A Guide to Blogging
Introduction: I am a veteran blogger who focused primarily on a horror movie related blog. Each week I would watch a few horror movies, read online articles about horror movies, research events in the horror film industry, or create lists of horror related material. These would make up the majority of my blog posts per week. I would like to thoroughly outline the process and ideas to become a successful blogger. Understanding these ideas will grant you the concepts of becoming a reliable blogger.
Brainstorming: Begin considering the main topic for your blog. The central theme should have a connection to a topic you personally find interesting. For example, I thought writing a blog about movies would interest me. An even better idea is personalizing your topic even more. For example I specifically focused on horror films. Another example would be books and narrowing it to only mystery novels. A broad view keeps ideas fresh, but you will find blog readers more interested in more explicit topics. After deciding on a topic you must consider what you hope to accomplish from this blog. Keep in mind who your readers are and what they will want to read. Your goals should not only meet the expectations of your readers, but your own ambitions as well. You are the one writing the blog after all.
Developing: Eventually, once you decide upon a topic, you’re going to have to create the blog website itself. I suggest joining one of multiple sites that will host your blog. These sites are user friendly and aid with your blog management. Templates and URLs are also easily accessible with these websites. Another good feature is the archives that these websites use to keep all your posts secure so you can easily reference back. These websites also make it easier to visit or find other blogs with similar and different interests. Members of a blog host site can more easily leave comments and feedback as well. A host website that I used was at www.blogger.com . The important thing to remember is that blogging is a community activity and you want the community to interact.
Composing: Once your blog’s website is looking clean and fresh, you should start writing posts. Your posts should contribute to your overall topic or theme of the blog. For example, if you’re posting about television, making a post on a new show is completely relevant. You can also stretch your imagination and get a post topic from relating to personal events. If you’re writing about television a possible topic would be your disgust towards the price of a new television set. Developing ideas may stump you at times, but there are multiple other brain catalysts to get one brewing. Think about the reasons you’re interested in your topic. Consider making a list of your favorite aspects of your topic. Reflect on the possible new arguments you can bring to the online community regarding your topic. Respond to others and their blog posts.
Posts: Make your initial posts relatively modest in length. No one wants to read an extremely lengthy post when you have relatively no credibility yet. That should be one of your first goals. Gain readership of other bloggers who may agree or disagree with you. Hopefully they respond to your posts and you in return can post on their blog for more feedback. Another thing to keep in mind is making the post interesting to other readers. On my horror movie blog I made sure to add my own personal analysis to my reviews to help contribute new information to the community. Fresh new thoughts and ideas are the most important factor to gaining readership.
Information Gathering: It is important to gather credible and reliable sources for your information. If you feed nonsense to the public, they will eventually catch you and prove you wrong. There are multiple reliable sources in books and on the internet. It is really important to cite quotes or where information is coming from so the audience knows you are not creating rubbish. Another benefit is if the information is faulty, you can prove to your readers that you were not the one who initially created the misinformation. Creating hyperlinks to articles can be a great addition to any post. Bloggers like clicking and reading new information on topics that interest them so post credible articles that you feel snuck under the radar of others. Not every article or website should make you send up flares though. It’s important to remember you want to create new information. Recycling old information or refurbishing dead arguments is a flagrant error.
Developing a Voice: When you’re composing any written material, there is a voice with a tone. For example, the guide I am typing now has a very instructive and educational voice to it. If I were to insert more commands it would more likely sound demanding or authoritative. When you write you should note how your words read back. Your sentences may be incoherent or add extra tones to it such as unwanted sarcasm. Whether you want to be funny or serious, this heavily relies on your tone of voice. Consistency is almost as important as credibility. Writing satirically about terrible movies entertaining you is a great idea. However, if in one post you start speaking seriously about good movies being awful. Confusion among readers may begin. Remember you’re trying to convey your ideas into text. No one can read the thoughts in your head.
Pleasing Everyone: You’re most likely writing this blog for your own personal enjoyment. You are running the blog on your own terms. No one can force you to change anything, but you will encounter other bloggers with advice and constructive criticism most likely. Don’t fear changing a blog approach that doesn’t seem to attract new readers. Obsession over gaining new readers may drive you to break unspoken rules in your community. It’s important to look at other blogs and see what rules they abide by. In closing I’d like you to remember my “Five C’s” I briefly mentioned throughout this guide in order to appease everyone within your blog community.
1: Credibility: Make your blog believable and honest. Gain trust from other bloggers.
2: Consistency: Make you’re blog a fun routine. If you really enjoy an aspect of your posts continue it. The tone of your voice should remain constant, but ever improving.
3: Criticism: Allow people to criticize your work. It’s the only way you will be able to improve. Criticize other bloggers constructively. Do not attack another blogger, but give advice to improve their message.
4: Cautious: Be cautious about what you put out on the internet. You don’t want to say something controversial and then have angry readers start mailing threats. Anonymity is the best when on the internet. Another thing to be cautious about is comments. Do not insult or attack others.
5: Creativity: Most of all, you need to be creative. This blog represents your own individual thoughts and ideas. It also should be introducing new topics and ideas to your community. This is also where you can have the most fun generating all sorts of different posts.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Bloggers' Guide to Success!
There are many things to think about when writing a blog. A blog is all about your opinion on something and everyone knows that everybody has different views on things. So if you are thinking about writing blogs be ready for harsh comments or people being completely random who don't agree with you. But that is only the small bad side about blogging. Bloggers get a lot of satisfaction out of their blogs since they are able to get feedback from their readers and be able to comment back to those readers.
Step 1: Come up with a Goal for your Blog
You could come up with many different goals for your blog depending on the subject that you are writing about. For example, I blog about cars and my goal is to give my readers good general recent information about the cars and the automotive industry. I test-drive cars and write blog about my test drive describing the car as perfect as I can. Having a goal will help you get frequent readers since it keeps you from going off-subject. Another good idea is to write your goal on a paper and keep it next to your computer so every time you are about to write your blog you know what to do.
Step 2: Make Your Own and Original Voice
The voice that you take in blogs is one of the most important things in blogging. Usually a blogger's voice goes hand-in-hand with their personality. Having a nice and intelligent voice will get you a lot of audience. Then again there are bloggers who create a huge reputation and gain many readers by having an extremely critical voice. By that I mean the type of person who only likes things his or her way and no one in this world can ever make then think otherwise. It is very important to keep your voice the same throughout your blogs so the people that enjoy your blog will coma back knowing that they will enjoy reading your blog even if it is on a totally different subject.
Step 3: Coming up with Ideas
First of all you have to choose a major subject that you enjoy reading about and talking about. Then you would have to come up with ideas for each of your blogs. There are many different ways in which you can come up with ideas for your blogs. The way that I come up with ideas for my blog is that I watch either TV show or even youtube videos related to my subject. Sometimes I also read magazines or simply surfing the Internet until I find something interesting to talk about. Something else that will help you become more successful in writing blogs is that if you randomly come up with a great idea to blog about, you should always write it down anywhere so you don't forget. This happened to me a couple of times when I some awesome car would zoom by me so I would write down the cars name and later research and write about it.
Step 4: The Writing Process and Getting the Readers ATTENTION!
Now once you come up with your idea and researched it for a bit you simply start typing. The thing that will help you most to get your reader' attention is the title of your blog and your fist sentence. Make your fist sentence explain what your blog is about without giving too much detail. Write you first sentence in the way that it will basically make your reader continue reading. Once you start typing do not stop, no matter what! Even if you have a spelling error wait until you are completely finished with what you want to say before you start reviewing what you wrote. It always helps me to publish by blog first then right away read it. I do this because I want to see what my readers are going to the see and I also want to make sure that all the pictures are lined up correctly etc. Something that helps a lot in drawing attention your blog are pictures. Reader will see those pictures and most of the time they will go back to read your blog to see what you had to say.
Step 5: Include Outside Information
Its very important to include the source from where you got your information from in your blog. It also makes it easier for your reader if you place links in your blog to other websites where they can read more about the subject that you were talking about. Especially other major blogs since if you reference other blogs they will know you referenced their blog and they might reference yours which will bring you tons of readers.
Step 6: Connecting to your Audience
To make a one time reader turn into a frequent reader you have to connect to them. Mostly this done by having a good voice. But also you can connect to your audience by always replying their comments, even if it is an argument keep discussing it until you both reach an agreement. But honestly that is not always the case since there are people out there that are not open minded whats so ever. They people will curse and say horrible things if you write something that goes against their belief. But that should not scare you away from writing blogs since that is basically the sole purpose of blogging, to get feedback from other people who are interested in the same thing you are.
Step 1: Come up with a Goal for your Blog
You could come up with many different goals for your blog depending on the subject that you are writing about. For example, I blog about cars and my goal is to give my readers good general recent information about the cars and the automotive industry. I test-drive cars and write blog about my test drive describing the car as perfect as I can. Having a goal will help you get frequent readers since it keeps you from going off-subject. Another good idea is to write your goal on a paper and keep it next to your computer so every time you are about to write your blog you know what to do.
Step 2: Make Your Own and Original Voice
The voice that you take in blogs is one of the most important things in blogging. Usually a blogger's voice goes hand-in-hand with their personality. Having a nice and intelligent voice will get you a lot of audience. Then again there are bloggers who create a huge reputation and gain many readers by having an extremely critical voice. By that I mean the type of person who only likes things his or her way and no one in this world can ever make then think otherwise. It is very important to keep your voice the same throughout your blogs so the people that enjoy your blog will coma back knowing that they will enjoy reading your blog even if it is on a totally different subject.
Step 3: Coming up with Ideas
First of all you have to choose a major subject that you enjoy reading about and talking about. Then you would have to come up with ideas for each of your blogs. There are many different ways in which you can come up with ideas for your blogs. The way that I come up with ideas for my blog is that I watch either TV show or even youtube videos related to my subject. Sometimes I also read magazines or simply surfing the Internet until I find something interesting to talk about. Something else that will help you become more successful in writing blogs is that if you randomly come up with a great idea to blog about, you should always write it down anywhere so you don't forget. This happened to me a couple of times when I some awesome car would zoom by me so I would write down the cars name and later research and write about it.
Step 4: The Writing Process and Getting the Readers ATTENTION!
Now once you come up with your idea and researched it for a bit you simply start typing. The thing that will help you most to get your reader' attention is the title of your blog and your fist sentence. Make your fist sentence explain what your blog is about without giving too much detail. Write you first sentence in the way that it will basically make your reader continue reading. Once you start typing do not stop, no matter what! Even if you have a spelling error wait until you are completely finished with what you want to say before you start reviewing what you wrote. It always helps me to publish by blog first then right away read it. I do this because I want to see what my readers are going to the see and I also want to make sure that all the pictures are lined up correctly etc. Something that helps a lot in drawing attention your blog are pictures. Reader will see those pictures and most of the time they will go back to read your blog to see what you had to say.
Step 5: Include Outside Information
Its very important to include the source from where you got your information from in your blog. It also makes it easier for your reader if you place links in your blog to other websites where they can read more about the subject that you were talking about. Especially other major blogs since if you reference other blogs they will know you referenced their blog and they might reference yours which will bring you tons of readers.
Step 6: Connecting to your Audience
To make a one time reader turn into a frequent reader you have to connect to them. Mostly this done by having a good voice. But also you can connect to your audience by always replying their comments, even if it is an argument keep discussing it until you both reach an agreement. But honestly that is not always the case since there are people out there that are not open minded whats so ever. They people will curse and say horrible things if you write something that goes against their belief. But that should not scare you away from writing blogs since that is basically the sole purpose of blogging, to get feedback from other people who are interested in the same thing you are.
Dos and Don'ts
Do try to write frequently and Don't write too many at once...space them out.
Do reply to people's comments on your blog and Don't curse at your audience...no matter what (unless they talk about your mom of coarse).
Do try to get the most recent news to write about and Don't write about things that other have already written about.
Do put pictures in your blog, they make it much more appealing to your readers.
Do always place links to your sources and Don't plagiarize!
Do always review what you wrote and Don't forget to spellcheck!
Guide to Music Blogging
Music blogging to some seems too easy, listen to music throw in your input and publish it. Wham bam and you’re done, but really it has a process and you need to know a few things before you get started. When starting out you need to let people know what they are going to be reading and how you are going to present your input. This gives right off the bat, three possible outcomes for the person. 1) they won’t read your blog, 2) they will be slightly intrigued and will come back only if they have nothing else to do, or 3) they will be an avid reader and make many comments ( a FAN). None the less you will be stepping into a bigger world than you can think of called the Blogosphere. If you aren’t prepared you will surely not get the attention that you want. So here is some advice for music blogging.
Development and Endurance
Starting out is a major part in the building of your blog. When making anything, there needs to be a foundation. In the blogging world this is your Mission Statement. A mission statement is what you will be presenting and how you are going to present your stuff. I had trouble with this because I like to change the way I write or present information just because that is how I am. In my mission statement I told the audience that I would bring them this and I couldn’t follow through because I ended up changing what I did. What I can say if you do like to change things up a bit then tell the audience that you could change the way you write or present ahead of time, a fair warning. Now I (as in it might not mean a lot to others) think that the way your blog looks is a big part. You want to grab the attention but not so much that you take away from the writing but something that is your personality. The endurance part of writing is keeping up with the blog. I am a multiple offender of this rule. I would take big breaks in between and it affected my audience. They expected weekly posts and sometimes I didn’t deliver. Also, endurance can mean your views, if you start one thing you got to finish it out. Otherwise you will be labeled as a hypocrite. If you do change your view on a subject make it known by writing an extra post letting your audiences know that you have had a change in heart. This will be accepted in the blogging world.
Coming up with Ideas
This can be easy or it can be hard, it is totally up to you. If you are creative then it is an easy obstacle. Creativity brings in different aspects and views. If you do the same things in every post, then it gets repetitive and boring. Bring diversity to the table and you will bring in a more diverse audience. If you are one of those “by the books” people, this can be difficult. Coming out of your shell will be hard. The point I’m trying to make is that music isn’t a day-to-day thing. Yes, new things happen everyday, but new bands don’t. Take for example my situation, I just wanted to write about ROCK but it quickly got slow and repetitive. I wasn’t getting comments and in the end I changed, took a look into different genres, and went with it. And it worked. I no longer had to struggle with coming up with ideas they simple came to me, just by exploring.
Writing Processes that Work
Writing Processes is kind of like coming up with ideas you need to be diverse. Try different things, that don’t mean change your views just change the way you write it. If you use the same words and pattern then people won’t be interested, your audience wants changes. That is what keeps them coming back.
Attention Getters and Connection
So how do you keep there attention? Easy you combine “Coming up with Ideas” and “Writing Process that Work” and you will be able to keep there attention. That is not all you need to do but you need to do what I like to call “Testing the Chords” you try something if it doesn’t get attention then simply done do it anymore. If it gets stuff stirring then it’s a winner you have your hook now all you do is follow through with it. You will need to change your hook once and awhile but it works if you bring different thoughts or concepts to the table. Get them to agree or disagree with you. You are looking for a reaction. Reaction is attention. What I did was ask questions, Example “Who is the best Rapper”. When people agree then they will tell you if they don’t they will tell you. You need to be the one who sparks the reaction. This will eventually create a connection with your audience. They will be with you or against you. It doesn’t matter either or just that they are connected to you.
Your Voice
This is the biggest step in blogging because this is you. Your audience will look at you through your writing. Your posts equal to your personality. You have to be careful when establishing your voice because it can make you or break you. You need to think your voice through. Don’t rush it because once you got it it’s with you till the end. You can’t change either. If you change it looks bad, it looks like you are weak and that you can be pushed from side to side. You have to sit back and think about your voice and in the end it has to be real and genuinely yours. Good Luck.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Greetings Future Bloggers!!
Greetings and salutations to all of the fledgling political bloggers reading this posting. I was once like you, a fresh-faced blogging virgin who had never even considered setting up or contributing to a blog. Hopefully after the pseudo-sage advice given here you too will soon have the confidence and credibility to post as a master blogger.
The first step in setting up a blog is figuring out what on earth it should be about; what the purpose or theme of it should be. If you are taking the time to read this you have apparently chosen a politically themed site, or at least one related to it, good choice. I say this not as a hidden compliment to me or to all of the other politically minded people, but because it is a topic where there is constantly something to write about. There are literally hundreds of niches in politics that you could chose to write about. You can chose a specific topic or generally cover everything or even just a certain genre of politics. Personally, I tend to cover international politics and human rights if you were looking for ideas. In addition, no mater what niche or genre is chosen, politics is a topic with constant changes and information. There will never be a lack of material with this topic.
Material. Choosing a particular topic to write about is the most difficult part. The key is to find something that you actually can write about, something that interests you, impassions you, and puzzles you. It can be about anything and everything. Start looking and book-marking other sites that could give you ideas or something to reference to. Various newspaper and reporting sites always inspire me (i.e. The Times, The Post, CNN, etc.). Also, news sites from other countries can also be highly informative. A useful site for international papers is onlinenewspapers.com. It indexes news sites from virtually every country. Also, when researching news sites or other blogs it is important to reference them in your post. Obviously you got the story or idea from somewhere so give credit where credit is due. Not referencing or linking to the original is an easy way to lose credibility in the blogging community. And surprisingly enough, linking and referencing is not hard to do at all. Simply type the word or phrase that the reader would click on as the link, highlight it, and put in the website URL.
When it comes to writing processes and approaches to actually writing a post there is no right or wrong way to go about it. Everyone has a different process. Its all a matter of finding what works best for you, what feels right. Go ahead and try many different methods and processes until you find one that fits best with you. Personally, I work better with deadlines so I often set some for myself. I have also found certain places where I am inspired to write. For me, it is usually in a place where I can still focus and concentrate to write, but there are still people around inspiring me with their actions and conversations. This may work for you, or it may not. It really does depend on what makes you comfortable and inspires you.
Now I said choosing what to post about is the most difficult part of blogging. Second to that is figuring out how to catch people’s attention and connect with your audience. One of the easier ways to do this is through a relevant title to your post. Often, the title to the post is what comes up in a keyword search. Therefore it is easiest to garner attention to your site through topic searches in search engines. If your posting title is interesting and relevant you will most likely get more hits on your website and your post. It is once people are at the page that they will decide if they will return to the site. Most readers prefer to read blogs and posting that have some level of credibility to them, and that seemingly connect to them personally. Credibility in the blog community takes time, but it can be achieved. Instrumental to this is responding and commenting on other blogger’s sites and postings. It will get your username known and respected, as well as generate interest in what you have to say.
Connecting with readers is a bit more complicated. It is all about the voice used when writing. Sure, many people often imitate a style of writing that they encounter and like, but it is often the original voices that truly connect with their readers. Your writing voice is all about letting your personality shine through. This is not the IRS. Things can be fun, satirical, enraged, and passionate; the list is endless. Simply put: be yourself. Most people, especially other bloggers, can tell when someone is not being authentic. Those people usually don’t have much traffic on their websites. Like I said before, it is all about experimentation and time. Through trial and error you will find your voice. It will start coming out without you even realizing it. It just takes time (a massive cliché yes, but it is true).
Lastly I will leave some small pieces of advice; hopefully these will help at some point. Never shy away from a topic. There is really no good, bad, or off-limits topic in politics, as that is the nature of the beast. Also, never be afraid to offend someone- no matter what you say about any topic, someone somewhere will be offended. It is simply a fact of life. That being said, while not being afraid to offend someone try not to intentionally alienate groups of people. Meaning, posting angrily, taking a hard-line position on something and putting down those who disagree with you can often lead to backlash. Most importantly, as I said before, use your voice. Be funny, creative, witty, or whatever emotion seems to go with the angle you are taking on the piece you are posting about. Unlike what you see on C-SPAN, politics can have humor in it. It is about real people, written by real people, being read by real people. Lastly, enjoy what you are doing. There is really no point to having a blog of any kind if it is the bane of your existence and you get no enjoyment out of it.
I hope at least some of this will be helpful on your new journey to become a blogger. Good Luck!
Material. Choosing a particular topic to write about is the most difficult part. The key is to find something that you actually can write about, something that interests you, impassions you, and puzzles you. It can be about anything and everything. Start looking and book-marking other sites that could give you ideas or something to reference to. Various newspaper and reporting sites always inspire me (i.e. The Times, The Post, CNN, etc.). Also, news sites from other countries can also be highly informative. A useful site for international papers is onlinenewspapers.com. It indexes news sites from virtually every country. Also, when researching news sites or other blogs it is important to reference them in your post. Obviously you got the story or idea from somewhere so give credit where credit is due. Not referencing or linking to the original is an easy way to lose credibility in the blogging community. And surprisingly enough, linking and referencing is not hard to do at all. Simply type the word or phrase that the reader would click on as the link, highlight it, and put in the website URL.
When it comes to writing processes and approaches to actually writing a post there is no right or wrong way to go about it. Everyone has a different process. Its all a matter of finding what works best for you, what feels right. Go ahead and try many different methods and processes until you find one that fits best with you. Personally, I work better with deadlines so I often set some for myself. I have also found certain places where I am inspired to write. For me, it is usually in a place where I can still focus and concentrate to write, but there are still people around inspiring me with their actions and conversations. This may work for you, or it may not. It really does depend on what makes you comfortable and inspires you.
Connecting with readers is a bit more complicated. It is all about the voice used when writing. Sure, many people often imitate a style of writing that they encounter and like, but it is often the original voices that truly connect with their readers. Your writing voice is all about letting your personality shine through. This is not the IRS. Things can be fun, satirical, enraged, and passionate; the list is endless. Simply put: be yourself. Most people, especially other bloggers, can tell when someone is not being authentic. Those people usually don’t have much traffic on their websites. Like I said before, it is all about experimentation and time. Through trial and error you will find your voice. It will start coming out without you even realizing it. It just takes time (a massive cliché yes, but it is true).
Lastly I will leave some small pieces of advice; hopefully these will help at some point. Never shy away from a topic. There is really no good, bad, or off-limits topic in politics, as that is the nature of the beast. Also, never be afraid to offend someone- no matter what you say about any topic, someone somewhere will be offended. It is simply a fact of life. That being said, while not being afraid to offend someone try not to intentionally alienate groups of people. Meaning, posting angrily, taking a hard-line position on something and putting down those who disagree with you can often lead to backlash. Most importantly, as I said before, use your voice. Be funny, creative, witty, or whatever emotion seems to go with the angle you are taking on the piece you are posting about. Unlike what you see on C-SPAN, politics can have humor in it. It is about real people, written by real people, being read by real people. Lastly, enjoy what you are doing. There is really no point to having a blog of any kind if it is the bane of your existence and you get no enjoyment out of it.
I hope at least some of this will be helpful on your new journey to become a blogger. Good Luck!
Blogging
I am hundred and ten present sure all of as know what blogging is one way or another am also sure that majority of us has heard of different definition of it too. I have too. Of all the definition I have heard of blogging, my personal favorite is from the Blogger; the blog sphere that is owned by Google. “A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world. Your blog is whatever you want it to be. There are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules. In simple terms, a blog is a website, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis.” Well now that we know what a blog is, let’s talk about the process of writing blogging.
The theme
For sure for any thing you do you have to have a purposes isn’t. Well, then there had to be A reason for why you want to bog too. The reasons can be many for instances, to entertain yourself, to inform others, or for marketing purpose. But whatever your reason is it would eventually relate to your theme. The question is how do you pick your Theme? My suggestion is first identify your interest and passion, because remember you have to talk about It and if you have no Interest in it, it makes had to make it natural. The other way you can pick your theme is to fine something that is popular and ongoing topic. The risk to this theme is though it can be very competitive because most others would blog about it too.
The Idea
Remember when I said pick a theme that you are most passionate about. The reason I said this is because sometimes if you don’t have interest to it. It is can be hard to come up with things to write about. But let's say you are in this situation that you don't know or you run out ideas to write about.
When I found my self in these situations I usually look the internet on related topics and read some articles or blogs just enough to come up with an idea of my own. Or the other thing I do in these conditions is to give it time until some thing come to my mined. Well let say both of the methods didn’t work for you. What then? Sorry, at this point I would stop trying and forget about blogging and get on with life. I am just kidding. The Other thing you can do to solve this problem some times is to read some ones blog article on a related themes and to give your comment or opinion about the article on your blog page.
The Writing
OK! I have an idea of what I want to write about, I am ready to grab a pen and let it out. When I rich to this point I usually take blank piece of paper and write a rough draft more like a free write. With out no worry about the word choose or the grammatical error. When I am done with the rough draft I would gave my self some times before I go back and revise it. Then I would go back an revise until to the point that I am satisfied.
Need More Content?
When this is happening gating outside sources of content and inspiration is advised. In doing this the key point to Keep in mind is that, always to find credible sources otherwise you would also loss your creditability, which I am sure you don’t want to happen.
The Hook
The secret to this is always to be honest and transparent. Your readers are already interested to read your article because of the topic. The question is how to keep them? The way to keep your readers is to be passionate and sincere about what you are talking about also knows what you talking about. A Blog that is passionless and dry tend to not attract any one. I mean who want to read something that the author himself doesn’t believe in.
The Voice and Staying Connected
Being consistent is a key thing in blogging. When I say consistency is both in your topic and voice. Readers like to know what to expect out of what they are going to read to some extent. So if you constantly change thus to aspects of your blog you will end up loosing the respect of your readers. In addition to thus two key points being updated helps two.
You should also know:
-That if you are interested in blogging you had to enjoy writing and reading.
- That when you plan to blog be welling to learn and take criticism.
- That if you want to blog you want t to have more time and be willing to work hard.
The theme
For sure for any thing you do you have to have a purposes isn’t. Well, then there had to be A reason for why you want to bog too. The reasons can be many for instances, to entertain yourself, to inform others, or for marketing purpose. But whatever your reason is it would eventually relate to your theme. The question is how do you pick your Theme? My suggestion is first identify your interest and passion, because remember you have to talk about It and if you have no Interest in it, it makes had to make it natural. The other way you can pick your theme is to fine something that is popular and ongoing topic. The risk to this theme is though it can be very competitive because most others would blog about it too.
The Idea
Remember when I said pick a theme that you are most passionate about. The reason I said this is because sometimes if you don’t have interest to it. It is can be hard to come up with things to write about. But let's say you are in this situation that you don't know or you run out ideas to write about.
When I found my self in these situations I usually look the internet on related topics and read some articles or blogs just enough to come up with an idea of my own. Or the other thing I do in these conditions is to give it time until some thing come to my mined. Well let say both of the methods didn’t work for you. What then? Sorry, at this point I would stop trying and forget about blogging and get on with life. I am just kidding. The Other thing you can do to solve this problem some times is to read some ones blog article on a related themes and to give your comment or opinion about the article on your blog page.
The Writing
OK! I have an idea of what I want to write about, I am ready to grab a pen and let it out. When I rich to this point I usually take blank piece of paper and write a rough draft more like a free write. With out no worry about the word choose or the grammatical error. When I am done with the rough draft I would gave my self some times before I go back and revise it. Then I would go back an revise until to the point that I am satisfied.
Need More Content?
When this is happening gating outside sources of content and inspiration is advised. In doing this the key point to Keep in mind is that, always to find credible sources otherwise you would also loss your creditability, which I am sure you don’t want to happen.
The Hook
The secret to this is always to be honest and transparent. Your readers are already interested to read your article because of the topic. The question is how to keep them? The way to keep your readers is to be passionate and sincere about what you are talking about also knows what you talking about. A Blog that is passionless and dry tend to not attract any one. I mean who want to read something that the author himself doesn’t believe in.
The Voice and Staying Connected
Being consistent is a key thing in blogging. When I say consistency is both in your topic and voice. Readers like to know what to expect out of what they are going to read to some extent. So if you constantly change thus to aspects of your blog you will end up loosing the respect of your readers. In addition to thus two key points being updated helps two.
You should also know:
-That if you are interested in blogging you had to enjoy writing and reading.
- That when you plan to blog be welling to learn and take criticism.
- That if you want to blog you want t to have more time and be willing to work hard.
Music Blogging
Writing and maintaining a music blog is really quite the challenge. After all, how does one put into words the way that something sounds? One can always write about musicians and various points of interest, but one will also need to write about the music itself, and it's rather difficult to describe something that is entirely intangible. So, here is the low-down on writing a music blog, Goggin style. Developing and Sustaining a Theme, Mission, and Purpose
As with any blog, you will need a purpose. Without a defined path to follow, your entries will be jumbled and inconsistent. The posts should be unified under one flag. After all, a solid hill is stronger than a pile of pleasing boulders. To develop your purpose, just pick some aspect of music that you really enjoy and would enjoy writing about. For example, music of a particular genre or perhaps a specific instrument. You can write about more that just specifically that aspect, of course, but it is probably best not to stray too far out of the general theme of your blog lest readers be turned away when they feel that each post's topic has become too arbitrary.
Coming Up with Ideas for Posts
Coming up with ideas for posts on a music blog is usually not terribly difficult. After all, you wouldn't be blogging about music unless it interested you. A good way to start is simply to browse through your music collection until you notice something you feel like writing about, such as an artist you've been listening too a lot lately or perhaps a particular album. One easy idea for a blog post is to review a CD you've just purchased or a concert you've just gone to. There are pretty much as many musical topics as you can think of.
An Effective Writing Process
When you actually begin to write your blog post, you'll need to have a good way to go about doing so. If you are going to be writing about a band or a song or anything like that, it definitely helps to listen to that music for a while before beginning to write. Close your eyes and block out everything but the music. Think about how it makes you feel. Think about the images it produces in your mind and the memories it reminds you of. Listen to how the different instruments come together and how the vocals fit with the rest of the composition. Now, try to put these feelings into words in your blog post. It is a formidable challenge to do this but you will get better with practice. I find that it also helps to listen to the music as you write about it. Just make sure that you don't end up spending a whole bunch of time listening to the music and forget to write anything.
Including Outside Information in Your Blog
It is rarely a bad idea to include information from external sources. The obvious place to start when looking for outside information about a band or some other music related subject is to type said subject into Google. This will almost always give you the Wikipedia article and often the band's official website. From there you can find plenty of information and possibly links to more sources. It is a fine idea to put a link to the band's website in your post so that readers can go directly there with ease.
Catching People's Attention
A very important part of any writing is catching the reader's attention, and in the cutthroat world of blogging this might make the difference between life and death for your blog. To begin with, I like to put a picture at the beginning of each post. But this won't do anything if nobody goes to your blog in the first place. To catch people's attention you basically need to tell people about your blog. This is tricky, since most of the ways to do this are considered “site pimping”, which is essentially going “hay guys check out my website” and is a big no-no on the Internet and will not earn you any respect. Really, you either need to have a logical situation to tell people to go to your site or just put a link to your blog in some passive place such as your signature on a forum. The best way to get people's attention is word of mouth, which is pretty hard to generate on purpose.
Connecting With Your Audience
o connect with your audience you will need to know enough about music that you will be able to write about it in a way that readers will both understand and appreciate. It is definitely important to know at least something about the bands, genres, or whatever it is you are writing about. If you know how to play an instrument this will obviously help quite a bit, especially when describing a particular song, since you will better be able to explain how the composition fits together. Providing the ability to listen to the music you are writing about in a post is always helpful to your readers, so that they are able to hear for themselves what you have been talking about. However, don't let that induce laziness. You should still describe the music enough that readers can get a feel for the music even without the option of actually listening to it.
Developing A Voice
A strong and unique voice is very important in blogging, as well as pretty much everything you do in life. It will set you apart from the rest of the herd and will earn you more attention. If you write about something in a good voice, people will probably pay more attention to you than someone who says the exact same thing but in a boring way. In my experience, the single best way to develop your own voice is simply to write the way that you think. You could also assign yourself a blogging personality and try to write from that angle.
DO:
- Listen to a song at least once prior to writing about it
- Write about things you don't like in addition to what you do
DON'T:
- Put your provided song file on some clumsy hosting site that requires registration for downloading
- Make generalizations such as “all songs of ____ genre are bad”
Blogging about Politics
TAKE A STAND!
When it comes to discussing politics on a blog the one thing that comes before all others is taking a stand on every issue. If you are considering starting a blog on politics first ask yourself why you are doing it. Finding a purpose for your blog is critical to locking in a constant audience. If you are like me chances are you want to share your opinions and see what people have to think. The one thing that I made sure not to do was constantly summarize the news, people can get news from the mainstream media much easier and with far more credibility. If your purpose is to offer news or facts that are not mainstream then by all means do so. When trying to come up with a purpose make sure that you find something sustainable and have a plan for coming up with new posts. The idea of coming up with a purpose for your blog is pretty self explanatory but I would also advise you post some sort of a statement describing your purpose just so potential readers can have a quick look at what they are in for.
Keep it Moving
A blog like any work of literature needs to flow, without new posts and new ideas your reader base will wither away. When it comes it comes to politics getting ideas is pretty easy, watch the news, read the paper, browse other blogs. At any given time there are always some hot button issues that people want to hear about and by observing the mainstream media you can home in on those issues. By offering posts on current issues you can keep your blog relevant. For instance, talking about the morality of stem cell research in relation to abortion may have been an extremely relevant a while ago but now with the new research that is coming out the issue is no longer as relevant. While throwing in some posts about issues relevant to you is always fine make sure to keep your blog in tune with the rest of the world, it is simply good kairos.
Style
We all have our own writing style and it grows with us as we go through life. That being said, stick your style and don’t attempt to sound like another author (unless satire is your game). As far as your writing process goes I would recommend first finding an issue that you have an interest in. Next do your research, try to determine the facts and understand the points of view that others have about this issue. Once you have the facts and understand the issue form an opinion based on the facts and write you piece. I would advise writing it on a word processing program such as Word and then copying it to your blog so as to catch spelling and grammatical errors.
Citations
Unlike most research papers blogging makes citations easy with the ability to link facts directly to their source. While it is still appropriate to say something along the lines of “according to……enter fact” so that the reader does not have to follow the link to determine credibility, the ability to do so is always a plus. When it comes to facts I find that good sources are new providers such as CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, The New York Times, and The Washington Post (just some examples there are many more including non-electronic sources such as books). When citing opinions the realm of possibility becomes far greater encompassing many other sources including the myriad of other blogs on the internet. When posting most of my facts come from come from modern news sources I prefer my supporting quotes and concepts to come from classical literature and long dead people. Although this does breach the idea of good kairos I discussed before I find that many of this sources are beyond question and when it comes to the quotes unlike quoting a living human the character of the dead is well known and unchanging (for instance quoting Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho on June 10th about his opinions on homosexuality would have lead to a lack of credibility in an article). By no means am I saying not to quote the living, just be careful how you build your arguments around those quotes.
Keep’em Reading
If you don’t care about people reading what you are writing then a journal is probably a better idea for you. With a journal you can still jot down your ideas and you don’t face any criticism about them. On the other hand blogging is not just about having an idea, it is about bouncing that idea off of others all over the world and possibly allowing them to cite you in their arguments. This in a way relates to style, as a writer you need to connect with an audience by catching their attention and maintaining it. The key here is to develop a clear and consistent writing voice. Think of your favorite writer, composer, director, sculptor, painter, musician, architect, or singer. For most people it is the style of a person at their particular trade that creates favor. So it is for the writer as well, while you shouldn’t fear the evolution of your writing over time switching between writing styles for every different post (baring outstanding reasons) can create distaste from readers who cannot grasp your message clearly in your new style. For instance writing in iambic pentameter this week and then switching to haiku’s next can create disfavor, if all your posts are serious with the exception of one satirical post it can be confusing to readers. Point being, pick a style and stick with it, use writing styles and wording that speak to your target audience and then focus on your ideas rather than your conveyance.
Key Points
All of the above were some key points for your blogging but first and foremost remember to pick a topic that you enjoy, nothing would be more detrimental to the success of your blog than for you not to enjoy it. Pick a topic you care about and have enjoyed for some time rather than a spur of the moment idea (Don’t make a blog called “Why I hate cops” five minutes after you get a ticket, you will lose interest and it will flop). Most of blogging is learn as you go and these are just some pointers, my advice would be to set your topic and tone, start typing and just let the ideas come as you go.
When it comes to discussing politics on a blog the one thing that comes before all others is taking a stand on every issue. If you are considering starting a blog on politics first ask yourself why you are doing it. Finding a purpose for your blog is critical to locking in a constant audience. If you are like me chances are you want to share your opinions and see what people have to think. The one thing that I made sure not to do was constantly summarize the news, people can get news from the mainstream media much easier and with far more credibility. If your purpose is to offer news or facts that are not mainstream then by all means do so. When trying to come up with a purpose make sure that you find something sustainable and have a plan for coming up with new posts. The idea of coming up with a purpose for your blog is pretty self explanatory but I would also advise you post some sort of a statement describing your purpose just so potential readers can have a quick look at what they are in for.
Keep it Moving
A blog like any work of literature needs to flow, without new posts and new ideas your reader base will wither away. When it comes it comes to politics getting ideas is pretty easy, watch the news, read the paper, browse other blogs. At any given time there are always some hot button issues that people want to hear about and by observing the mainstream media you can home in on those issues. By offering posts on current issues you can keep your blog relevant. For instance, talking about the morality of stem cell research in relation to abortion may have been an extremely relevant a while ago but now with the new research that is coming out the issue is no longer as relevant. While throwing in some posts about issues relevant to you is always fine make sure to keep your blog in tune with the rest of the world, it is simply good kairos.
Style
We all have our own writing style and it grows with us as we go through life. That being said, stick your style and don’t attempt to sound like another author (unless satire is your game). As far as your writing process goes I would recommend first finding an issue that you have an interest in. Next do your research, try to determine the facts and understand the points of view that others have about this issue. Once you have the facts and understand the issue form an opinion based on the facts and write you piece. I would advise writing it on a word processing program such as Word and then copying it to your blog so as to catch spelling and grammatical errors.
Citations
Unlike most research papers blogging makes citations easy with the ability to link facts directly to their source. While it is still appropriate to say something along the lines of “according to……enter fact” so that the reader does not have to follow the link to determine credibility, the ability to do so is always a plus. When it comes to facts I find that good sources are new providers such as CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, The New York Times, and The Washington Post (just some examples there are many more including non-electronic sources such as books). When citing opinions the realm of possibility becomes far greater encompassing many other sources including the myriad of other blogs on the internet. When posting most of my facts come from come from modern news sources I prefer my supporting quotes and concepts to come from classical literature and long dead people. Although this does breach the idea of good kairos I discussed before I find that many of this sources are beyond question and when it comes to the quotes unlike quoting a living human the character of the dead is well known and unchanging (for instance quoting Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho on June 10th about his opinions on homosexuality would have lead to a lack of credibility in an article). By no means am I saying not to quote the living, just be careful how you build your arguments around those quotes.
Keep’em Reading
If you don’t care about people reading what you are writing then a journal is probably a better idea for you. With a journal you can still jot down your ideas and you don’t face any criticism about them. On the other hand blogging is not just about having an idea, it is about bouncing that idea off of others all over the world and possibly allowing them to cite you in their arguments. This in a way relates to style, as a writer you need to connect with an audience by catching their attention and maintaining it. The key here is to develop a clear and consistent writing voice. Think of your favorite writer, composer, director, sculptor, painter, musician, architect, or singer. For most people it is the style of a person at their particular trade that creates favor. So it is for the writer as well, while you shouldn’t fear the evolution of your writing over time switching between writing styles for every different post (baring outstanding reasons) can create distaste from readers who cannot grasp your message clearly in your new style. For instance writing in iambic pentameter this week and then switching to haiku’s next can create disfavor, if all your posts are serious with the exception of one satirical post it can be confusing to readers. Point being, pick a style and stick with it, use writing styles and wording that speak to your target audience and then focus on your ideas rather than your conveyance.
Key Points
All of the above were some key points for your blogging but first and foremost remember to pick a topic that you enjoy, nothing would be more detrimental to the success of your blog than for you not to enjoy it. Pick a topic you care about and have enjoyed for some time rather than a spur of the moment idea (Don’t make a blog called “Why I hate cops” five minutes after you get a ticket, you will lose interest and it will flop). Most of blogging is learn as you go and these are just some pointers, my advice would be to set your topic and tone, start typing and just let the ideas come as you go.
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