I am the author of three blogs, and I by no means claim to be an expert, but I think I know a few little things about it. I’ve put together a bit of a list of some things that I like to do in my blogs that I think work.
1. I like to keep a certain amount of my life private. A mistake I’ve made, which I’m sure many others have as well, is that I’ve made really personal blogs. I have talked about people and situations and really just bitched my heart out and cried online and all sorts of terrible things. So my resolve with all of my blogs now is to remain a little distant- not to name other people, and not to talk about what I did that day. As you may have noticed, my personal blog is about things that INTEREST me, not necessarily things that I’ve done.
If you want to talk about a certain someone you might consider using a fake name, or just going lightly on what you say.
With all of that, in Teaching Talia you will still hear me talk about kids and teacher aides and teachers and lecturers… I just make sure that what I say is professional, and that I wouldn’t mind them reading it.
2. I reference. Something I’ve learnt from years of highschool and Uni is that referencing is necessary. I find that referencing, or linking as it is called in the blogging world, is great even just for me when I read back on what I’ve done.
Linking is the basis of the whole internet really, and so we should all link to each other. I particularly like to link to people if I’ve read their blog and got an idea from it for my blog. That way we all feel more like a community as well. Links make the world go round, and your google rank go up…
3. Encourage Comments. I don’t think I do this well enough, but it’s been said enough times that I can say it as well. “Ask people to comment and tell you what they think”!
You could try ending your post with a question, or you could just beg for them at the end, whatever suits.
4. Find a niche. As my fiancé says, ‘there’s not many left’, but find one anyway and write about it. A topic, interest point, or maybe just… you!
5. Update regularly (but not to regularly!). I like to update my sites relatively frequently, but sometimes I think I might do it a little to much. If you’re anything like me then you’re subscribed to about 10 different blogs at any one time, so if they’re all updating every day, then it’s hard, and almost frustrating if they’re all updating every day. But do update about two or three times a week.
6. Don’t ramble on. One thing I’ve learnt is that short paragraphs, and a blog written to the point is the best. Small paragraphs are easy to read, and easy to skim. Don’t write a 500 word blog if it’s about nothing…
7. Photos are good. People like to see what’s going on, and mixing your blog up with a few photos is always a good thing. I upload my photos onto either Flickr or Myspace, that way they’re stored for free, and I can easily link to them. If you use Flickr then you can put slide shows etc on…
So that’s my deal with blogs and writing blogs!
