The ABC’s of Blogging

March 3, 2008 by Nez
Filed under: Philosophy, Smarter View 

Even before I started this blog, I’ve been gleaning the various tips and tricks that abound in the Blogosphere, so much like a baleen whale, taking them in huge volumes, trying to filter out the best ones. Here’s what I have thus far — I’m calling it the ABC’s of Blogging. Enjoy.

  • Attract readers with compelling headlines
  • Books – read them to help improve your writing
  • Creative, insightful, or timely Content is what will keep your readers Coming back — Crappy Content will torpedo Clever titles
  • Dedicate time researching for and thinking about your posts, Do spend more than ten minutes writing
  • Edit, Edit, Edit — good writing comes from rewriting
  • Find your niche, if you want
  • Get into a habit of writing regularly
  • Have a conversational tone in your posts and comments to build a welcome Haven for your readers
  • Inspiration and Ideas for posts comes from everywhere — news, conversations, comments, so pay attention
  • Jot down ideas in a little notebook that you keep close by
  • Keep a regular schedule of posting to train your audience — consider an editorial calendar
  • Leverage the power of a blog in your business
  • Monetize your blog if you’d like, but Moderation is key — no one likes to be bombarded by ads
  • Never spam — follow the golden rule
  • Offer true value in your posts, Offer an e-book, Offer an RSS feed and Offer full feeds
  • Profanity should checked at the door — your blog is Public and little People will find it
  • Queen. Content can be Queen, too — blogging is equal opportunity, and many of my favorite bloggers are women
  • Reassess your blog Regularly to see if you’re on the Right track, or if you need to Re-adjust your direction
  • Stumbleupon and other Social networking tools can help people find you, but may not be necessary if you have good, clear content and some SEO
  • Try to keep your stat-gazing to a minimum — Too much attention means you’re wasting Time
  • Use humor if you’ve got the skillz
  • Visit other blogs you like and comment meaningfully on posts when you have something to say
  • Wordpress is your friend
  • “X-it” the online world on a regular basis — go out, take a walk, talk to real live people, have a life :-)
  • Zee truth once again is that Content is King!

UPDATE:

  • Yes, um…I deliberately left “Y” out to see if people actually read the entire thing, Yeah, that’s it, that’s my storY and I’m sticking with it!

Thank you so much for checking out my blog! If you like what you see, I'd like to invite you to subscribe to my RSS feed and maybe tell your friends about it. I'd really appreciate it!

Other posts you may enjoy:

  1. I’m a Versatilitist
  2. Blog Haiku #1
  3. PLR Articles, the Microstock of Written Content
  4. What is Critical Thinking?

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Comments

13 Comments on The ABC’s of Blogging

  1. James Chartrand - Men with Pens on Mon, 3rd Mar 2008 6:15 am

    2. Queen. That was too funny :) And true.

    James Chartrand – Men with Pens’s last blog post..13.2 Design Questions From Students

  2. Harrison McLeod on Mon, 3rd Mar 2008 10:00 am

    3. I have to agree with James and add this: Behind every good man, is a good woman.

    Harrison McLeod’s last blog post..13.2 Design Questions From Students

  3. Hunter Nuttall on Mon, 3rd Mar 2008 10:45 am

    4. Y is there no Y? Maybe “yelling at people you disagree with is not nice.”

    Hunter Nuttall’s last blog post..Lessons From The 2008 Congress Of Jugglers

  4. Robert de Bock on Mon, 3rd Mar 2008 11:26 am

    5. I like the fact that you mention Content is King/Queen. It’s true and that is what every SEO blog should mention!

    Robert de Bock’s last blog post..Choosing a good domain name

  5. Nez on Mon, 3rd Mar 2008 12:32 pm

    6. Looks like Hunter was the only one to read the whole thing! ;-)

    Hunter, I just plain missed it! But have since updated the post.

    And isn’t it interesting that 75% of my commentators like the “Q” entry? (And 75% sounds soooo much higher than, um…3)

    Thanks so much for coming by, everyone — have a great week!

  6. GiorgosK on Mon, 3rd Mar 2008 3:56 pm

    7. Sound advise NEZ,

    I personally find it difficult to keep with a posting schedule because I can’t do casual posts (not yet at least). It usually takes me some time to think of them, write down, revise and then publish.

    By the way I have written a more technical interpretation of why “content is king” on one of my recent posts you might want to check it out.

    GiorgosK’s last blog post..Content IS king after all !!

  7. Nez on Mon, 3rd Mar 2008 6:49 pm

    8. Hi Giorgos,

    Thanks for stopping by.

    I totally agree about it being hard to keep up with a posting schedule, especially if we don’t write for a living.

    When I first started NezSez, I posted almost everyday, but after a month, I had to slow down.

    Now I try for 3 a week, and if I can write ahead, I do.

  8. Barbara on Mon, 3rd Mar 2008 6:51 pm

    9. Ni Nez,

    You got it, Content is Queen. :)

    I read the whole post and didn’t even realize you forgot the “Y”. Oops!

    BTW: Thank you for the link, in this great list of resources.

    Barbara’s last blog post..Blogging Etiquette – The Unwritten Rules

  9. CatherineL on Tue, 4th Mar 2008 1:33 pm

    10. Hi Nez – I tried to comment yesterday, but it either timed out, or I got kicked in your spam folder.

    Now, I can’t even remember what I said! But, I can’t believe you think Wordpress is your friend. Wordpress was not my friend this morning when I couldn’t get my comments section to work.

    CatherineL’s last blog post..Social Networks v Content – Who Is King?

  10. Nez on Tue, 4th Mar 2008 5:31 pm

    11. @Barbara: You’re welcome.

    @Catherine: My apologies, Catherine. I think my webhost had to reboot the server at some point, as I also experienced momentary non-access to my site.

  11. IttyBiz » On Swearing, Business, And Blogging on Fri, 21st Mar 2008 10:57 am

    12. [...] article on Blogging Without A Blog, called Blog Loses Massive Traffic Due To Profanity. (Thanks, Nez, for the pointer to this post.) It showcases a fictionalized letter to a fictional blogger from a [...]

  12. Townley on Wed, 8th Apr 2009 5:09 pm

    13. Hi. I read a few of your other posts and wanted to know if you would be interested in exchanging blogroll links?

  13. Blog-Software on Thu, 15th Oct 2009 1:24 am

    14. I am a newbie to the world of website development and was quite lucky to stumble upon your site. Great information! I have a question though. Do you know any blogging software that I could use in developing my sites? I only know wordpress and blogger, but I guess there are also more sites out there?

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