There is an interesting discussion over at LinkedinBloggers about the top three things you recommend a blogger. I got good recommendations and it made me think about what is important for me in a blog.
Jason Alba from JibberJobber started out with this list:
- keeping it clean – don’t make the readers search for your content, one of the best things that happened to me was when Google kicked me off of their advertising program (dang click-frauder)
- high quality posts, or they won’t come back
- lots of links out to pertinent blogs, to get on their radar
- offline or real networking, where in addition to linking to another blogger you try and develop a relationship with him/her
- writing just the right length – and if appropriate, ask questions to encourage comments
- transparency and personality – Penelope Trunk is a master of this, even though she gets slammed a lot she has a loyal following
- controversy is … good for eyeballs, but is it on-brand? Most of my posts aren’t controversial… some have been, but don’t slam, flame, etc.
Rick Calvert from Blog World Expo Blog added these:
- Unless you are a super blogger with tons of comments send a thank you email to every new commenter if they agree with you or not. Especially the trolls. Kill em with kindness and you will win new fans and readers.
- email other bloggers when they post something you really like. People like to be recognized for their efforts. Even A list bloggers.
- email other bloggers when you post something really good that you think they might be interested in. Don’t spam them every time you post. We all post something every once in a while that we think is particularly good. When you do, promote yourself politely and people will link to you, particularly if you have linked to them in the past.
My own take echoes some of the ones above:
- Keeping it clean is one of my key tips. I always assume that the text is the main issue, everything else is just complimentary. Do not use bigger images than needed (like huge RSS-buttons), do not list every RSS-service you can think of, do you really benefit from ads.
- Think about what shows up on the screen, before scrolling. Put the most important information at the top of your side menu.
- Have a layout that is nice to the reader, it shall be easy on the eyes! I have seen blogs with four columns with text in just one narrow column that becomes a mile long.
- Quality text is needed and do not write too short posts (I need to work on that).
- Try to focus on a limited number of topics or the blog gets too fussy.
- Be generous and link to other blogs, guiding visitors to related sites create networks.
- Personality is good but do not let that get in the way of creating things worth reading, do share knowledge and ideas.
I know, my list has more than three tips but they are all important to me.
12 Comments
I’ve only been blogging since January, but this was a very helpful post. Thank you.
I just started blogging this week! Your post was very helpful, and I am sure I will reference your blog often. Thank you.
I want to thank you for some great info. I’m an aspiring writer and currently undemployed from many years as a Broadcast Journalist. I started my blog two weeks ago as a means to stay sane as I continue to pound the cyber pavement. Blogging, I’m learning, is kind of like being a writer without a country. That made sense when I was typing it…
Anyway, I appreciate your solid advice.
lauriekendrick.wordpress.com
Note on #3: “email other bloggers when you post something really good that you think they might be interested in.”
As someone who regularly receives emails from other bloggers I’ll tell you the keyword missing from this sentence is “personalized.”
Don’t bother other bloggers with non-personalized pitches of any kind. It’s tacky. Just like if you walk up to some stranger and blurt out: “hey, check out what I have going on over here.”
They’ll probably raise an eyebrow or two.
Tell us why we should be interested in what you have written, what it has to do with our readers and to which post/posts it is relevant that we’ve already written. Doing this says you did the homework.
If you fail to do that and especially if you look like you are mass mailing something, you’ll either get ignored or sent a reply asking you not to do that ever again.
Human beings like personalized messages. We do not like UNpersonalized messages.
Thanks for the advice !
Very nice post. Good advice for even veterans.
-Jack.
Feel good about your content. Dont post because you feel like your slacking. Figure out what gets your creative juices flowing and post when in tune.
I haven’t been blogging all that long, but I found your post very informative and interesting…I’ll definitely be linking to this post, as well as your blog…Thanks for the tips!
I’ve been blogging for just over a year, and while I don’t tend to make blogging advice posts (my blog is all about my cartoons), I think those that do are really providing a service to everyone who blogs.
Good post.
Nice tips! Even I gotta find the cure of this ’short-post’ disease. I avoid writing long posts and just share what I think my readers may find useful.
I also need to care about the post timings. Now a days, I’m getting a bit busy with other projects.
- Avi
Great tips! Thanks for compiling them. Very helpful for my research.
MK
Nice job. I started blogging 2 months ago and now my journalism degree doesn’t seem so worthless any more!
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