Blogging: The Do’s, Don’ts, and Didn’t Ya Think About Blog Content and the Art of Writing a Blog.

Just in case you couldn’t tell from the title, I’m talking about blogs and blogging today… lol

Sometimes I suffer from the Bloggin’ Blues where I just don’t want to do anything, I don’t think anyone is reading, I want to whine and feel sorry for myself, BUT then I read something that makes me realize I may actually be on the right track.

Let’s chat about blogging…

A few weeks ago I tripped upon this article about blogging in the Writer’s Digest newsletter. Well… I had to stop and take a look. The title is The 12 Do’s and Don’ts of Blogging.

Writing a blog can be fun, but if you don’t know the dos and don’ts of how to write a blog, you’ll never attract a bigger audience. Here are 12 essential tips”.

Author Brian A. Klems; March 15, 2012

As a writer and blogger I’m always interested in creating a better product and learning what I can do differently.

You can go read the article. It’s got great points. I’ll give you the gist but I want to concentrate on a couple that really stand out for me.

According to Klems:

The Six Do’s for a successful blog are:

1. Focus
2. Be yourself
3. Use links
4. Use Pix
5. Respond to comments
6. Post your blog to social media.

The Six Don’ts are:

1. set unrealistic goals
2. limit your word count
3. make grammar errors
4. be negative
5. use long paragraphs
6. don’t avoid trying new things

In article each of these are broken down and discussed. The author shares some great information and I’d highly suggest you read it.

I’ve done a lot of reading about blogs and these are the ones that really stood out to me. First off, I need to work on doing more links and shares.

Links

This is about doing the links to other blogs or even back to your own posts.

One thing about stats on a blog are the “clicks” count. If that’s important to you then make sure you link more and encourage clicks. For me, it’s more about getting the information out there.

So, for example, when I did a post about Blindside Breakups, I linked it back to other posts I did that were related: like a discussion about gaslighting, and the Expectation of Casual Sex.

For me, using these links allowed me to direct my reader to pertinent material that was my own.

The thing is that I often forget about other people’s stuff. I seriously need to do more of that.

Sharing and Ping Backs

To share other peoples blogs that resonate with me on some level is something I want to start doing. WordPress allows you to share on Twitter, Facebook, other social media and of course, on your own web page.

This not only shares what I see as good material and/or information, but also showcases the author to my blog followers. To me this is the ultimate support in being able to share my audience with a colleague who has something worth saying.

The other part of this is having another blogger offer a link back to my blog (which notifies me via a pingback on WordPress). I have this enabled so I know if my site/post has been linked and I get a request to allow.

I’ll admit, it doesn’t happen as often as I’d like, but with that being said, I don’t do too many links myself. I’m going to make a note to change that.

So watch out–in the next week or two I’m going to get more into the habit of link backs and sharing.

The one thing that stood out to me on the DON’T LIST is:

Long paragraphs.

OMG!! I swear I’ve said this ten million times….break up your paragraphs. My attention span (not to mention patience) is shorter than short.

I hate to say it, but I’ve gone into sites where the title has really interested me, only to back out and not read the first sentence.

Why? Huge, squishy paragraphs that never frikken end.

Ugh…my brain can’t handle that.

Plllllleeeeeaaasssse…..break them up like I’ve done here.

The reader needs to be able to scan and get the gist. I know, I know… some will read and hang on every word and even I sometimes go back and read the post again so long as it doesn’t scare me away the first time.

The other DON’T that caught my attention was about goal setting.

Be Realistic.

When I started, I blogged once a week and wondered where all the readers were–I seriously thought they’d be flocking to read my wisdom and wit.

This wasn’t very realistic in that I wasn’t blogging enough. I learned and adjusted my goals.

I have two blogs on the same site: Auntie Says… Advice and opinion for All and My Twisted Writer Brain which is All things Writing.

They’re very different, so I decided to blog twice a week per blog, and then do a fifth entry on the weekend that was more relaxed and informal. It works for me.

Many writers don’t understand how difficult blogging actually is. It’s time consuming and takes a lot of energy.

I’m sure I make grammatical (oops–one of the Don’ts), spelling mistakes, and typos but that’s okay. I’m human and sometimes I make mistakes. Oh man, oh man…I hate commas…a personal issue that probably goes back to grade three. Grrr….

Give yourself a break. Get past the need for perfection, relax, and enjoy the process.

We all have Do’s and Don’ts in our work and it’s good to be aware of them, but don’t let them change who you are. Sometimes it’s just the process of learning and moving forward in your craft that will bring success in its own right.

Thank you for visiting my blog and reading my post. I hope you enjoyed it. Please feel free to like, comment, and share. You can follow below. Thanks again.