After insomnia brought me out of bed at 3:47 this morning, I decided to get to work on tweaking my Brava synopsis. But I also thought I’d blog-hop a bit since I haven’t in awhile . . . and now I remember why I’ve really cut down. Just for fun, here are a few blogging tips. The first few words will link you to the originating post:
Can I stress enough how annoying this is? Like anyone with common sense can’t tell false “hits” from true ones? Here’s a tip: If you think a site’s hits look unbelievably high, refresh your browser page. If the number increases each time you do, well, yeah. You get the picture. A FALSE picture!
And don’t only acknowledge your sources in your posts. Blogrolling. Reciprocal linking. Ever heard of it? Yes, at the moment my own sidebar is woefully out of date. Then again, my entire site is woefully out of date. That too much to do/prioritizing thing at work here. But to not publish a blogroll because you don’t want anyone to leave your site . . . puh-lease!
(1)Here is the definition of a blog: “a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.”
(3) Don’t take ANYTHING personally unless you are named.
(5) Direct your comments at the content of the posting instead of the person.
(8) Don’t take anything out of context.
(12) Getting all upset at a “personal journal with reflections [and] comments” is a waste of time and reveals that perhaps your vision for why you exist may be too small. Something legitmate to get upset about would be kids being forced into prostitution. Get mad at that.
As in, don’t lie!
Finally:
The Tin Rule is that rules don’t really apply in blogging. There’s an exception to everything and everything else is excepted. Find your own groove and swing with it. If your style and message appeal to a lot of people then eventually you’ll have a lot of readers. If they appeal to a smaller number of people then you’re going to have less readers. But if you change your style and message simply to attract more readers then you’re going to get sick of it after a while and you’re going to quit blogging altogether.
And before paranoia sets in, remember this:
(3) Don’t take ANYTHING personally unless you are named.
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Great advice on how to blog! Especially #3 about taking things personally – little provokes blog sniping any faster than this. Kind of like thinking the minister in church is talking about you and only you in his sermon!
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I’m not a big fan of using blogrolls as goodwill currency, as seems to be suggested here. I put blogs on my public blogroll that I actually visit daily, not because I want to make someone feel better about themselves. To do otherwise is to have what many do: a gigantic list that has no real purpose, oftentimes with broken links, that is better ignored than anything else.
My blogroll may be small, but visitors can be assured that something worthwhile is actually on the other end of each link.
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James – That’s what I was working to get across. I have actually run into people who go out of their way to comment and visit many blogs, but refuse to put links on their own sidebar because they don’t want to direct visitors away from their own site. That is not in the spirit of what a blog is about; there is a REASON WordPress and other platforms have BUILT-IN linking tools!
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Laurie – I honestly have visited blogs and thought, wait a minute. Is this person talking about me? That’s when I realized I needed to get a life, LOL!
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I hope #1 wasn’t about me :). I’ve set my counter to ignore me, but it doesn’t. Nothing I can do about it (although I hope to change counters at some point).
I hate it when I have problems updating my blog and then my stats show the last 12 hits were from me b/c I’m fiddling.
M
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Michelle – See #3. *g* But seriously. There’s a difference between that and a counter that updates every other counter on the page every time anyone clicks. It’s just not copasetic, ya know? It gives a false look at the traffic.
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Those are all great tips, Alison. I wish more people would follow them. I’m sure it would cut back on the flame wars that crop up sometimes.