I stumbled upon an old article that has some very good advice on writing for the web that would be very useful for bloggers (and anyone, really). I try to do some of these, but not enough.
Ironically, much of it applies to news magazine writing.
As a result, Web pages have to employ scannable text, using
highlighted keywords (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and color are others)
meaningful sub-headings (not “clever” ones)
bulleted lists
one idea per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph)
the inverted pyramid style, starting with the conclusion
half the word count (or less) than conventional writing
I would add that a good, descriptive blog post title is important for drawing attention to your post.
I have to admit that when I encounter a wall of text on a blog, my instinct is to scan it and even skip it entirely. The use of subheadings and highlighting would help to draw me in.
I think I need to use some of these techniques more often myself.
