I saw this over at Aspen’s blog and I just HAD to share it.
Blogging
July 28, 2008 at 11:49 am (Misc)
Tags: Blogging
So, some people have asked me for blogging tips. Several people I know have started blogging, or want to, which I think can be a good thing. Blogs can be fun and informative and even impacting, sometimes. But, they can also be used for a whole lot of nasty stuff as well. Here are a few tips I have if you’re just starting out. Some of these tips are just my personal opinion, and some are pretty tried and true, some I found when I started blogging. I wanted to make sure I was following the rules and I also wanted my blog to be successful.
Tip #1 Decide what the purpose of your blog is going to be. Whether it’s to share your life with family and friends, create discussion about certain topics, educate people about a particular subject, etc. Whether you don’t care about readers or hope that you’ll retain a large amount of regular readers. It will be extremely helpful if you and your readers know what your blog is all about so that you and they can know what to expect.
Tip #2 Don’t start a blog unless you’re serious about continuing on with it for however long you’re willing to commit. Nothing’s more frustrating that getting involved in a good blog (as a reader), only to have the author stop posting for no good reason.
Tip #3 Pick a blog title that is descriptive. It can be funny, or cute or matter-of-fact…just make sure that it describes what your blog is about. I check out blogs every now and then just because I see an interesting blog title, and it can be frustrating when the blog seemingly has nothing to do with it’s witty title. I have three blogs that I update regularly, and all three have titles that are descriptive to a certain extent. Again, it will help your readers to know what to expect.
Tip #4 Blog about what you’re passionate about. I’m passionate about the things/people I blog about here on A Place of My Own, which makes it easy to write often, and gives my readers the feeling that I mean what I say (and say what I mean). I believe, that blogging is both at it’s best and worst when people are compassionately honest. The key is speaking the truth in love. You can lose a lot of readers because your writing is not always butterflies and cotton candy, which is a bummer, but a reality. But, you can gain a ton of readers for the same reason, which is very cool.
Tip #5 If you’re wanting people (other than family and friends) to read your blog on a consistent basis, you’ll need to commit to posting, at least, a few times per week. I’ve discovered, as an author and reader, people quickly lose interest if you don’t post every 3-5 days. And, obviously, the more you post about the stuff your passionate about, the more people want to read.
Tip #6 Don’t post just to get comments and don’t comment about people not leaving comments. Apparently, this is a BIG no-no. I have looked in several different places on blogging etiquette and this seems to be the number one turn-off for blogs. If what you post touches someone, they will comment. If they don’t comment, maybe the subject doesn’t warrant a comment, or they are not comfortable leaving a comment.
Tip #7 If you want to build your readership, invest yourself into reading and commenting on other blogs that are similar to yours. Blogging is a great way to connect with other people like yourself, and the best way to do that is to seriously become interested in other people.
Tip #8 Link like there’s no tomorrow. Anytime you mention something that your average blog reader may not be familiar with, link to a story/article/website where they can learn more. Anytime you mention a specific movie, person, website, book, etc., link it so your readers can have more to look at. Most people read, to a certain extent, to learn something new, so give them as much info as possible without having to spell everything out by writing it yourself. Linking makes it easy for you and your readers to get the most out of your blog. Just make sure your links are trustworthy.
Tip #9 I haven’t had a problem with bloggers coming to my blog and leaving nasty comments if they disagree with what I have said, but that can often-times happen. Unless you want to deal with idiot comments from crazy people (and by “crazy”, I mean people who comment only to be incredibly nasty/cruel), either limit comments to only people who have blogger accounts or enable comment moderation.
Tip #10 Keep the clutter to a minimum and the organization to a maximum. There’s nothing worse, IMO, than a blog that is cluttered with an unorganized mess of pictures, videos, links, music playlists, etc. It’s not bad to have all of those things, just try to present them in an organized way. Aesthetics go a long way in making people feel welcome and comfortable when reading your blog.
Tip #11 Label everything! Whether you have a minimum number of tags and categories, or a whole lot like me, label every one of your posts as well as anything you have listed on your sidebar(s). This will not only make it much easier for you to find something you wrote five months ago, it will also give your readers more accessibility to everything your blog has to offer.
Tip #12 Write in short paragraphs like a normal person. If you want people to enjoy reading your blog, please, break your posts into smaller paragraphs. It just makes it easier to read. My brain just cannot concentrate long enough to make it very far through on a 500 word paragraph. End of story.
Tip #13 Unless you want to cause early blindness among your readers, stay away from the following in your posts:
- White font on black background (or anything similar).
- Yellow font on white background (or anything similar).
- Red font on any background for more than a few words.
- Bright, Neon colors, especially pink and yellow.
- Multiple colors of fonts in one post.
Seriously. Just trust me. Please.
> Also stay away from using the following words (at least, excessively):
- Random
- Musings
- Ponderings
Do a google blog search for any of these words sometime…it’s not that they’re bad words, it’s just that everyone and their great uncle uses them on their blog too. Unless you like getting lost in the crowd, or you really are random, or you have some seriously deep and/or funny musings and ponderings, just avoid using them. (and by “seriously”, I don’t mean that your mom or kid brother tells you how random you are…ever watch the American Idol auditions?)
Anyway, there are my slightly sarcastic, but completely honest tips on blogging. Take ‘em or leave ‘em. Don’t be offended if your blog doesn’t follow all of my tips, unless you think I’m really that important, which you shouldn’t, unless that also means you’re going to include me in your will, which you really shouldn’t do either.
Unless I’m related to you. 
Robin
