I'm no expert, but there are a number of things that I make sure I put into my blog posts that I think everyone should for the sake of art's sake. Most of these don't actually make your post better, but it makes the reader (you) possibly continue reading.
Order your paragraphs. I've been taught to order from least to most important, but that doesn't work well for me. I prefer starting with an engaging argument to get someone interested, then go from least to most. The reader may just be more inclined to agree with you this way, and if they don't, oh well. By the way, in this specific blog post, I'm not really trying any specific order (then again, most of my blog posts are kinda like this).
Appearance. Make your blog look different from all the others. Don't just stick with the pack, but flow to the side of it in style. This blog is awkwardly different. Black/dark background, a creative layout, pop-up blue and white text, and no big fancy header image; just the blog name. Good for bandwidth, good for getting noticed. And this isn't even a custom theme (WordPress demands money for that, which is why I'm thinking about going to Blogger). However, this isn't necessarily the reason I chose this theme. I chose it because it's easy on the eyes. Looking at a white background is like staring at a light bulb. Oh, and I also learned that blue light increases electromagnetivity, preserves food better, is the most-liked color in the world, and actually increases mental activity (higher IQ scores).
Links are cool. There's a certain science to them that are interesting to the reader. They're interactive, leading to more learned information, and as soon as a page loads, the reader sees the pretty color it comes in. In my blog's case, it's very blue, almost pleads to get clicked on. Links aren't just good for information, but they also make for good paragraph emphasis.
When posting a link, don't just lay out the full address; nobody wants to read things that don't make sense like "http://blahblahblah.co.az.de.us/foobar/1337/crap.aspx". Just wastes space. Make sure that you integrate it into text. In addition, make sure that the words you decide to use for the link are interesting. Don't do "I have a pet gerbil, here" or "Never scare a black dude, man!!!" (by the way, the latter is my video). One is flat out boring, and the other makes the reader just jump to the link and not read the information. A sweet spot would be to select interesting 2-3 words for linking. For example, "despite the fact that Kanye West's single Homecoming wasn't nearly a hit, I still find it better than Stronger".
Also, when posting a blog post, one of the most vital yet simple attension-getters would be images. I'm not saying to plaster your posts with pictures of iPhones and T-Mobile G1's. I'm just asking for one image on the side that describes at least the first half of your post. As you can see, 90% of my blog posts do this, and the reason that not all of them is because I don't want much emphasis on them; they're just there so I can say I have it there. Now, when choosing an image, it isn't smart to just pull a rabbit out of the magical hat known as Google. For one thing, the reader may have alredy seen the image if they were searching for information about rabbits, and found your post because of it. Oh, and by the way, it's illegal. To be on the safe (and prettier) side of the fence, go to Flicker's Creative Commons section, more specifically the Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike liscensed images, which basically means that you'll use the image in addition to giving credit to the person who took the image, which I do through linking the image to the page I found it from. They're more origional, are normally done with higher quality cameras, and support the Creative Commons "movement".
That's all I got for my fellow bloggers for now. I bet you a cookie I'll remember 3 more things not here already about 15 minutes after I click the Publish button.
Ciao
~del_rio
