You wanna here a secret? Sorry, I don't really have one. You know most of this stuff, already. Trust your instincts. Here's a little refresher on blogging like a journalist.
Great blogs often have agendas, but unlike certain television networks, bloggers tend to put their agendas on the table. Transparency makes for loyal readers. If you lean a certain way, let it be known. Don't hide behind innuendo. The great blogs aren't about secrets. Check out this guest post from Chris Brogan.
Great bloggers don't imply that the scoop popped into existence in front of their keyboards. They attribute and accurately relay other people's info. Have a look at Sign of the Times. There's an angle the blogger is working, but it's an informed angle.
Great blogs handle a few things pretty uniformly: easily understood words -- no one likes a show off; small paragraphs -- too much text all clumped together can be scary; and keep your main point at the top of the story. Anyone remember the inverted pyramid? Here we cite the great Ariana Huffington.
When you link, and you should link; link like the greats do -- to valuable information. The links should serve to enhance your post and lend transparency to any information you may have received from another source. There's a good post in a movie blog called The Playlist that exemplifies this.
Above all else, great blogs utilize voice -- a sense of authorial propriety you can't find in a typical newspaper article. It's crucial that you don't come off sounding like a robot. I can't stress the importance of personaility in your writing enough. Michael Ian Black is the master of this. This is the fun part.
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