The following information is just too rich to keep to myself. I also think that writing helps the mind digest ideas, or something like that. Anyway, Blog Guru Vincent Maher, a journalism lecturer at Rhodes University, has created a list of eleven guidelines that successful bloggers should follow.
As a former journalist, I found Vincent Maher’s commentary on journalism vis-à-vis blogging to be a real mind grabber. He compares the two writing vehicles and concludes that “the blogger is more like a community manager, than a writer in the greater scheme of things.” I immediately thought of Active Rain’s Maureen Corps, Kristal Kraft, Broker Bryant and talented others who write blogs that invite and welcome community participation.
Here are Professor Maher’s ELEVEN COMMANDMENTS (His commandments; my synopsis):
- A blog entry is a stub for conversation: Your job is to create a community of readers who interact with one another. Your blog entries should be short, punchy and structured to start conversations. The message should be clearly targeted, with a point or set of points.
- Think about the perspectives of your audience: Active Rain is easy. We talk to each other about the very broad field of real estate. We don’t come here to discuss fly fishing.
- Write tight headlines that encourage interest: Make your headlines catchy. If it’s boring, you won’t catch a reader’s eye or clicking finger.
- Make points or lists and make then scan-friendly: Online readers don’t like to read long paragraphs and blocks of copy. Use lists that make article-scanning an easy thing to do.
- Link to the context: If you are blogging about a subject others are also addressing, provide links to their conversations so you don’t appear to be speaking out of context. It is good when you link to other sites, because you help your readers to understand your point of view.
- Quote indirectly and link: Rephrase quotations indirectly and link to the referenced source whenever possible. Avoid cutting and pasting whenever possible.
- Format long documents for print: Consider offering a short digest version of long essays, with a link to the original document.
- Never delete anything: It is poor form to delete a post and its comments. In fact, Maher says it is a cardinal sin. Far better to post a correction—or apology—on the original entry (unless you are going to be sued!)
- Troll the blogosphere for secondary conversation: A sign of a good blog is one that gets blogged about by other bloggers. Use Google Blog Search and Technorati to track what others are saying about your blog. Then, in the spirit of generosity, update your blog with links to those conversations if they add to yours.
- Be active in your own conversations: Don’t sit in front of your screen and do nothing as you watch comments come in. “Get in there!” commands Maher. “Unlike traditional journalists, the blogger’s role is to steer and be a part of the conversations they start.”
- Create buzz everywhere: Create lots of buzzzzz. Create inbound links to your post, find other blogs discussing similar issues. and post comments with links to your content—or the view put forth by one of your commenters. Think Real Estate Carnival—or running into traffic, as the Juicy Tomato suggests!
More than ever, I am coming to appreciate Web 2.0 and the communities it spawns.
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