Be passionate.

there are two things unrelated to being able to spell and formulate beautiful sentences that are key to having a well-written blog:

• knowing/understanding your audience

• setting yourself standards by which you can judge your success

that said, let's talk about what seems to be consistently successful in writing a blog:

• tell a story

• reveal your personality
  
• show real knowledge
  
• write well, write quickly
  
• be quick on your feet -- make connections in your life and in the news to what you blog about
  
• be humorous
  
• find a consistent voice
  
• be conversational
  
• react to comments -- follow the lead of your audience
  
• link
  
• write OFTEN, be consistent with frequency
  
• write for people, but don't forget titles and search engines

blog posts are typically short (up to 500 words) and specific. lists, quotes, and other organizing techniques are often used. a blog post usually gets across a single point

darren's blog formula: intro, link to an article, blockquote, quite closing paragraph

blog writing is NOT like writing a press release, essay, quarterly report, news story -- it's more like an email than anything else. you're talking to one person directly, remembering that the post will be read by more than one person.

spelling, grammar, etc. important? depends on who you are, what you're writing