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May. 31, 2006
Principles of Blogging
 Maureen is asking for as many people as possible to share seven principles of effective bloggers so I thought I'd participate. I'm not sure I feel comfortable identifying myself as a "highly effective blogger." I suppose because I'm not sure what that means. There are a lot of people out there who have a lot more visitors. And I may come out pretty high on some of the rankings, but that is more due to some blogrolls I've joined than anyone actually reading what I have to write. And this particular blog at the moment is a poor example of anything I'm about to say as it is being sorely neglected these days. My other one is nicer.
So, because I like to change my assignments whenever possible, I'll share my seven principles of blogging, which I do not necessarily follow myself.
1) Define your purpose in blogging. My subheading that I haven't put back on this blog is Psalm 11:3, "If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?" My blog is (supposed to be) about foundations. It is a broad topic, but I try to bring my posts into this somehow. For the most part, I move back and forth between examining the faulty foundations the world has laid and upliftig the firm foundation of Christ.
2) Define your topic. Mine is education. I look at the foundations of education, both secular and Christian. My goal is to trace the roots of ideas back to their foundations which inevitably lie in education...how our minds are shaped.
3) Choose your style. Some very successful bloggers provide mainly links to interesting articles with a very brief commentary. He may not be a homeschooler, but just look at instapundit. Many bloggers communicate in what amounts to "blogbytes," short, to the point assessments of a topic or event. Others write full articles. If you have something to say and consistently provide interesting, well-written posts that cannot be found elsewhere, you will build up a readership no matter which format you choose. Also remember this is a visual medium...pictures, spacing, font are all important.
4) Read and think. Educate yourself. Become an expert. If you know more than anyone else about pygmy marmosets, anyone who needs information about them will come to you. And anyone who wants to talk about them will quote you and link to you.
5) Be unique. Offer links that others don't or commentary that you cannot find elsewhere. Sometimes an issue hits the blogosphere and everyone seems to be talking about it. It is nice to chime in and offer your perspective, but try to offer something different. May 27, an article appeared on WorldNet Daily about the UN convention on the rights of the child. Everyone seemed to be talking about it, but everyone seemed to be saying the same thing. Either that this would be the death of homeschooling or that it was HSLDA creating fear to gain membership. As you pass the information along to your readers, try to give them a slightly different angle.
6) Develop your voice. Funny, serious, sarcastic, optimistic, pessimistic...it doesn't matter. Your readers will come to expect it and look for it in your posts. Don't be afraid to get a little personal and share who you are. This is not appropriate for all blogs, but most homeschool bloggers are interested in the human side of who they are reading. The audience is a little different than some other classifications of blogs. But if your blog is not a personal blog, be careful how much you ramble on about any and everything that happens in your family. Try to fit it in with the general purpose and topic of your blog.
7) Advertise. If you have great things to say, eventually, people will find your blog. But you can help them along a little, too. Leave comments as you surf. Everyone loves them...and many people check to see the sites of their commentors. If your comments are interesting, several people might click on your link to find out more about you. Learn the little bit of html it takes to leave a link in the comment box to make the trip easier. Join some blogrolls in your interest area. You can look down the sidebar of my other blog and see one for Christian bloggers, one for homeschool bloggers and one for life, liberty property. All of these will add you to their rolls, allowing your site to appear on everyone else's who has joined the blogroll. Oh...and if your topic has anything to do with homeschooling, you really should join The Truth Laid Bear's new homeschooling community. Just click on the community administrator and it will bring you to the guidelines and instructions for joining (yes, that is my blog). Paricipate in carnival relevant to your topic, or host one, or start one.
Guess I'm at seven. But here is a bonus one...try to maintain balance. On your blog and in your life. Try not to worry too much about who is linking to you or how many hits you are getting or why no one is leaving comments. Interestingly, I have several times as many readers now as I had when I started, but do not really receive any more comments. Some types of posts generate more discussion than others...and some readers are more likely to leave a comment than others. But it doesn't mean they didn't enjoy what they read or didn't appreciate it. If your number of subscribers and daily visits is stable or slowly increasing, than your readers are quite content with what you are offering. If you have a good counter like statcounter, you can see all kinds of statistics that show that your readers like what you have written. I once got someone in who had googled "descriptive writing" and they ended up reading everything I had posted on writing and a good deal of my other lesson plans. They never commented, but they must have enjoyed it or they wouldn't have devoted so much time to reading it all.
If you are new, your blog will likely develop over time as you find your voice. Mine started out as a journal to keep track of what I did every day. Then I got kind of bored with that and started just rambling about whatever I found interesting or whatever was going on my life. Now I'm just starting to take on a bit of focus.
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Posted by Anonymous
May. 31, 2006 - Great list!
--- Denise from http://www.ahomeforhomeschoolers.com/blog/denise-in-il