Top 5 tips for new bloggers

Success! I have created my blog! I'm now ready to starting journaling my thoughts and progress online. Let me start with some handy hints for would-be bloggers.

Is blogging today's version of the written diary from generations past? Is this just another way that we add to the voyeuristic nature of the reality-TV world we now live in? Should a blog be treated as a personal space or as nothing more than a web based magazine and the blogger a columnist jotting down opinions and experiences for all the world to see?

Tip One: Uncover your purpose for blogging
Before starting your blog - whether self-hosted on a personal website or a part of a blogging system such as this one (blogger.com) - ask yourself what is the purpose of the blog? Who will my audience be? What blogging tools should you use? Where should the blog be hosted? Is this an anonymous series of posts or a friendly interaction with like-minded souls? Are you sharing information or sharing yourself?

Blogging is like anything else. It starts out as novelty factor and can quickly become mundane, boring and yet another chore that we have to fit into our busy lives. Blog with passion. Write about something that drives you. Whether it's a forum to fill your friends in on your day-to-day life or a way to share your favourite hobby with other enthusiasts, it's easier to write about something you know and love.

What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure. Samuel Johnson

Tip Two: Blog with integrity
I see blogging in the same vein as having a conversation with yourself - you wouldn't plagiarize someone else's thoughts or knowing give yourself false information and the same rules apply with a blog.

I also live by the rule that I don't post anything I wouldn't want my mother to read. It's a good tip. You don't know who is reading your blog and what your interaction with them is or will be. It could be a future employer or mother-in-law.

Nothing gives an author so much pleasure as to find his works respectfully quoted by other learned authors. Benjamin Franklin

Tip Three: Make your blog user friendly
Okay, so you've created the blog and posted until you can type no more. Your blog counter is registering minimal hits (and you suspect they are all coming from your mother!). What can you do?

Make your blog user friendly. Tell potential readers a bit about yourself, why your blogging, invite comments. Don't hide behind the anonymity of the internet.

Do:
– Write a short biography
– Upload a photo of yourself
– Give your blog titles that have meaning and summarize the content of the blog
– Label links appropriately click here is only encouraging for the very adventurous or the very bored, the majority of readers want to know what they are linking too
– Don't rely on the archive posts feature for readers to find your best work - set up a
Top 10 of links to your favourite articles. It's not that brilliant if no one can ever find
it again.
– Use a design that's easy on the eye - dark text on a dark background is hard to see.
You won't encourage return visitors reading your blog causes eyesight loss!

Tip Four: Blog regularly
I'm the first to confess I'm a random blogger. I blog irregularly and I lose my audience. Only the steadfast readers (I think it's just my brother) continue to check back often. It's hard to post when you don't feel that you have something to say but it's important to establish a pattern for the readers to follow. If the reader can anticipate that you will update your blog on the first of every month then they know when to check back. If you blog once in January and not again until October, it's hard to establish a regular readership. Set expectations that you know you can meet (or even exceed).

Tip Five: If you are serious about blogging, buy a domain name
If blogging is more than a passing phase for you then buy a domain name - they are relatively inexpensive these days - and set up an easy to remember URL for your blog. Make it easy for people to find you (and what you have to say)

You can find mine at pruedwyer.com/blog.

Enjoy your blogging!