One of the most important things to remember when undertaking any kind of writing project is to consider who your audience is, and what they want from you as the blog writer. Your audience is obviously an audience of sports fans, but within that demographic, who are you trying to reach? Former athletes who are now sports fans? Parents of athletes? It may be worth deciding who you want to inform and entertain before writing your blog, so that you know how to tailor your posts to meet the needs and interests of that audience. Most readers checking in on a sports blog won't want to commit to spending an hour on a sports manifesto. Keep it short, but punchy. Some experts recommend a maximum of 750 words per post in order to ensure that you don't lose a reader's attention. No two blogs are going to be exactly the same. The best and most sincere way to make your blog stand out is to let your personality come through in your writing and invest a piece of yourself into the blog. Readers will enjoy your blog for the same reason your friends enjoy spending time with you - because reading your blog feels like having a conversation with you. Some of the best-ranked sports blogs are those that make an argument and defend that position. Some experts believe the reason for these sites' popularity is because news outlets already report objectively on players, teams, and league happenings. Sports fans can find that information anywhere, but a writer who takes a stance and argues for or against a subjective opinion is not something you'll see as much on ESPN. Much like taking a stance on an issue, another thing sports fans seek out in popular blogs is the under-reported dirty laundry of sports. Many people feel tantalized by a good scandal, and sports blogs that address athlete drug use or otherwise bad behavior, for example, give fans something to gossip about. For an excellent example of a sports blog that addresses the dirty laundry of sports stars, take a look at badjocks.com. It's grouped into topics like illegal activity, dumb behavior, and painful injuries. Each blog post needs a title, and how you phrase that title is important, as it could make or break someone's interest. If you can get a reader to read the first few lines, that reader will probably be interested. The title is how you pull people in. When choosing a title for a given blog post, consider: communicating some kind of benefit, like a title that offers to instruct or inform readers on something they may not know starting a controversy or passionate debate with your title using key words that will be relevant to sports fans using humor One of your goals as a blogger should be to reach as wide an audience as possible. You can do this by making your blog posts SEO-friendly. SEO, or search engine optimization, is the use of key words that will bring your posts closer to the top of an online search in a search engine like Google. Use key words early on in the title to ensure that your post shows up earlier in search results. So, for example, instead of titling your post "Ten Ways to Write a Great Sports Blog," try titling the post "Writing a Great Sports Blog: Ten Great Strategies".

Summary: Consider your audience. Keep your posts short. Give it personality. Take a stance. Show readers something the news won't. Pick a good title. Make your posts SEO-friendly.

If you have not already created an account, read our great article about how to join Twitter. Twitter offers two different identifiers for an account -- usernames and real names. Usernames are marked by the '@' symbol. Real names are the real name of the person. If the person you are trying to find has a common name, it will be more efficient to know their username. Usernames are unique to each user while real names are not. Enter the username or real name of the person you wish to follow via the Twitter search bar. The search bar should be located in the upper right corner of the window, to the left of your profile picture. Enter a name or username, then click the magnifying glass to search. You will see 6 different options for specifying search results. Top: This will include a combination of the most popular accounts, tweets, photos, and videos that include your search term. Live: This shows a livestream of tweets with your search term. For example, if you searched "Bill Clinton," it will show the most recent tweets, photos, or videos about Bill Clinton. Accounts: Shows a list of accounts with your search term as the real name. The most popular accounts will be ordered first. If you are searching for a celebrity, like Hugh Jackman, the first account will likely be the actual account. However, if you are searching for a friend named John Smith, you may need to browse through the accounts to find the right John Smith. This is when you should search using the @username, instead. Photos: Shows a list of photos related to your search term. Videos: Shows a list of videos related to your search term. More Options: Lets you narrow your search by location or from people you follow. If you know the person's username, this is the most efficient way to get to their Twitter page. Add "/username" without the quotes (following www.twitter.com) to be directed to the user's feed. For example, if you want to go to Bill Clinton's page, add his username (@billclinton) to twitter.com. The URL should look like this: https://twitter.com/billclinton. Celebrities do not always use their real name on Twitter. Occasionally, their real name will be already used. In this case, it may be best to search for them by their username. Look around the web for the correct username. The verified account will also have a checkmark next to it.
Summary: Navigate to https://twitter.com/ and sign-in to your account. Know the person's name or username. Use the search bar. Enter their username into the URL bar. Find a celebrity.