posts are the content that people want to see.  People hunger for good ideas.

Make things easy on readers. Don't expect them to click multiple times and don't expect them to jump through hoops. If you want them to subscribe to the blog, don't tell them how to do it, give them a button that takes them exactly to that page.

Include an image in every post. It helps if it's relevant. You could post something sensational that will draw people to click, but if it doesn't fit with your article you've broken the trust of your reader.

People like images, and they will look at an image over reading text. That picture might just be your hook.

Set a deadline. People like structure, so post on a certain day and people will expect it. The benefit for you with a schedule is that it holds you accountable. I know which days are are scheduled for a post and I work to that day. With no schedule, it's easy to let it slide and keep pushing the finish date back.

A major annoyance for me is jump breaks in posts. I don't want to see full posts on your home page. I want to get a quick idea of what your blog is about. If I have to endure a marathon scroll session I will just give up.

If you have social media profiles related to your blog, provide links and include an image of the social media site logo. People will notice that quicker than just text.

Go to Google Page Speed insights. If analyzes your site for mobile and desktop users. Some issues may be with your blog host, but issues like large images make pages load slower. Include correctly sized images and link to the larger resolution image only if necessary. Your site needs to load quickly.