There’s so many posts on the web explaining how to write a post and how to write blog content, but there’s very few posts on how to read the post.

Here’s a recent post from DoshDosh.com a blog ranked in the top 15 on Technorati and a great resource for all things Social Media and blogging. Read it and let’s do a quiz!

Want Your Ideas to Spread Easily? Try Narrowing Your Message Focus
Yesterday, I visited my friend Tara’s place and noticed that she put a large piece of paper on her bedroom wall, next to where she slept.

On it was written some quotations and general life principles. Tara wanted to remind herself of these words when she woke up everyday and before she went to bed. It’s a self-improvement trick to overcome negativity and focus on the important things.

So I got curious and read what she wrote. After I came home, I tried recalling what I read but could only come up with two lines. The rest were a blur.

If it was up to me, I would split the large piece of paper into little post-it notes, each with one message and paste them all on the wall or different parts of her room, perhaps one in the closet, two on the bookshelf.

I think they’ll have more impact than a large piece of paper, crammed to the brink with powerful lines. Ideas spread when they are remembered. And they stick in the mind better when they stand alone, without competition from other opposing ideas.

A persuasive blog post or sales letter argues one point and accentuates it thoroughly with analogies, metaphors, examples and references. Just one point, because too many and you’ll not only lose your own focus but the attention of your audience. You don’t want to distract them from taking action.

Too many statements and important points can be an obstacle. When you want your audience to remember a message, make it clutter-free and uncomplicated. Good marketing campaigns condense the entire event, website or product into one slogan, a few buzzwords and a tagline. And it works marvelously well.

If you can’t sum up your business in one sentence, if your visitors can’t figure out the purpose of your website in 10 seconds, you’re not communicating. You’re not sticking in their head. And that doesn’t help your ideas or brand to spread.

You’ve finished reading the article and now let’s see what you learned. Obviously if you read it the article you can see Maki wrote about how to narrow your focus so that you ideas spread quickly. But other than the meat of the post the real question is, “What did you learn about HOW to write, from reading the post”? Maki writes great content because it is thought provoking, easy to read, and teaches the reader something new.

The post used three fundamental writing techniques. He introduced a real life situation that people can connect with and his opening sentence left you wondering how the story relates to the topic; “Yesterday, I visited my friend Tara’s place and noticed that”.

Maki also bolded important content. Understanding that most blog readers don’t actually read everything, it’s important to separate out your main points. You can do this by bolding specific lines, creating a list, or writing an abstract; with the most effective being bolding and list making.

Finally, the title explains the meaning of the article and pulls readers into it. You might think that by posing a question and answering it in the title, readers would not be interested in reading the entire post, but Maki was able to make you ask the question How?. It’s that question that pushes readers to continue reading your post, subscribe to your blog, and keep reading it.

The best way to learn how to blog is by reading blogs. Learn by example, explore multiple writing styles, and posts of different lengths and topics. In the end it’s important to not only read the content but think about how the content was written and why. When reading a blog always ask the questions:

• “Why did I read this?”
• “Did I like it?”
• “What did they do different?”
• “What worked?”
• “What didn’t work?”

Have any more suggestions for reading a blog? What have you learned from your daily surfing?