Today’s question is about blogging.
I just started a blog and I want to make sure that it’s good. How do I make sure that my blog is at least a quarter as awesome* as yours? — New Guy
*Question may or may not have been edited for content
Excellent question, NG! The fact that you want to make your blog to be better is a fantastic start. It shows that you are thinking about your readers, and that’s something that quite a few people never do. I wouldn’t consider myself to be an expert on blogging (if I was, there would be a lot more people reading this right now). I didn’t even stay at a cut-rate motel last night. I do, however, waste a lot of time on the internet. These are a few of the things that I’ve learned.
Something about your blog has to be interesting. You’d think that this goes without saying… but you’d be thinking wrong. There are an awful lot of blogs out there that describe, in boring detail, what the writer ate for breakfast that morning (I scheduled this post in advance, so if your blog post this morning was about breakfast, rest assured that this is not a passive aggressive jab at you in particular). Now, there are some writers who can lovingly describe breakfast in ways that make me want to make myself a snack whilst clicking the subscribe button on their blog. Most people lack this ability. When in doubt, write about something compelling. Ask yourself, “If I was me, would I want to read this?” Don’t lie to yourself. If the answer is no, pick something else to write about.
I will gladly muddle through bad writing if the blog topic is something new and different. I will happily read about life’s mundanities if the author is a talented writer. I refuse to read a blog about a boring subject that has nothing about it that sets it apart. Life’s too short. I’d rather look at cat pictures.
Don’t sweat the details. If your aim is to capture every moment of every day so that future generations will have an accurate timetable of your life, don’t write a blog. At the very least, don’t expect anyone to read it. Most people don’t care about the details, unless there’s something compelling about them. In five years, you probably won’t care about the details. Heck, you probably won’t care about the details in five weeks. Think of a blog post like a story. You want to describe what happened, but you don’t want to lose sight of the plot. So tell us that the path that the princess took through the forest was dark and covered with branches. Don’t tell us that she took a right at the babbling brook, a left at the big rock pile and that she had to stop 7 times to go to the bathroom. Unless there are a few good jokes in there somewhere.
Know your audience. Ask yourself these questions before you start writing. “What is my focus? Who are my core readers?” My focus is fuzzy and my core readers are all related to me. This is why I put so many jokes in parentheses and why I don’t talk about my black tar heroin “problem.”
(Or my my crippling addiction to world domination)
In all seriousness, your blog should have a focus. Even if that focus is just “things that happen to me in my everyday life.” Once you’ve figured out that focus, try not to stray too far. If you normally blog about what it’s like to be a parent, you’re going to scare off your core readers when you start musing about your days as a dominatrix. Likewise, a tech blogger who suddenly starts posting cupcake recipes is probably going to see a decline in core readership.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t ever talk about things that deviate from a narrow focus. It’s more like you should figure out what works for you and then (mostly) stick with it. There has to be something that ties your blog entries together or people are going to start thinking that you have multiple personality disorder.
(Although, come to think of it, a blog written by someone with multiple personality disorder would be fascinating).
When in doubt, post some pictures. I’m told that people like pictures.
Especially if there are cute kids in them.
Or adorable animals.
Don’t worry about getting it all down. I used to think “Oh man, I really need to write up a blog entry about this.” And then I wouldn’t have time to write it. And then something else would come along that I wanted to write about. But I wouldn’t have time to write about both. And then something else would happen. And I would realize that I had about 17 different entries that I could write and no way to pick just one. And then stuff would continue to pile up and I’d become paralyzed. This is how you go a month without writing anything. You don’t even know where to start. Now, I write when I have time. And, if there’s something interesting that I don’t blog about, I don’t sweat it. Well, I don’t sweat it too much. If it was really interesting, I can always go back and write something about it later.
When in doubt, write something. Writing is like anything else. It takes practice. You don’t become a better writer by sitting around wishing that your blog was more entertaining. You become a better writer by putting some words out there, looking to see what worked and paying attention to people’s feedback. Practice makes perfect. This blog ain’t perfect (far from it), but I think it’s better than it was when I first got started.
Don’t forget your readers! If you’re doing your job, they want to read your blog. You like your readers, you want them to be happy. Right? Readers who don’t see content are readers who aren’t going to stick around. The best way to get people to read your blog is to give them something to read.
If you want comments, you need to leave comments. At this point, I have adopted a (somewhat) zen-like attitude towards comments. If I get comments, that’s nice. If I don’t get comments, I just assume that it’s because everyone agrees with me (it’s nice to live in my own little bubble). I’m not, however, an idiot (what ever you’re thinking right now, you just go ahead and keep it to yourself). There is a pretty direct correlation between the number of comments that I leave on other people’s blogs and the number of comments that I get on my own. If you’re a well-established and well-known blogger like Amalah or Dooce, you can sit back and let the comments flow in. People are going to keep reading your blog and they don’t expect you to read anything of theirs. The rest of us? Well, we need to let the world know about our existence. And one of the best ways to do this is to comment on other blogs.
Plus, it’s the nice thing to do. I like it when people leave comments here (ok, I’m not really all that zen). I can’t leave myself a million comments (well, I could, but it would just feel silly). I can, however, make other bloggers happy by leaving them a little comment love. I read an awful lot of blogs. I don’t always leave a comment, but I try my best to. Even if it’s just to let them know that someone is reading. Be the change you want to see in the world. If you’d like to encourage more people to leave comments, you need to leave some of your own.
I could write about ten entries about blogging, but this seems like a good start. There’s a tip – always leave your readers wanting more!
I’ve been told that a great way to encourage comments is to ask your readers questions. This hasn’t been the case for me, but maybe I’m just not asking the right questions. Speaking of which…
Do you blog? Do you have questions about blogging? Do you have any blogging tips of your own?
I would also recommend mentioning Snuggies and The Hoff at least once per post.
Personally, I’d prefer pictures of Taylor Kitsch or Shemar Moore over adorable animals.
These are great suggestions. Blogging/writing really does take practice! I haven’t had this kind of practice since graduation. 🙂
That goes without saying!
I think I’d be ok with that.
*drools*
Thanks! I was comp sci, so I don’t know if I got enough practice in college. :p