Blogging Do’s and Don’ts: Part I
We’ve had several clients ask us, “So, what does it take to create a great blog?” Here’s our lengthy answer, in the form of a two part series. This post will include ‘Blogging Do’s’ and the next post will include ‘Blogging Don’ts.’
Do know the objective of your blog. Having an objective allows for a cohesive blog. People will know what they’re getting if your consistent in the types of topics or features you present.
Do follow FTC regulations. Always tell readers if you are being paid to promote a product. This rule also includes products you’ve been given by a company. More info here.
Do respond to blog comments in a timely manner. Positive comments require a thank you. You may also consider engaging the person in more conversation by asking another question. Negative comments require a short and polite response indicating you’ve read their comment, even if you disagree.
Do use categories and tagging. The better organized your blog, the longer your readers will stay on the site to read archived content. Make it easy for your visitors to find the types of posts they want to read by categorizing and tagging.
Do link to other blogs. Referring to other blogs and linking to their posts will help your search engine optimization, plus, it may help you find new readers. Other blogs usually know when they’ve been mentioned and may link back to you—sending many new readers your way. As you can see in this post, I’ve tried to link to other blogs who’ve provided me great information.
Do reference past posts by linking to yourself. Let’s say you wrote a post in September about office gardening. In December, you write a new post showing pictures of the garden’s progress. Make sure you link to you previous post on the topic. This will also help search engine optimization and give your readers a full scope of your work.
Do use GoogleReader and Delicious to track blogs and posts you enjoy. Most people actually read many blog posts over the course of a week. The problem is, it’s tough to keep track of blogs you enjoy reading, or, know where to save posts for future reference. GoogleReader informs you when a favorite blog posts new content. Delicious allows you to bookmark posts in order to quickly find them in the future. My Delicious account is www.delicious.com/lesley3fold.
Do comment on other blogs. Similar to linking, leaving comments on other blogs is what blogging is all about. You can’t expect people to engage with you, if you’re not also engaging with them. Leaving comments is like leaving little bread crumbs for a mouse. The more crumbs you leave, the more ways people can find you.
Do write using bullets and short paragraphs. These days, people consume a lot of information every day. Our eyes have been trained to scan. If you want people to stay interested in your writing, use short paragraphs and bullets. If you’re covering multiple topics within a post, use subtitles or subheadlines, and create strong headlines.
Do write what people search for. If you were a reader looking for your own blog, what would you type into Google? What types of questions, problems and challenges will your potential readers be asking? Answer those questions and you’ll draw people to your site in no time. Don’t forget to use keywords in your post titles.
Do write in a way that encourages people to dialogue. Ask questions, and even consider bringing up questions that are controversial, or that will illicit plenty of different opinions. PR Breakfast Club has a great post on this topic, found by clicking here.
Do develop partnerships with other bloggers. These partnerships take time—and come as a result of commenting often with captivating content. If you find another blogger who has a similar goal, writing style and audience, you may want to ask them to do a “blog swap” where you each write a post for each other’s blogs. By doing so, you’ll engage that bloggers audience of readers who may end up becoming your biggest fans. A great example of this is nonprofit social media guru Beth Kanter, who will often include guest posts from other fabulous bloggers– like this one by Frank Barry on blogging for nonprofits.
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Tags: blogging, do's, social media, tips
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[...] Blogging is more than putting words on a screen. Follow these Don’ts for blog success. And, if you haven’t yet read Part II of this series, click here. [...]