Are you a writer at heart but don’t know how to begin blogging? Maybe you’ve heard about blogging and wonder what it is, pr perhaps you’ve heard about people making a nice income from blogging and would welcome another revenue source in your household. One of the best reasons to start blogging is that it helps position you as expert in your industry and it’s the beginning of helping yourself stand out online.

Coming from someone who has written some sort of content for many, many years it may sound surprising that blogging isn’t as simple as I thought it would be. I’ve written all types of copy from speeches for United Nations Secretary Generals (Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan) to speeches for Boston’s current Mayor, Thomas Menino and I have even written articles for The Wall Street Journal and other media publications. But writing your opinion, in your own voice is vastly different than writing in someone else’s voice or writing a factual journalistic piece. Though blogging can also be and should be factual in some instances the whole “voice” thing really caught me off guard.

With over 200,000 active blogs on the web your posts can’t just be good enough – they need to be great. Creating great blog posts isn’t as simple as it sounds.

Below are 10 T-tips for writing blog posts:

Find your voice – be who you are and put your personality into your writing (just don’t forget to spell check)!

Share relevant information – Depending on the purpose of your blog find the right combination of personal information laced with public information. In other words – watch the TMI – too much information rule.

Keep it short – keep copy to a minimum but get your point across. That doesn’t mean you won’t have an occasional longer post.

Keep it real– be honest with your readers. Once your reputation is tarnished it’s very, very hard to fix it.

Incorporate your passions – part of your personality has to do with what you are passionate about. If you’re passionate about gardening but you are an HR professional find ways to tie gardening into your HR content. It can be done.

Be creative – the more creative you can be but still remain on topic the more interesting your blog posts will be and the more likely people will be to read it, recommend it and keep coming back for more.

“Professional” posts – Make sure your content is consistently on topic for what you or your business claim to do. For example…if you’re an executive coach you don’t want to write a blog about how to change oil in your car. Also, always spell check and re-read your content before posting. Yes, you can be creative and professional.

Connecting to your reader – having a picture of yourself on your blog and writing in the first person will help readers feel more connected to you.

Update often – Often is a relative term. Keep content fresh and blog as often as you think your target audience may be checking for new content or available to read new content.

Be unique – by following all of the above you will undoubtedly be unique because there is only one you.

If you’ve been blogging for a while would love to hear your tips for success in the comments area. If you’re new to it and have some questions leave it in the comments section too.

Good luck and enjoy the world of blogging.