Political Blogs - How to Write Them Effectively

For years you've probably been hearing about blogs, bloggers, the blogosphere, and all things "bloggy". When most people hear the term blog they might think of some geek in their underwear writing unimportant and pointless stuff for other geeks to read. While many blogs might be like this, political blogs are of a different class.

Political blogs can be very informative, enlightening, and funny. If you like politics and think you have what it takes to write a blog on politics, you came to the right place. I'm going to share a few tips with you on how to write a great political blog. Even if you don't know how to write like a journalist it doesn't matter -all you need is passion (and a little knowledge).

If you don't have strong political opinions then let me stop you right there and suggest you pick a different topic than politics. In order to write a great blog on politics you have to have politics on the brain, meaning, you have to be a politics enthusiast. That doesn't mean you have to like politics or politicians (good luck finding someone who does) but you should care about how politics and politicians affect your daily life and the lives of others.

Alright, so you've decided that you absolutely, positively want to write a political blog. Now what?

Step One: Identify your identity

In order to connect with people who might stumble across your blog you will want to align yourself with a label. A label let's people know "hey, this person thinks like me". While some people say they don't like labels or don't fall into any label or category you shouldn't take the label too seriously. A label can be something specific like "far left wing liberal" or it can be broad like "independent". I find it easier to gain followers by being narrow (i.e. conservative) than by being broad (i.e. moderate) but that's your call. An easy way to be broad is to write on something all-encompassing like Canadian politics or American politics.

Step Two: Sign up with a blog site

I highly recommend using Blogger's free blog hosting service. Go to Blogger's website and take a tour and read the tutorial. Even if you have never used HTML you will find Blogger very easy to use. Also get a Gmail account which is integrated into Blogger and makes everything so much easier.

Step Three: Start writing

Don't even think about it, just start writing. Pick a few topics you want to write about and start hammering away. Once you get a few articles under your belt you're going to feel very satisfied with what you just created. Try to keep your articles between 150 and 400 words. Any more than that is simply too long -most people don't have time to read long blog posts. Most people don't even read newspaper articles in their entirety. Think quality, not quantity.

Step Four: Network, network, network

You will want to connect with other blogs that write on the same topic. If you write a blog on the U.S. Senate, try to find other blogs on that same topic and develop a business relationship with them. This way, you will create a symbiotic relationship with others who share you interests. Their fans and followers will become your fans and followers.

Step Five: Be consistent!

Who wants to bookmark a blog that only posts once a month. Posting weekly is the bare minimum. I cannot stress how effective it is to post daily. People like routine, they like checking in on the same websites on their lunch break or after work when they sit down in front of the computer. You can appeal to these people by always having something new to see and read every day. People will come back to you.