Blogging Tips

This post was inspired by Revision3′s ROFL podcast. I’ve been on the road all day and I had a ton of episodes of ROFL, which is a standup comedy show. I’ve always been a fan of standup and other forms of comedy but standup is my favorite form. So, I got to thinking of how blogging can be compared to standup comedy.

Good Standup Requires Exceptional Timing

Timing is one of the things that is so crucial to good comedy. When a comedian starts their set you can tell whether or not their timing is off. They set up the joke wait a beat and nail the punchline. Bloggers, you can pace the timing of your content with examples and bullet points. Then you can nail the points home with great wrap up statements and engaging questions. Is your timing on or off?

Good Standup asks Questions

A comedian sets up some of their bits by asking questions. By asking questions comedians can get the audience engaged in what they are talking about. Capturing the audience is crucial for good standup. Bloggers, asking questions of your audience changes them from passive to active participants. Responding to the audience’s reaction also continues the exchange and strengthens the experience. Are you asking enough questions when you blog?

Good Standup uses Callbacks

As you are listening to a comedian perform you might hear them refer back to a joke that they told earlier in the set. This works great because the comedian calls back to a shared experience. Because the experience is shared from an earlier joke the audience is already in on the joke. For bloggers you can refer back to your previous posts and physically link to them as well. That way you can bring the audience into the conversation and give them those callbacks to build upon the shared experience. Are calling back to your previous work and letting your community in on the joke?

Good Standup Jokes tap into Public Opinion

Comedians can get the crowd on their side by pointing out something that we all have experience with. By appealing to the court of public opinion the comedian can tap into that collective experience and knowledge that we already share, that way they can get to the joke without having to set it up as extensively. Bloggers, when we write up some of our posts do we tap into something that is happening online already? Sharing your opinion on a post from Copyblogger, or Problogger or Chris Brogan is one way to tap into that collective. Or writing about tools that we all use like Twitter, Flickr and WordPress you also tap into that court of public opinion. When you elaborate on public opinion and talk about your experiences as part of the collective community you can cut right to the important part of your message.

Good Standup Makes you Think

Sometimes Comedians will tell a joke and it hits you later. That delayed laughter sometimes is the best kind because it means that you got that special take away from the show. That is the joke you will tell your friends because it made you think. Bloggers, when we write are we writing to make our readers think? Are we engaging them so that they become part of our communities or are we simply entertaining them so they can move on to the next blog?