I’m going to stick with the theme of writing blog posts for a little while because if you want to build your brand online, and position yourself as a knowledgable resource in a particular industry, then blogging is the way to go. Blogging is great for many reasons besides building SEO (Search Engine Optimization), it’s also a way to add to your virtual content library, it’s content in your control and if you link it to your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts you can also update your social media platforms simultaneously.

I remember the day I wrote my first blog post. I was surprised to find that it wasn’t easy and it took me lots of time. Coming from someone who has been a writer of some sort of content for many, many years this may sound surprising. 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 articles for The Wall Street Journal and other media publications. But writing in your own voice is really different than writing in someone else’s voice or writing a factual journalistic piece.

To help you with your blog writing I’ve put together this list of tips for writing professional blog posts.

1. Find your voice – be who you are and put your personality into your writing (just don’t forget to spell check)!
2. Keep it short – keep copy to a minimum but get your point across.
3. Keep it real – be honest with your readers. Once your reputation is tarnished it’s very, very hard to fix it.
4. 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.
5. Be creative – the more creative you can be but still remain on topic the more interesting your blog post will be and the more likely people will be to read it and recommend it and keep coming back for more.
6. “Professional” posts – Make sure your content is consistently on topic for what you or your business claim to do. So…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.
7. Connect with YOU (the author) – having a picture of yourself on your blog and writing in the first person will help readers feel more connected to you.
8. Update often – Often is a relative term. Keep content fresh and blog as often as you can.
9. Be unique – by following all of the above you will undoubtedly be unique because there is only one you.

Good luck and enjoy the world of blogging.