Some Basic Rules about Blogging

In the new Internet arena the websites that are more interactive and easier to use, the more successful that they tend to become. If you are going to create a new web site these days then you will need to pay attention to these new concepts, or your web site will fail. Most users on the Internet want to be able to get the content that they want very quickly and with little or no effort on their part.

If your website can not deliver information in a very quick and efficient manner, then you will be left behind in a hurry. Some of the new features that allow your web site to accomplish these tasks are RSS feeds, JavaScript, AJAX, blogging, and web services. All of these technologies allow web environments to act more like desktop environments, so users do not have to wait any longer to get information whenever they want it. You can base a new web site completely on blogging, which allows you to quickly and easily provide fresh content to your site visitors and search engines.

Having a great blog template, domain and/or blog name, and the knowledge to generate traffic is only the beginning of what needs to be done to have a great blog.

Even when writing to inform or promote a business, writing for a blog can be more like writing an entry into a diary. The earliest blogs were just that, "A day in my life..." or "My thoughts about...". The common theme was that they were written by a person about their personal experiences.

Many new blogs have been popping up all over the Internet - An estimated 65 million blogs are already out on the Internet right now, so you have to do something to make your blog stand apart from the rest. Here are some basic rules about blogging that will give your new blog a better chance to succeed:

Grab Your Reader's Attention with an Eye-Catching Headline
Each new topic in your blog needs to have a very descriptive and eye-catching headline to pull your readers in. Just think of your blog like a newspaper or magazine article. If you are reading a magazine or a newspaper think about which articles you take the time to stop and read, and try to create headlines in your blog that will get readers to do the same thing.

Be Controversial
When writing in your blog you need to be a little edgy to keep your readers coming back for more. If you just write things that people can read elsewhere, then you will not have many readers coming back.

Update your Blog as often as Possible
The best way to keep your readers tuning into your blog on a regular basis is by constantly writing new material. If a buzz is created regarding your blog, then the best way to keep the momentum going is by updating often so that readers keep coming back.

Realize your Blog is Public Information
Once you write something on your blog it is broadcasted to anyone in the world that has an Internet connection. Since this is true you do not want to bad mouth your boss, attack a friend, or pick up under age women on your blog. If you do any of these things, then everyone will know about it and you can get into serious trouble.

Cite Reputable Sources
The most successful blogs are the ones that do not just rant and rave on a topic. The successful blogs make their very strong opinions known about particular issues, but then they also have some type of concrete information to back up their opinion. People are more likely to listen to what you have to say if you have a little bit of research to back it up.

Blog Writing is Personal
Successful blogs continue to be about "my personal experiences". Find any of the highly popular blogs and you will find first-person langauge. Unlike traditional term-paper, article, or website content writing, everything is about I, me, you and us rather than people, individuals or the often unidentified they.

Blog Writing is Conversational
Blog writing is like conversation where everyone takes a turn speaking. The blog writer begins the conversation with an explanation of how to do something, their opinion on some topic, or what they did that day. If the blog is written in an interesting and engaging manner, site visitors will feel compelled to leave a comment.

When writing a blog entry, write like you speak. Most everyone has a set of words they use in everyday conversation and another more-educated, complex set they use to impress. Incorporating a commodious lexicon of literary morphemes and employing them in your blog writing will only lead to sounding professorial and boring. Use of fancy, multi-syllabic words will also make it difficult for those whom are not native speakers of your language.

Take just enough of that impressive vocabulary to sound intelligent and blend it with simpler conversational words and you will become a better blog writer.

Write Blog Entries With a Bit of Humor
Writing engaging blog entries is helped by a sense of humor. Think about what happens when getting together with friends. Everyone enjoys sharing their personal experiences and laughing about the fun things in life. Everyone likes to laugh and blogs written with a sense of humor are more likely to be recommended by others. The effects of Digg, StumbleUpon, and any number of social promotion websites are a testament to the power of a referral. An informative blog has a chance of getting one of these social referrals, but a blog written with a hint of humor will reap far greater rewards than one written in a purely encyclopedic fashion.

Blog Writing Can Break the Rules
Perfect grammar and punctuation are always preferred, but when it comes to writing blog entries; many such errors are simply overlooked. And, sometimes it is simply more appropriate to keep the conversation flowing by starting a sentence with and. But, don't go overboard and drift towards the unreadable. Readers will be turned off by blog entries written so poorly that they couldn't even be read aloud.

The last thing every blog writer should do before pressing that publish button is re-read the entire entry. If writing does not come naturally to you and editing is even more difficult; reading your blog entries aloud will help you find incomplete thoughts, sentences and missing punctuation. If you have to take a breath mid-sentence; chances are high you are missing a comma or semi-colon somewhere or should consider rewriting the sentence entirely. No red correction pencils here, but
do make things readable.

Writing Blog Entries is Easy
Blog writing is not that hard. Most everyone has something worthwhile to share with others. The more frequently you write blog entries, the better your entries will become. Do read some of the blogs that have been around for years and you will see some patterns in language, writing style and overall feel or each entry.

So, Go Write
So, what's stopping you? Go pick up your keyboards, mice, and whatever inspires you and get writing your next blog entry.