The Key to Writing an Amazing Blog Post How to produce quality content each time you publish a new blog post so that you can keep your readers coming back as well as gain new ones.

When you start a blog, you have to commit to it. You need to write a set amount of days a week and have your blog post published by a set time--and you need to stick with it. In order to keep up a successful blog, your readers need to know what to expect from you and when.

Although blogs that post 3-5 (or more) times each week generate much more traffic than blogs that blog only once or twice a week, you also need to be able to keep up with your blogging schedule. But not only that, you need to be able to produce quality content each time you publish a new blog post so that you can keep your readers coming back as well as gain new ones. Follow these seven steps in order to write great blog content every time.

1. Keep a list of blog post ideas.

Whenever an idea for a great blog post strikes you, be sure to write it down immediately. It could be just seconds before it's gone again. This way, whenever you're running low on inspiration, you have your blog topic list to fall back on.

2. Don't just stop at post topics.

I like to use the Notes app that comes on my iPhone to outline my blog posts. I have one note just for post topics and then I'll start another note when I begin brainstorming what I want to write about. Although I may not get the entire blog content outlined, I'll at least have enough sections to have a good start. It's really helpful -- not to mention a real stress-reliever -- to keep a consistent list of blog posts going rather than writing from scratch each night.

3. Write your blog content ahead of time.

Write up your blog post then set it aside. Look at it a day or two later -- chances are, you'll find at least one thing that you'll be able to improve that will make your writing even better.

4. Include links in your blog post.

Link to your own old blog posts and link to posts by other bloggers. Do the former to drive traffic to other posts that you've written and do the latter to give credit and to draw others into the conversation.

5. Research your topic.

Of course you should be familiar enough about your topic to write a good bit of it on your own, but it's important to see what others are saying. There are many ways to do research, depending on the type of blog post that you're writing, but it's still important to gather further information for your blog post. You want your blog content to be factual, useful, and informative to your readers.

6. Avoid the wall of text.

A couple of things that Internet writing and reading requires are short paragraphs and concise ideas. People reading your blog posts are typically doing this while also doing something else--drinking their coffee, working at their desk, or on their lunch break--and they want to be able to quickly scan your post and be able to understand your main ideas quickly. You need to make sure that you are getting straight to the point in all of your blog posts.

7. Write what your readers want to read.

I'm sure you've chosen your blog's niche by now. You should have just a handful of categories that readers can expect to see blog topics fall under. This means that your readers know what to expect from you and this is why they keep coming back. Don't suddenly switch blog niches or write something that is completely different from your typical blog content. You should know by now what your readers like -- stick with that.

It is important to keep quality content on your blog in order to keep your readers coming back. Create your blogging schedule, stick to it, and consistently generate well written blog content in order to maintain a successful blog.

Written by Steve Lazuka, founder of Interact Media.