Eight tips for creating a successful blog.

"Most compelling business blogs have several structural elements in common--and once you know what they are, they're fairly easy to replicate," says Mark Satterfield, author of the new book, "The One Week Marketing Plan: The Set It & Forget It Approach for Quickly Growing Your Business" (BenBella Books, August 2014). "Done well, your blog can become an essential component in your marketing arsenal."

Satterfield spotlights eight tips that will help you create a compel] ing blog:

1. Know what your readers care about. First and foremost, successful blogging is all about offering value to your readers. It doesn't matter how flashy or funny or well-written your posts are if they don't provide useful information or answer readers' questions. People aren't interested in self-serving pontification. They're looking for resources to enhance their lives. Keep this principle firmly in mind when considering all of the following tips.

   "Specifically, I advise you to not only consider what your target audience cares about, but also to think about the words and phrases they're likely to use when searching for that information," Satterfield suggests. "Be sure to include these keywords (judiciously, not exhaustively!) in your headlines and copy so that your posts will be more likely to show up in the first few pages of search results. This is one component of search engine optimization, or SE0."

2. Find your voice. (And make it an engaging one!) If your goal is to drive readers away or put them to sleep, write in dense "corporate speak" and use a lot of industry-specific, arcane phraseology. Oh, that's not your goal? Then the tone of your writing should be more entertaining and approachable, even though you're primarily talking about your business. "When you're creating posts, aim for the tone you'd strike in a one-on-one conversation with a prospect or customer you already like."

3. Banish blogger's block with a list of compelling topics. Consistently creating compelling content is a challenge for a lot of bloggers. So that you don't find yourself facing blogger's block, it's smart to have a broad understanding of what readers generally find interesting. "I suggest making a list of posts you want to publish so that you can work on them when inspiration strikes (and so that you can have a lot of content in the can for a rainy day!)," Satterfield says. "Be sure to keep a constantly evolving record of any new ideas that come to you. I use a program called...