Blogging inspiration can hit at any time, but spending a little extra time and thought will make the difference between a also-ran and a hit. Don’t let the rush to capture your muse overshadow the need to create quality content.

There is a simple formula to introducing a great, lasting blog post: describe it in just two sentences. The first sentence must say why your a casual reader should click on your post. The second should summarise the content.

The process of turning an idea into a blog post takes time: only when it can be summarised in two sentences can you say that the post is ready for release. If your idea is too woolly or incomplete, you’ll be proved wrong by your commenters. If your post has no obvious benefit to the casual reader, they’ll skip your blog after reading the first paragraph in their feed reader or social network.

Great Ideas

Most good posts come from the metaphorical lightbulb appearing above your head. DING I should blog about this!

Turning that initial revelation into an effective dialogue with your readers takes a bit more careful thought. The steps for creating a good post go like this:

1. Something happens to you
2. You think “I’ll blog about this!”
3. You put your ideas into a post in 20 minutes
4. You post it
5. You respond to comments

The problem is, someone takes your good post and turns it into a great post. So how do they do that?

Hard Work

Sadly, a bit of work is needed to move ahead of all the other bloggers.

You must read and re-read your entry. Ideally, read it aloud to yourself and others. Get someone to check for spelling errors. Move paragraphs around. Check for false or libellous statements.

You must be your own copy editor.

How To Make A High Quality Post

Just as before, it starts with an initial revelation:

1. Something happens to you
2. You think “I’ll blog about this!”
3. You put your ideas into a post in 20 minutes
4. You put in your “drafts folder”

Most bloggers have a drafts folder (I use the drafts facility of GMail) but Wordpress has its own facility. Just take a deep breath and don’t post immediately - unless you’re breaking news with competition from other bloggers.

A break of a couple of hours should give you enough time to consider whether your post is really as good as first thought. If you still love it, research whether your idea has already been discredited, embellished by others, needs more work or is good to go. So, you think you can publish? Then, follow this plan:

1. Read through your post from start to finish
2. Check for spelling and grammar mistakes
3. Verify any assertions, and if possible, provide citations
4. Can the post be improved by inserting pictures or graphs?
5. Consider the best time to post - is it likely to get buried under items from your rivals? Lost because your audience is asleep? If you’ve posted on a similar topic before, check your statistics
6. Come up with ten alternative titles, choose the best
7. Post
8. Publicise your post. Tell your friends, social networks, similar blogs
9. Ping all of the usual services, Technorati, Pingomatic etc
10. Comment on other blogs using the URL of your new post to fill in the homepage field

As you can see, there are a load of stages to making a successful blog post and writing it is just half the battle. That’s why I recommend taking a break in between writing and reviewing/posting.

Lots of bloggers talk about how they get inspiration for their posts, but the hard work afterwards is too often ignored. Do a little hard work and watch how your statistics climb.