Many blogs like to focus on news stories for one main reason – there is a lot to write about and it is a great way to keep your blog current without having to do too much research. Beyond this, there are other reasons to write about current events, but we won’t get into them today. Instead, I want to focus on what a good news post looks like and ow it is created.

There is a different technique to writing a “news” post than, let’s say a post that involves your personal events. You want to include the 5 W’s, but some additional content.

Quoting - Whenever you quote someone, be sure to set it apart in blockquotes, otherwise it often doesn’t stand out from the rest of the content. Direct spoken quotes should be contained within a traditional quoting structure  – quotes surrounding the text, with proper attribution to their name.

Sourcing/Referencing - A the end of the article that you publish, be sure to reference (quite often for the second time) the source of the article with a [Source: Website Name] structure, although the format often varies. Some people don’t add this to the footer, although it makes it easy for visitors to see where you have referenced the material form when there is a lot of text. Use a [Via: Website Name] when you write an article and you heard about the product/item on another site. This is more ideal when you are writing a review of a new product.

Follow-up – After you have published a post, keep in mind that nay additional developments should be posted, either on the main post or through separate updates. Remember that when you focus on a single post, you might gain more links to that single post, but you will likely see more traffic with multiple posts.

Provide Your Own Opinion – Often, bloggers avoid news stories because it is an “older” style of writing and doesn’t invite their own opinion. However, if you have your own blog, why not add your personal opinion (if acceptable).

Post Frequency – Make sure that you are able to devote enough time each day to writing posts and covering the most popular/interesting stories of the day. With more content to write about, it may be difficult to schedule your life and posting habits into one day, but the more the post, the more traffic and comments you should be able to receive.

Providing Additional Resources – Beyond the news stories, provide additional resources, such as links to your favorite sites, a separate forums areas, or ways for the community that you have created to interact with one another.

Conclusion

Creating a news-oriented site can be either one of the best or worst decisions that you make. On one side, you are helping yourself by creating a nearly limitless number of posts, but on the other end, you are entering one of the largest, most competitive niches. You have to make the decision for yourself whether you can take on this challenge.