Hi! I’m Muhammad Siyab, and I blog at PuttingBlogsFirst, where I write about blog strategy and development. Subscribe to the RSS feed to stay updated! I will be entertaining you for this post.

You’ve just written an *outstanding* post, and can’t wait to hit that big button to show your amazing creation to the rest of the blogosphere. But, do you think about these 5 things?

1. Is it Perfect? Is It Even Close to Perfect?

Have you researched your post well enough? Is it authoritative? Does it pack a punch? Would people want print it out and stick it by their computer and see it everyday?

Time is not an efficient method, if at all, to measure the authoritativeness of a post. You shouldn’t measure the importance and authority of a post by the number of hours you spent writing it. That
would become a quantitative measure of authority, instead of qualitative one. It’s just like writing the same thing over and over again for pages. What’s the point?
A good post depends on the content. It may take as much as several hours or as little as fifteen minutes to write. But if the content is good and properly researched, then the time spent on it has no
meaning.

Anyways, my point is that you should always make the effort to make your posts error-free and fact-full. If you argue about a certain point, use facts as evidence, don’t go for theories. Also, don’t go against established standards. For example, you cannot argue usability standards, can you? ;) You can’t say that dark text on a dark background is OK, can you? :lol:
Also, don’t ‘overkill’. Write just about enough to do a topic justice. You don’t have to go on and on and on in your post, readers won’t appreciate that. Simple, straight to the point, done.

2. What About Donating It, Eh?

In other words, guest blogging the post. Have you ever thought of giving a post away to another blog? As you already may know, guest blogging is a fantastic opportunity for sustainable traffic, respect and recognition. I’m not going to go into the merits of guest blogging now, because many bloggers have been brainwashed with the concept. Still, it is an important aspect of healthy blogging, and it pays much to sometimes guest blog your best posts.

3. Is it Grammar-Proof and Typo-Free?

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In other words, have you proof-read your manuscript?
Proof reading is an essential part of good blogging. You gotta make sure your post is as error free as possible.

You probably know why this is important, but I’ll tell you again. Good grammar and good spelling signifies professionalism. A person who makes a lot of grammar mistakes is not considered to be a
professional. Readers are put off by grammar mistakes and typos. Especially if your blog covers a very technical niche; in that case, proper grammar and spelling are of high priority.

Visit one of the top blogs in your niche and notice the number of typos or grammar mistakes. There will be very few(Humans are humans, after all!) or even none. That’s called professionalism.

When readers read your blog post and see that you’ve taken the care to root out those typos and mistakes, they’ll appreciate you for doing so, and making their life a whole lot easier!

4. Is it Something Readers Will Want To Read?

Really, there’s no use of writing anything if your readers wouldn’t want to read. That is plain common sense.

Examples of what readers may like to read are topical issues, such as the Beijing Olympics or the US Elections, for example. Topical issues are great for good posts, because they have an element called
urgency in them, which in turn increases the thirst of the reader for content about that urgent issue. If it’s gone, it may not come back. Quench this thirst of theirs.

Roam around and investigate within your niche for urgent topics. Are there any conferences or workshops you can cover? Are there any soon-to-come fairs or carnivals in your niche? Find out, and cover these topics.

Also, readers love to read timeless content. Provide them with something that will remain relevant for ever, and you’ve got yourself staunch supporters.

Some types of content readers don’t like to read would definitely contain off-topic content and the ’selfish’ too. I mean don’t brag about yourself. Probably, the last thing readers want to read is how many push-ups you do everyday(unless your blog is health related) or such personal things. I agree, it is good to give a personal touch to your blog, but let’s not overdo it ;)

5. Is it Relevant to Your Blog?

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In other words, is it relevant to your blog’s niche? This is kind of a continuation of the point above, but still is important as a point.
Darren rightly notes that one of the signs of bloggers letting their blogs go is that they go off topic. If you’re posting off-topic posts often, maybe it’s time for a niche check.

Never believe that you can ‘run out’ of content in your niche. There are always unique sources of content in any niche. You just have to find it. I, a few months back did a post on precisely this point, which you might want to read: How to Exploit the Least Exploitable Niches.

BONUS TIP: Can It Be Published Later?

There is no sure-fire way to determine the profitability of a particular post at different points time. But, you can guess. Would this post that you’re about to publish have greater value down the
road than it has now?

If you have a hunch that your post might have much more demand later than it might have now, it’s probably prudent to hit ‘Save’ instead of ‘Publish!’. Believe me, this will be good for your blog.
But it isn’t always a bed of roses. Maybe, developments in your niche down the road will make the environment perfect for your post. Maybe they won’t. Maybe now is the best time to publish it, and a time like now may never come again.
Like I said, there’s no rule of thumb when deciding the optimum time for publishing. It’s something which you cannot ‘learn from textbooks’. You can learn it only from experience.

Your Thoughts

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Do you think what this post says really makes sense? If so, would you
add to these points? Tell all of us about it!

Don’t forget to visit Muhammad’s blog at www.puttingblogsfirst.com!

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