Discussions: No.7 How do you make good quality, interesting posts!

Hi, this weeks discussion is about how to make good quality, interesting posts. It's been a bit of a dilemma for me lately because I have been producing some posts that then get a good few comments but I don't generally get comments on my models and I don't get any entries to my competitions. I must have left a link to the naming of my salamander rhinos for a couple of moths and I didn't get 1 proper entry. My latest competition has no entries yet either. I have 30 odd followers but that number is not growing. I try to comment on other peoples blogs (generally not BoLS because my comment would get lost in the 60 others). So, my question o you is. What are your top tips to making good quality, interesting posts.

This is not just for my sake but for newer bloggers as well. Ron, if you don't mind I will publish the tips you gave me when I was starting. Please tell me whether that's OK with you!

EDIT: Here are the tips Ron gave me when I was just starting out. remember these were aimed specifically at me so they may not apply to you:

1. It will come together over time and you'll develop your own style and look.

2. Make sure to proofread everything you write. Sometimes mistakes will get through but you should minimize this as much as possible.

3. If you get something from someone else then make sure to say that. Don't ever take something and just post it on your site without giving credit to the original author or where you found it.

4. You will have a ton of work ahead of you. Your readers come to your site looking to see what you do, not see things like questions where you ask them what you should do. Polls are ok, but your readers wnat to hear about your projects, not your questions.

5.Watch your headlines, they should let the reader know what the article is about, things like, "THIS IS SO COOL!" doesn't tell your reader anything about what you're writing about and they probably won't keep reading. Try and sum up your post in one sentence and use that as a guide.

6. Pictures will almost always help. Make sure they are well lit and in focus. Fuzzy pictures are no good, leave those out.
Same thing with images, if you get them somewhere else, make sure to give the original person credit.

7. Pick a theme for your blog and stick with it. You will develop a bigger and more loyal reader base if you cover one thing well instead of 5 or 6 things part way. People want to know what to expect when they come to your blog. Are you about 40k or video games or board games?

8. Watch your Labels, like your headlines, they should describe what is in that group of articles. Things like COOL STUFF doesn't tell your reader anything and they have no reason to click on it then.

Anyway, the floor is yours. DISCUSS!!!
Thanks for reading,

Jacob.