WHAT MAKES A FRIENDLY BLOG?
2009 February 24
Several months ago I blogged about different blog styles. Joel Postman a seasoned blogger mentioned it here. This is my original list of styles:
- the attention junkie/those who need an ego fixation
- lazy/the undisciplined blogger
- news/this blog is just information often with no true personality
- all over the place/depends on the bloggers mood that day
- journal/if descriptive can be beneficial to others
- antagonistic/ this blogger is usually unforgiving and angry usually tries to be persuasive
- educational/add value to the reader
- information gathering/brings a particular type of information from many sources to one place
- impulsive/is a serial blogger with abandoned blogs
- story telling/often a deep thinker
- entertainment/good for a laugh
Although I must admit that I also can fall into some of these categories above, I am pondering what makes certain blogs inviting? Here is what I came up with.
- Be yourself/Make those reading your blog feel like they are getting to know you, don’t fear being you. Don’t be a business or all about business. People love to know they are not alone in their thoughts and experiences.
- Get others involved/Not just to tell you how wonderful you are, but ask questions that you genuinely need feedback for. Bring on guest bloggers that align with your message.
- Be friendly/Don’t be above your readers. No one enjoys being made to feel ignorant. I am wary of those who will slice and dice me if I don’t do things according to their rules.
- Quality over quantity/ It isn’t all about you. Will others find meaning, answers or new ideas in your posts?
- Communicate/When someone is kind enough to leave comments, validate them. Are they a blogger? Visit their blog as well. Be grateful.
- Be humble/If you mess up, admit it. Don’t make excuses. Also remember to convey the lessons you are learning or have learned along your way.
- Motivating/ Do you make others feel empowered by what they read, that if you can do it, they can too?
- Repetition/ You don’t have to come up with the next big idea, but you can share it, put a personal twist to it. Often others need to be reminded.
- Don’t be a show off/ Don’t try to impress others, trust me…they are not impressed. Give recognition to others, they will reciprocate. Make your posts easy to read and digest.
- Be positive/ You will attract that which you are and emulate those you associate with.
- Don’t post when angry/ You will eventually regret it and it often seems as if you are vying for attention. Try not to be judgemental, often there is something about the situation that you are not aware of. Remember what you mother said when you were a school kids, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”.
- Be helpful/ Help others find new sources of information
- Have fun/ Blog because you love it, not because you have to, it makes a difference. Enthusiasm is contagious.
I am curious why do you visit other’s blogs on a regualar basis?
Wow, Leah! This is quite a list! I’ll have to study it a while to figure out which one(s) I fall into….
Thank you Vance, I am so thrilled you have come back more than once! I touch on the undisciplined blogger sometimes no doubt! Usually due to life’s circumstances! But I need to remind myself of the second list as I blog. If I don’t create a blog that people really want to read then whats the point?
I like your list of what makes blogs inviting. I can see mixing it up and giving some with each post. Thanks for the information!
You are right Dennis, I didn’t really consider as you write each post to question…”which element am I adding to this post?”
I am quite over the place but then I tend to have a few posts about a certain subject. Social Media and Dating/Twitter. I am working on getting a guest blogger that is going to hopefully talk about his hockey experiences and mix that with Twitter. That would be great but that is still a work in progress.