Blog Community Project: Habits of Effective Bloggers
Darren Rowse has started a neat blogging community project that runs through this week. He's asking bloggers to write posts focused on "Habits of Effective Bloggers". Check out the list of submissions.
Here's my quick list:
Mrs. Manners might disagree, but don't call attention to your lack of blogging by being overly-apologetic. How many times have we written or read a blog entry that begins with..."Sorry I haven't blogged in a while..." and ends with "I promise to blog more often."? The truth of the matter is most people won't notice the lapse unless you're a serious blog-celeb; and in that case, blogging is probably your profession so you know to let your readers know that you'll be MIA for a while and will have a blog-sub filling in during your absence.
Brevity is good. Expanding on this one will dilute my point.
Be at least a little personally transparent. This isn't an issue with the 'all about me blogs', but blogs that are laser focused on a speicific topic still need to be engaging. Imagine hanging out with someone who only talks about 'X' and never shows any signs of a soul. It's entirely possible to focus on a topic while being, well, human. If you'd rather pass on the humanization element, perhaps ditch the blog and post a website instead.
One of the best lists of effective blogging habits is Sun's blogging policy...trust me, it doesn't read anything like a stereo-typical policy. It's great blogging advice.
Here's my quick list:
Mrs. Manners might disagree, but don't call attention to your lack of blogging by being overly-apologetic. How many times have we written or read a blog entry that begins with..."Sorry I haven't blogged in a while..." and ends with "I promise to blog more often."? The truth of the matter is most people won't notice the lapse unless you're a serious blog-celeb; and in that case, blogging is probably your profession so you know to let your readers know that you'll be MIA for a while and will have a blog-sub filling in during your absence.
Brevity is good. Expanding on this one will dilute my point.
Be at least a little personally transparent. This isn't an issue with the 'all about me blogs', but blogs that are laser focused on a speicific topic still need to be engaging. Imagine hanging out with someone who only talks about 'X' and never shows any signs of a soul. It's entirely possible to focus on a topic while being, well, human. If you'd rather pass on the humanization element, perhaps ditch the blog and post a website instead.
One of the best lists of effective blogging habits is Sun's blogging policy...trust me, it doesn't read anything like a stereo-typical policy. It's great blogging advice.
Posted by Blogging Blog on May 30, 2006 at 08:03 AM MDT #