Once you write enough blog posts, and read far too many blog posts, you acquire an instinctive sense for the principle ingredients of an audience-pleasing offering. However, rather than itemize those ingredients, it's far easier to discuss this magical formula in terms of the instinctive emotional responses you hope to conjure in readers. The broadest of those responses are indignation, titillation, stimulation, and affirmation. Hitting any of the buttons is good. Ideally, you pack as many of those responses as possible into your content, even (and sometimes especially) if they're contradictory. Hitting the sweet spot in the center of all four virtually guarantees bloggy nirvana. In honor of indefatigable Silicon Valley guru Tony Robbins, after the jump, you may explore these four spheres and their subspecies by way of a soothingly hued Venn diagram.

The Path to Blog-Post Nirvana
Of course, as this post itself may exemplify, just knowing the target doesn't mean you hit it every time. Something of a work in progress, so feel free to weigh in.

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