Writing about newsworthy events is a great way to generate traffic at your blog. And in a post at his Social Media Marketing Blog, Scott Monty discusses takeaways from his entry on Microsoft's recent bid for Yahoo:

Be timely. Monty, who noticed the Microsoft-Yahoo story at 6:30 a.m., put a quick post together and beat many others to the punch. Your response to a current event doesn't necessarily have to come within minutes or hours, but it helps if you lead the conversation, rather than straggle behind others.

Make it different. What can you offer that readers won't get elsewhere? "In my case, it was to use humor, information and opinion together, to appeal to and provide value to as many readers as might notice the post," says Monty.

Respect your readers' time. Draw them in with a great headline, and then deliver concise and compelling content.

The Po!nt: Being quick on the draw with a funny, insightful blog post yielded immediate results for Monty. "With Google's ability to quickly index blog posts, I found that my post consistently ranked in the top 5 search results for 'Microhoo' on Friday," he writes. Further, the post led to an interview request from TechNewsWorld, which quoted Monty in its story on the blogosphere's reaction to the takeover bid.

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