12 STEPS TO BETTER BLOGGING - UPDATED 5-24-05

PROLOGUE:

As I mentioned a few days ago, Earl of Brave New World jumped into the blogosphere recently, naming me as one of his inspirations for doing so. Since I never actually TOLD him he should start blogging, that makes me a blog idol instead of his blogfather.

However, in the comments to that post, I joshed him that I'd consider adopting him as a blogson if he finished a 12-step program to overcome a particular bad blogging habit that I'd caught him indulging in (wouldn't want any of my blogkids sucking, ya know). Earl asked what that 12-step program would be, and it got me thinking about certain habits and techniques of posting that I do and don't like. What follows are my thoughts on this topic.

12 STEPS TO BETTER BLOGGING

After blogging for over 13 months, and with nearly 3000 entries under my belt, I've come to realize that's there aren't any absolutely right or wrong ways to post an entry. Given the differing personalities of various bloggers and, more importantly, the constraints of time, pretty much anything goes.

However, assuming that your goal is to be both read and well-liked by your target audience, I've found that certain techniques work better than others in reaching those goals. Most of these fall into the category of "courtesies", so they can be omitted without serious damage to your reputation if you're in a hurry or just feeling a little lazy that day. Doing them consistently, however, does pay dividends in reader loyalty, so take that into consideration.

1) Link to cited facts: For example, if you're writing about something said during a speech given at the Democratic Convention, find a link to the full text of the speech, or at least a news story containing the quote. Yes, your readers know how to use Google, but they'll enjoy your opinion more if they know exactly what you're talking about.

2) Don't link a New York Times story: Not if you can help it, anyway. They, and certain other large newspapers, require free - and very annoying - registration to view their articles. If you MUST link the Times, consider including a link to BugMeNot, so you readers can get a functional username & password without registering. Or, even better, include a working BugMeNot username and password in your post.

3) When linking a blog post, include the site name and the blogger's name: Although the main purpose of linking someone else's post is to provide entertainment for your readers, you should also consider that you have an opportunity here to help build name recognition for your link's target. Although any link is a good link, using "Harvey of Bad Example" instead of just "Harvey" does a better job of advertising, which is always greatly appreciated.

4) Keep blockquotes short: Readers come to your site to read what YOU wrote, not somebody else's stuff. Keep the foreign writing to the minimum necessary to support your point, summarize the rest in your own words, and give a link to the rest of the piece. If you MUST quote extensively to provide proper context, highlight the most relevant passage.

5) Provide links for inside jokes: The blogosphere is growing constantly, and new readers are finding your site every day. They might not know, for example, why Glenn Reynolds is called "the puppy blender". Give them a link so they can figure out what's going on.

6) Make your site searchable: This is sort of a corrolary to the last point. If someone else wants to put an explanatory link to an inside joke involving one of your posts, make it easy for them to find it. Most blogging software contains a native search function. If you're on Blogspot, you can get code for a site search box FREE from Google. If you find that Google's box is too big for your sidebar, see this post on how to give it a smaller footprint.

7) Make your links drive traffic: One of the best links you can give (or get) is one that actually makes the reader click through to the targeted post. My favorite technique works best on list-type entries, but it can be adapted to other posts, too:

a) state your enthusiasm for the post
b) quote your favorite part
c) close with a teasing reference to another part

Other good techniques are stating that a "drink alert is in effect" (i.e. it's so funny that the reader will laugh hard enough to make whatever beverage he's drinking come out his nose) or simply the words "go read the whole thing."

CAUTION: Don't use these words unless they're true. Crying wolf to pimp your friends will adversely affect your reputation. Don't squander your readers' trust.

8) Don't post that blogging will be light or non-existant: It's a waste of time. Your readers will figure out that you're not posting when they come by and see you haven't updated since their last visit. They'll merely shrug and figure you took a day off. Posting about it just tells people not to visit your site, which is the LAST impression you ever want to give.

There are two exceptions to this. First, if you're going to be gone for more than 48 hours and you don't want your readers to worry about you, then go ahead and say something. Second, if you need a crappy entry for the Bonfire of the Vanities, "light blogging ahead" posts are perfect.

9) If you enter a link-fest, link the fest AND another person's entry: This is especially important if you're a regular participant. Giving a courtesy link to the host of a link-fest is just good manners. Linking another participant is good advertising for the fest, since it gives proof that your readers will actually find good material there. Anything you do to promote a link-fest will encourage future readership of the fest, and, consequently, your entries in it.

10) "If you're going to shoot... SHOOT! Don't talk!": Which is my way of saying don't waste precious blogging time telling your readers what you'll be blogging about later. Spend the time writing about the topic instead. Make it part one of a series if you have to, but get something out. Your readers are looking for substantive writing, and "coming soon" posts have none.

As always, however, "I needed a Bonfire entry" is a legitimate excuse.

11) One link per entry: This one is probably just a personal issue, but, especially when I was just starting, I liked to stop by and thank people for linking to me. But sometimes when I hit the original post, I was just one of several links, and I felt... well... not special, I guess. And a little embarrassed about leaving a comment, especially if my link was just a throwaway line, and not related to the main bulk of the post. Since then, my philosophy has become, "if it's good enough to link, it's good enough to deserve its own post."

Now let me be perfectly clear. I do NOT intend by this statement to denigrate or disparge the fine blogging tradition of the link-fest. If you've got a dozen good posts you want to give kudos to, and you're short on time, there's NOTHING wrong with doing a list of links with short intros.

But if it's only 2 or 3 links, consider breaking them up into separate posts as an extra bit of warm fuzzy to the target.

12) No lists: There's nothing more eye-glazingly, mind-bogglingly dull than a numbered list of ostensibly connected thoughts. My GOD, people! Can't you handle the simple task of connecting your paragraphs together? It's SO agonizingly unoriginal. Letterman has been whacking the crap out of that rotting, maggot-infested equine corpse for about the last 100 years or so. Why don't you just tell your readers to go f*** themselves in so many words, instead? It's practically the same thing, and...

DOH!

Nevermind ;-)

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]