Three simple things:
1. Genuinely care about your readers
2. Address a core concern of your audience
3. Focus on ROII (return on investment for an interaction)
What is one thing that people will have less of in 2009?
You may want to say MONEY but I think it will be the ATTENTION that they can provide you or anyone else. If the economy worsens (do we still have a doubt) further, there will be further reduction in ATTENTION. Every minute invested in you is an opportunity cost for the reader. Remember that they could have done something else in the same time – they have a choice.
Do you honestly think:
What you have written will provide the highest return for the time invested (ROII) for the reader?
Examples of a few blog posts that provide a huge ROII are here:
1. How to Write Killer Blog Posts and More Compelling Comments – BL Ochman
2. Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn – Guy Kawasaki
3. How to get traffic for your blog – Seth Godin
4. 5 Tips to Grow Your Twitter Presence – Darren Rowse
5. How to use Twitter as a Tool – Guy Kawasaki
6. How to write a blog post – Seth Godin
7. 11 Techniques to Increase Page Views on Your Blog
8. What is viral marketing? – Seth Godin
9. Don’t ask for a referral if I Say No – Brad Feld
10. In Defense of Not-Invented-Here Syndrome -Joel Spolsky