Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Blogging Advice

Got a blog? Thinking of starting one? Some blogging advice for getting lively interaction!

There are millions and millions of blogs on the net. Some enjoy a large and growing popularity, while others seem to languish, despite good content. Here we offer a little blogging advice on how you might stimulate your readers in a positive way. By positive, we mean piquing the interest of your readers, without unduly provoking them. While you may want to get your readership thinking, you don't want to inflame them.

Good blogging advice necessarily holds the objectives to be increased readership and content of substance. You want your visitors to tell their friends how entertaining, thoughtful, scholarly or enthusiastically written your blog is. This is a formula for success. So how might you best accomplish these goals?

Let's start with what doesn't work.

You don't want to take an arrogant, flippant or poorly thought through approach. People won't take you seriously. Worse yet, you'll ultimately drive readers away. Sales of affiliate products will also naturally plummet, right along with your visitors and search engine rankings. Although Howard Stern, of talk-radio fame, gained a great deal of success doing just these things, this cop-an-attitude strategy doesn't play well in the blogging venue.

Now for blogging advice that works.


Some bloggers don't provide visitors with software which allows them to comment or reply on what you have to say. This type of blog is a one-sided conversation with yourself. Although you may feel that your word is the last word, potential regular readers will not agree. Interactive commentary provides a forum of ideas, either attempting to refute or defend your stated position. So, interactivity is essential to blogging fame.

When you work out lists of topics to write about, an element of controversy is always a plus. For example, if your blog addresses various health issues, there's always plenty of controversy to exploit. You write a piece which describes a breakthrough in research on osteoporosis. The fact that it's still in the research stage automatically makes it controversial. You'll always have readers who will object to your premise for a variety of reasons. At the same time, you may attract medical professionals who will want to add their two cents.

This brings us to another essential bit of blogging advice. While you want to be thought provoking, you also want to maintain a certain neutrality in what you have to say. This strategy encourages readers on both sides of the issue to jump in with their information and opinions.

Perhaps the best blogging advice, in a nutshell, is to think of yourself as a mediator. What you have to say may indeed, be profound. Nonetheless, it's your readers who ultimately make you successful. Without them, where would you be?

No comments:

Post a Comment