8 Things We Forgot About Blogging
Blogging causes change, if used effectively. We've been blogging for small years now, and we've forgotten a number of the ground rules:1. Choose a Niche and Focus
Know why you're doing what you do and be willing to filter things that don't fit in with your goals. For example, you choose to cover the use of new media in Saudi Arabia's democratic elections (smiling?), will you publish the beautiful poem by a Saudi poet that just blows your mind? Readers will come and return to your blog because they are interested in the subject - Focus.
Use images and graphs, they add color and life to your blog. Make your text scannable by adding lists, subheadings, bolds. Screen-reading is painful, so make life easier for your visitors 3. Be Personal, Be Passionate
Readers love to hear You in your posts. Use stories from your personal life, describe your emotions, add your opinion. The revolution of blogging lies in the freedom of expression. 4. Write Less
Unless you are George Friedman, no one is going to read that essay you posted. 250 Words/3 paragraphs is absolutely sufficient for a post. If you want to cover a topic that requires more information, break up the story into several parts and post a series over a couple of days. 6. Use Titles Effectively
The title of your post is the only thing that shows up in search engines, on Twitter, on Facebook - It is the single most important part of your post. Keep the title simple, be descriptive of the post, grab attention. The most effective titles are lists and numbers (5 Ideas for Women's Rights in Iran) and how-to's (Chello Kebab 101 for foreigners). Solve problems, do case studies, write critiques 7. Unclutter
I beg you please. Nobody wants to see an empty calendar, your meta data (Login, Admin etc.), and endless blogrolls that stretch further down that the posts. Blogrolls should be categorized and should be no more than 8 websites that you actually recommend. At higher numbers, no link stands a chance of actually being clicked. 8. Interact
Ask questions and invite comments (people actually respond). Be open ended in your posts and leave room for discussion. Then, join the discussion your commenters are having. They will come back.
