5 ways blog posts are like tulips - Susan Weiner Investment Writing

I love tulips. But for years I didn’t grow any because my backyard squirrels dug them up and ate them. I finally figured out that my front yard was a safe place for tulips, so I planted some.

As a result, when a writing exercise suggested thinking about red tulips, I was interested. The red tulip exercise yielded this post.

Here are five ways blog posts are like tulips.

1. Their starting points may be ugly

A tulip bulb isn’t pretty. Your blog post may start with a poorly shaped idea. With either one, if you plant and nourish it, it may grow into something beautiful.

2. Symmetry is powerful

A tulip has symmetry, with equal-sized petals around a center. This structure can work for blog posts, too. For example, it works in list posts like this, where each numbered item is like a petal of roughly similar size.

3. Everything comes back to the center

As a tulip’s petals connect to its stem, a blog post’s paragraphs connect to a central theme. There’s power in this connection.

Also, the petals overlaps slightly, forming a connection. That’s similar to how transition sentences link paragraphs.

4. Large collections are powerful

Have you seen photos of vast tulip fields in the Netherlands? They’re stunning, especially because they form single-color blocks. Folks can see them from far away.

Similarly, when you create a large body of blog posts with a narrow focus, they boost your visibility. You’ll appear prominently in search results. Also, the depth of your work will boost your credibility when people visit your blog.

5. They can be overrated

Have you read about the seventeenth century tulip mania, when a tulip could cost as much as a house?

Blog posts can be overvalued, too, though I doubt the mismatch will ever reach manic levels. A blog is not the solution to all of your marketing or communication problems. Your strategy must integrate other elements, too.

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy “Financial blogging lessons from my spinning class.”

Image courtesy of panuruangjan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.