2006-10-15

Meta: Why and How to Blog

[Updated 2006.10.15 13:15 EDT: Filled in #10: Market yourself.]

By way of Pam's House Blend, I discovered these "10 15 Ways to a Killer Blog." This was a presentation by Robert and Maryam Scoble at the ConvergeSouth 2006 conference.
  1. Blog because you want to.
  2. Read other blogs.
  3. Pick a niche you can own (be different).
  4. Link to other blogs.
  5. Admit mistakes.
  6. Write good headlines.
  7. Use other media.
  8. Have a voice.
  9. Get outside the blogosphere.
  10. Market yourself.
  11. Write well.
  12. Expose yourself.
  13. Help other people blog.
  14. Engage with commenters.
  15. Keep your integrity.
This list resonates with me. I think I - I hope, I strive to - embody all of these, in my life as well as my blogging. "Integrity," for example, is my core personal value, so #15 is something I live and breathe.

The only one I'm not sure about is #7, "Use other media," but if photography counts, hey, I'm in.

What do you think? Any of these I could do better? More of? Less of? How do these relate to your blogging and your experiences in the blogosphere? What happens when folks don't keep these things in mind?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is a really great list. I am a personal fan of writing good headlines. Writing good headlines leads to having titles that makes people want to click on them when you come up in the search engines. ;)

I think you nail this list, as far as I can tell. The garden blogosphere in general does not get all of them or even half of them really.

But garden blogs are a whole different animal than normal blogs. They fulfill a different purpose in that most people use them as a record, much like a physical garden journal. Because of this, they tend to be more... encapsulated.

lisa said...

I dig your blog just the way it is! Carry on!

Chris Kreussling (Flatbush Gardener) said...

Hanna: Thanks!

Garden blogs can be just like any "vanity" site: pictures of nothing but animals and flowers. Cute, pretty, and boring.

I'm trying to keep a record of my garden as well, but most of what I "journal" about is what I'm thinking and feeling about my gardening. I'm with Garden Rant on this: GARDENING MATTERS. I want my writing, photography and blogging to matter as well.

Lisa: Thank you, also! I will carry on. As always, let me know if there's something you want to see or know which is not here.