Value your mind

How do you do a blog post that is attractive? That is of high quality?

Rangit.com has been around since 2007. From the very first post written till the article you see now, many things have changed. Plenty of blog writing mistakes were made and I’m glad they happened. It’s a long learning process and I would like to share with you what I have learned so far. Below are seven ways I’ve experienced through blogging that has helped this blog be what it is today.

Start with the end in mind.

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This is habit no.2 of Stephen Covey’s Habits of Highly Effective People. It is so important to know how the article is supposed to look like, how the points are arranged, etc. Once it is clear, you will then know what to focus on and everything will fall into place at the end.

Images.

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As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. It improves the value of the article by invoking feelings and getting the point across to readers.

Title.

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The single most important thing that draws readers to read the written article. It’s the one line summary that appears in social media, search engines and rss feeds. Including numbers and interesting words like “Top 25 Linux Games” or “140 Faces Of Well Known Bloggers You Won’t Want To Miss” increases the appeal even more. More example titles here.

URL.

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To search engines, the URL is more valuable than the article title. You may construct your title attractively but keep the URL short. Like for example, the title may be “7 Things To Look Out For when Writing A Blog Post” but the URL should be keyword rich like “http://rangit.com/blogs/how-write-title-post-article-attractive”, omitting out irrelevant words like ‘to’, ‘for’, ‘when’, ‘and’.

Spacing.

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Keep paragraphs less than 10 sentences. Or less 5 is possible. Also, include lists. A list simplifies information and readers are able to scan through easily as compared to picking out from a block of text. Readers will know how long the content is especially if it’s a numbered list.

Research.

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The content of what you are going to write may already have been published by many people before you. Read theirs. Find out what they are missing and include it when writing your own article. Get ideas from the comments section of their article.

Originality equals personality.

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It shows honesty and genuineness. Also, humor and mischief is stylish and attractive in its own way. Yep, a pretty good example is thesuperficial.

Facebook, the social networking site that has more than 200 million active users nationwide, is as interesting as it is today thanks to its awesome base of applications. As of July 23rd 2008, the total number of applications have exceeded 33,000. What’s more, they’re growing more each passing day as developers identify potentials of having their stuff all over millions of Facebook profiles.

Sounds good but let’s be honest. Facebook is not a tool. It is an escape. Very few people go there or would want to go there to write a document, plan a meeting or collaborate. Out of the tens of thousands of applications, only a handful is truly worth your time. Below are some of the most useful Facebook applications I’ve come across.

Default Applications

Photos.



In my opinion, this is the most popular and useful Facebook application. There is no limit to the number of albums and photos an user can upload, you get to control your own privacy settings and label users in the photo with the ‘tag’ feature. What an interesting, natural interaction generator.

Block Application.



Frustrated by annoying applications? No more. Since the introduction of the ‘Block Application’ feature, you could easily block the application directly from the request. Once blocked, it will not be able to send you any more requests.

Mobile.



Facebook while taking a crap in the toilet or waiting for the bus.

3rd Party Applications

kaChing



Great application that is worth getting addicted to. Relevant to the world and your career. A cross between Google Analytics, Yahoo Questions and Seeking Alpha. Ka-Ching is easy and simple to understand, all stocks and shares ARE REAL, based on real time and experts from all sorts of fields to learn from. The combination of visual risk metrics, statistical tools, and a structure conducive to high-value interactions amongst its community investors makes Ka-Ching the #1 in terms of investing ideas.

SocialVibe



SocialVibe is a great way to give back to the world that we live in. What happens is you get yourself sponsored by your favourite brands and earn donations for the charity of your choice. The idea is to enable everyone to play a great part and network globally.

Selective Twitter Status



Update your Facebook status from Twitter, but ONLY for the tweets you choose. IMO, better than the original Twitter developed Facebook application as it avoids confusion with your Facebook friends and prevents swamping your profile with too many updates.

How well do you know me?



Have fun constructing your own questions and have friends answer them.

Extended Info



Winner of the Facebook F8 Contest. Extended Info allows you to add extra fields to your profile, such as Currently Reading, Favorite Foods, or anything else you can think of. Supports videos, images, music, and HTML.

Similar People



Discover people that share your personal sense of humor, style, politics, art, and more. The best way to connect with people you’d actually want to be connected to in Facebook.

Shopaholic Magazine(For Girls)



You’d love this. Shopaholic Magazine keeps fashionistas ahead of the curve with insider info, exclusive photo shoots, a virtual store and addicting fashion games.

Sexgames



Sex Games is a tongue-in-cheek multiplayer game where you work with an Entourage to prove your skills in the Club. Complete sexual conquests and pick up all the hottest players on Facebook.

Groupcard



An application that allows you to create group birthday cards, group greeting cards, and other group cards for your friends. Start the card and then invite your friends to sign it.

Quitclock



Most motivating application for smokers. It keeps track of how long you’ve been off the ciggy and a total running cash you’ve saved. Youc an also read handy health tips and collect support messages on your Quitclock wall.

Myxer



Select from hundreds of thousands of ringtones, wallpapers, videos and games for your mobile phone available at no charge. Also, make your own original mobile content and share it with millions of other Myxer users. You can even make money by selling your own original content as ringtones. Limited to North America.

On Track



A practical online application that helps you save time and effort by keeping you focused on goal objectives, tasks, and progress. On Track significantly improves the chances that the goal will be achieved on target.