My 11 Blog Lessons

July 14th, 2007 | Categories: blogs, chat, launch, marketing, networks, off topic, social media, strategy, trends, widgets

A few days ago, Mark Evans wrote a post outlining some of the blog lessons he has learned since he began. I can definitely relate to most. In light of that post, I will now outline some of the lessons I have learned since I began blogging in September 2006.

1. Content is king. This cannot be over-emphasized enough. Always provide quality content for your readers. If you find that you are unable to come up with interesting, pertinent content on a regular basis, post less often. Do not allow the quality of your content to degrade.

2. NEVER take your readers for granted. Your audience is your basis for being. Thank them for their participation, be sure to respond to their e-mails, and never insult their intelligence.

3. Blogging is a huge time commitment. Well, it can be if you post regularly and plan on successfully marketing your blog. Often, new bloggers underestimate the time needed to successfully operate a blog.

4. Become a part of the blogosphere community. This means commenting on other blogs, adding trackbacks to your posts, linking to other blogs via your blogroll, and leveraging community widgets to enhance your blog experience for readers. This will help build your traffic, provide incoming links, and ensure a certain level of exposure for your blog. Furthermore, community participation will also provide valuable networking opportunities with other bloggers, Internet enthusiasts, and company exceutives.

5. Have a goal and a vision when you begin blogging. What is your reason for blogging? Do you want to provide an update for friends and family, or do you want to write articles on a given niche? Everyone has a different reason and underlying motivation for blogging. Money and financial returns should not be a primary motivator, nor should notoriety and fame.

6. Make yourself extremely accessible to readers. By prominently displaying your contact information and allowing easy communication with readers, you will be bridging the gap and creating a more loyal, trustworthy following. Having said that, you must also make a strong effort to reply to comments and e-mails in a prompt, thoughtful manner. 

7. Post on a consistent basis. This doesn’t mean you need to post daily. What it means is that you must post on a consistent basis, whether it be once every two days, weekly, or even monthly. This way, your readers will know when to expect another post and do not become frustrated by an inconsistent posting schedule.

8. Stay on topic. Don’t sway too much from your initial niche and begin posting off topic. This not only disgruntles readers, but also ruins trust and loyalty. Providing high quality content in a given niche will help shape your space in the blogosphere and showcase your expertise.

9. Don’t regurgitate other blogs’ content. Numerous blogs simply choose to paraphrase other blogs or re-write articles in their own words. This provides no value to the reader, as he/she can simply visit the cited location. Every post must provide a unique perspective or view.

10. Don’t be discouraged by stats. It takes time to build a reader base. By posting quality content on a regular basis and participating in the blogosphere community, increased readership is inevitable. Stats can be discouraging at times, but you must stick with your initial vision. Quality and consistency will translate into surprising success.

11. Make design changes every once in awhile. In other words, keep a fresh look. This may mean changes to the overall design, colour schemes, widgets, layout, etc… By making regular changes, you will be providing a fresh look for you and your readers, creating a more enjoyable experience.

What lessons have you learned from blogging? What have been your biggest hurdles and obstacles to overcome? I encourage you to write a list of your own.

47 Comments

  1. Tyl0x Says:

    Thank you for these lessons, very interesting!

  2. Roman Says:

    True. This post attracted my attention, because it wasn’t “top 10” or “10 rules”, as usual. But it was 11 🙂

  3. patricia de miranda Says:

    blogspot can´t to do a trackback right?? but all others hints are greats to me ;)) thanksssssssssss

  4. Mark Evans Says:

    Nice job, Aidan. Point #10 is really important - it’s not the size of your audience but who reads it. At the end of the day, good content will pay dividends in all kinds of different ways.

    Mark

  5. Aaron Says:

    I’m not so sure about number 9. I read a few blogs that just list the most important articles and posts in a field which saves me a lot of time.

  6. Aidan Says:

    Aaron,

    What you’re talking about sounds more like an aggregator than a blog. A collection of links is much different than written content.

    Cheers,
    Aidan

  7. Terra Says:

    i don’t get how you see other peoples blogs

  8. » After two plus years blogging, what have I learned A View from the Isle: Social Media, Blogging, Tech, and Opinion from Tris Hussey Says:

    […] A View from the Isle was born on Blogger.  In July I moved to Blogware.  A week ago, 1580+ posts and 800 some odd comments  later, I moved to WordPress.  Marc, Aidan, and Mark did a numbered list of things they learned.  I’m in a more narrative mood, so we’ll go with that, shall we? […]

  9. Not really a blogging birthday, but… » mathewingram.com/work Says:

    […] Aidan Henry and Tris Hussey have responded to Mark’s (and Marc’s) post with their own list of lessons. I’m still working on mine birthday, blogs, WSJ | Share This | Related links […]

  10. dan Says:

    I think the biggest thing for me that I have learned about blogging is that it is a lot of fun, but there is a demarcation point between the social networks and the search engines. When the social networks, like digg, reddit, stumbled upon are no longer working the way they did in the beginning, and google msn and yahoo are starting to pick up is the hardest time as a blogger.

    You see yourself swap from one set of readers who wanted to check out the new blog, to people who are randomly searching for things.

    The other lesson, when an article goes viral and gets posted all over the place it feels really rewarding, but the crash/letdown from that can be somewhat daunting as you go back to your normal levels of traffic.

  11. Myo Kyaw Htun Says:

    Absolutely right, Aidan.

  12. Robin Yap Says:

    Great list Aidan.

    I think #5 is a key ingredient and its the first question I try to clarify to my clients who want to integrate a blogging form of communication within their organisation.

    #3 is something that cannot be taken for granted and a blogger need to integrate blogging into their routine otherwise it can go to the sidelines.

  13. Digiwize Says:

    Nice post… And yes, content is still king. Because if you think about it, everything is content or comes from content. Graphics, video, audio and of course the written word — all content. That being said, good content for blogs continues to be controversial topics. For better or worse, the most popular posts pit one thing against another, and the readers love it.

    Cheers

  14. AD Says:

    I believe content is the king in the blog arena.
    The right topic and the right content is the key to success of a blog.
    I also like to make it more interactive where a discussion takes place with the help of comments.
    this increases the life of the blog.
    Stats are sometimes discouraging make sure you check the stat tool, I faced this problem where the tool had a problem and I had enough visitors. I came to know this when I added 2 tools at the same time to compare.
    I recommend GoStats.com , they are reliable.

  15. Dan Blank: Publishing, Innovation & the Web » Blog Archive » 34 Lessons on Blogging Says:

    […] Aidan Henry […]

  16. Svetainių kūrimas Says:

    I think #5 is a key ingredient and its the first question I try to clarify to my clients who want to integrate a blogging form of communication within their organisation.

    #3 is something that cannot be taken for granted and a blogger need to integrate blogging into their routine otherwise it can go to the sidelines.

    Best regards
    Svetainių kūrimas

  17. Michele Says:

    I’m a total newbie, just got my laptop a few months ago, and have been cruising all the blogsites. You have rather old comments, the newest (besides mine) 2008. What’s up with that? Think I could do a website and blog for the grandmothers of the world?

  18. NB Says:

    Very helpful, thanks for giving out hard won lessons.

  19. Tinklapių kūrimas Says:

    Thanks for the lessons.

  20. Svetainių kūrimas Says:

    I’m a newbie in blogging. Great lesson.

    —————————
    Interneto svetainių kūrimas

  21. Pramoninės šluostės Says:

    Helpful. Thanks for the lesson.

  22. Lietuviski Svogunai Says:

    booyakahsa! Old blog, but still helpful.

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    Greetings,

    I have a question for the webmaster/admin here at http://www.mappingtheweb.com.

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