Blog Tips Archives
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19 December, 2004 11:23 AM
One of the biggest questions I get asked by new readers of this blog is - 'what is a blog and how do I read it?' Now I'll just send them over to Understanding and Reading a Blog by John C. Dvorak.
'With five million or more bloggers out there and even more readers it is assumed that everyone knows how to read a blog, or how they work. From my blogging experience I can say that this is definitely not true and hopefully this short article will describe the process for newcomers. This article is for the readers of blogs, not the writers.
First of all there are two categories of blogs. One is the traditional web-log where a web surfer shares his online discoveries. And the second is the web diary where person shares his or her thoughts of the day. Most blogs of either style often have elements of the other style once in a while. A diarist will often discuss a link while traditional web-loggers will commonly ramble on about something that happened to them that day. While the discussion here applies to both types of blogs, it focuses mainly on the web-log style....'
Read more at Understanding and Reading a Blog
1 October, 2004 2:28 PM
Update: I have recently moved all my blog tips category to a new blog dedicated to blogging atProBlogger.
Thanks to Rod, Tim, Randy, Josue and Fabian who submitted their top blog tips a couple of posts ago. I've now written my mini piece and have used most of what you're written (I had a word limit) which was great stuff and similar to what I was thinking. I've put what I submitted below:
Blog Tips for Beginners
- Keep it simple. Start with a free and easy to use blogging tool like Blogger. Pick a simple design and just start writing. You can tweak the design and make it look good later.
- Write for yourself. It takes time for others to find and read your blog so use it as a space to think out loud about the things that interest you. Pick topics that you are passionate about and you'll find people with similar interests will connect with you.
- Interact with your readers. Make sure your blog has a commenting feature - when someone leaves a comment email them or leave a reply comment. People will come back if you take the time to acknowledge and interact with them.
- Set boundaries and think about the purpose of your blog. Remember what you are writing is in a public domain so you might want to refrain from talking about your personal life - people WILL find it. Decide up front about what you will and won't write about and stick to it.
- Read other blogs and link to those that interest you. One of the best things about blogging is how it connects people thinking through similar issues. Link to them, add your own ideas, leave comments on their blog - blogging can bring about rich and wonderful conversations and lead to lasting friendships.
- Be patient, post regularly and have fun. It can take a long time to build up a readership. In the mean time just enjoy the writing process. Make it a daily exercise (it takes some discipline) and don't give up if it seems no-one is reading - just be yourself and have fun.
20 September, 2004 10:52 AM
Scobleizer has a good post on how to get your blog discovered. Most of it is the kind I've stuff I've already got in the
Blog tips section but this one was a tad different:
The rest of this post has been relocated to Pro Blogger - How to Get your Blog Discovered.
9 September, 2004 9:20 AM
I just found this fascinating article that has been written about some research into where web page readers eyes go when reading online news sources. I need to digest it a little more yet - however there are some interesting findings in the research that I'm sure would apply to us as bloggers as we consider the layout of our blogs. Here are a couple of snippets from the article.
The remainder of this post has been relocated to Where do your Blog Readers Look?.
31 August, 2004 2:50 PM
A few people have emailed and asked for more information about the Olympic Blog we've run. Phil asked - "what lessons did you learn about running a successful blog through the process." I thought it might make an interesting Blog Tip post.
The remainder of this post has been relocated to Pro Blogger - Successful Blogging - Lessons Learned from an Olympic Experiment.
27 August, 2004 4:39 PM
Simon World has a good post titled Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask. Its got some great advice on blogging for anyone starting out....or continuing in blogging.
Here is a couple of his tips:
The remainder of this post has been moved to Pro Blogger - Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask about Blogging.
2 August, 2004 8:30 AM
Jonny Baker has an Idiots Guide to Starting a Blog which is well worth the read if you're thinking of starting one but don't know how. I'm going to add it to my Blog Tips Central Register....
The remainder of this post has been moved to Pro Blogger - How to Start a Blog.
21 June, 2004 12:44 PM
There has been a lot of renewed interest over the past week in my Blog Tips series. Whilst I'm away this week I invite you to leave your own 'blog tip' in comments below so that we might all learn a thing or two together about this strange thing we call 'blogging'.
14 June, 2004 3:58 PM
There are many factors that impact the level of revenue generated from a blog using the Google Adsense program. Books have been written explaining expert strategies for Adsense - However for the purposes of this series we've boiled it all down into four elements that we believe impact your Adsense earning capacity the most. Speaking in general terms here is a simple equation that illustrates how the factors each contribute to Adsense Revenue.
The remainder of this article on Adsense has been moved to Pro Blogger - Adsense Tips for Bloggers 3 - An Equation for Success.
10 June, 2004 11:47 AM
Is your blog suitable for Adsense? - Before you rush into signing up for Adsense expecting it to earn you a million dollars it is worth asking the question of whether Adsense is the right revenue strategy for your blog. By no means is it the only option - you might like to check out this tip on other ways of making money from blogging.
The remainder of this post has been moved to Pro Blogger - Adsense Tips for Bloggers 2 - Is Your Blog Suitable for Adsense?
10 June, 2004 11:32 AM
How do you make money from the Google Adsense Program?
I have been asked this question so many times in the past few weeks that I thought I should write something on the topic. It seems increasingly bloggers want to try to cover their hosting and ISP costs with some revenue from their blog - and perhaps even make a few dollars on the side. Many are turning to Google's Adsense program....
The remainder of this post has been moved to Pro Blogger - Adsense Tips for Bloggers.
3 June, 2004 5:40 PM
What is your experience with Blog Comments? Do you use them? How do they enhance or hinder your blogging experience? How do you suggest bloggers starting out approach the issue?...
The remainder of this blog tip has been relocated to Pro Blogger - Getting Comments.
2 May, 2004 9:59 AM
François from padawan.info has just written a great Weblog Primer.
The remainder of this post has been moved to Pro Blogger - Weblog Primer.
15 April, 2004 1:36 PM
This week's Blogger Idol topic was one dear to my heart - Blog Tips. Some of the tips there are excellent (its never too late to submit yours). One in particular has been valuable to me as a Moveable Type user. In fact just one of his tips might have doubled the number of visitors of my blog today. Nicholas submitted Optimizing your MovableType blog for Google....
The remainder of this blog tip has been moved to Pro Blogger - Moveable Type - Individual Archives Titles.
13 April, 2004 12:38 PM
One of the most important decisions you can make when it comes to designing your website is to think about your colour scheme. One of the more useful articles I've read on this topic is
Choosing Colour for your Website....
The remainder of this blog tips on choosing colors for your blog has been moved to ,a href="http://www.livingroom.org.au/problogger/archives/blog_design_choosing_colours.php">Pro Blogger - Blog Design - Choosing Colours.
13 April, 2004 12:22 PM
Stage 5 - Fear to Commitment
Depending upon the gravity of the topic you’re talking about, fear can play a part in asking people to take some action to bring about lasting change. Real and sustained change can be a scary thing for many people....
The remainder of this post has been moved to Pro Blogger - Blogging for Change (6) - Fear to Commitment.
11 April, 2004 11:30 AM
Stage 4 - Procrastination to Desire
You have gotten the attention of your readers, they are interested in what you are blogging about, they even see how it relates to them and how they can respond to the it, you are doing great! But now comes the challenge that stops many of us from responding to things that we ‘should’ do….we procrastinate! We say, ‘well yes, that’s something that I should do… one day'....
The remainder of this post has been moved to Pro Blogger - Blogging for Change (5) - Procrastination to Desire.
9 April, 2004 9:24 AM
Stage 3 - Scepticism to Conviction
Having got the attention and peaked the interest of your reader it is now time to help them come to of place of conviction. Scepticism might have set in by now and your reader might be thinking ‘this is interesting – but it doesn’t really apply to me’. This is where you need to
convince them that what you are writing is personally relevant for them and that they need to take some action....
The remainder of this post on blogging for change has been moved to Pro Blogger - Blogging for Change (4) - Scepticism to Conviction.
8 April, 2004 2:03 PM
Stage 2 - Indifference to Interest
Your witty, controversial, intriguing title and first sentence has grabbed the attention of your reader. They have made a mini commitment to you and are considering reading past the first paragraph. You’ve won the first battle of taking them from 'Rejection to Attention' but their filtering system is still on and your second task is to take them from 'Indifference to Interest'....
The remainder of this post has been moved to Pro Blogger - Blogging for Change (3) - Indifference to Interest.
8 April, 2004 1:33 PM
Stage 1 - Rejection to Attention
The first task of the blogger wanting to have a lasting influence on readers is to get their attention.
In today’s world the average person is bombarded with thousands of competing messages daily. As a result most people have pretty good internal filtering systems (or crap detectors) to help sift out the junk and find the worthwhile. In a sense most of your potential readers will be in some state of rejection to your blog whether consciously or subconsciously....
The remainder of this article has been moved to Pro Blogger - Blogging for Change (2) - Rejection to Attention
