15 July 2010

Olive Tree's Tips for Better Blogging

I've had a few people ask me for tips on how to improve their blog and/or get more readers. So here's a quick post with a few pointers. :)

(1) Make It Pretty and Keep It Simple.
Is there anything more distracting and unappealing than a busy blog background? If your background is fifteen different colors that all clash, it can be difficult to focus on the text. Personally, I like reading blogs with good design.
But you could have the prettiest blog on earth and clutter it up with a billion blinkies, buttons, and books to read. Keep your sidebar and other areas minimal to draw the focus to the text, not the gadgets.

(2) Keep It Interesting.
No offense, but I don't really want to read about how your dog had gas after eating a peanut-butter sandwich. Instead of millions of miscellaneous (and gross) details of your daily life, make your posts interesting by adding quotes, photos, and/or deeper ideas. For instance: I love reading Aspire because Hannah's posts make me smile or (almost) cry by turns. They're very well-written.

(3) Get To the Point.
This sort of corresponds to Tip Number 2. Don't skate around the point of your post. Give it a title that gets to the point, and then in the first couple paragraphs explain what's happening. There's a whole lotta blogs out there in cyberspace; why should I waste my time reading something that makes no sense? Try not to post total, unconnected randomness; rather, find a good idea and stick with it, even if that means no posts every single day.

(4) Don't Tweet or Chat; Be Proper.
Connecting to Tip Number 3, remember that this is Blogger, not Twitter. I try to make my posts at least a couple paragraphs long, and with lots of pretty pictures. If you're posting several times a day with just a paragraph or two each, rethink that. How can I combine ideas in a way that makes sense? Is this post really necessary? Will this interest my readers?
Also, don't use chatspeak in your posts.  For example... "i dont no how tht happned ... itz prtty cool tho. ikr?! ttyl. ;)" Eek! I don't want to have to decode your posts.
Please try to use proper spelling and grammar, too. Not only does it make your posts more professional, it also makes them easier to read. Spellcheck is your friend. :)

(5) Be Follower-Friendly.
If you can't see the Followers gadget easily, then it's likely that you won't get as many Followers! Put it in your sidebar near the top, or under the header.
It is advisable to also be reader-friendly in your posts. Ask your readers questions. Request their input. More questions = more comments.


There! That should do it for now. Does anyone have any other suggestions? :) I'd love to keep adding to this list. What do YOU think makes a great blog?

19 comments:

  1. Thank you for this post! I believe I'm guilty of #3. =) It's always nice to read someone else's perspective and try to improve from it.

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  2. Great tips! I also wrote a blogging tips post...I'm not sure how to hyper link it, but here's the link, if you're interested. http://pastors-girl.blogspot.com/2010/06/several-people-have-asked-me-how-i-got.html

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  3. Aw! I got a shoutout! You're too sweet! *Big Hug* I agree with all of your tips...I especially hate how people (mainly on facebook, but I've seen it on blogger too) add an extra letter. Likee thiss...forr somee reasson itss supposedd to bee coool. All I can say is BLECH. I love all of your tips though--and the follower one is so good! I really don't like it when people make the number of how many followers they have white or something, so that we can't see it.

    Great post, sweet friend! Hugs! XOXO
    --Hannah

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  4. Though I'm just a reader of blogs, I find I don't like it when at the bottom more than five to seven things are there, it just makes the blog way bigger, and because of the tiny scroller hard to navigate. It makes it cluttered too, when you have those, and yes, a few are okay, but too many just makes me go "okay, I'm done with this blog" and go on to the next. Also, its nice when if you are posting... well anything that has dialog (sp?) that you don't make it so that it looks like this. "i said to mary the other day that annabell went to the market" without any punctuation or capitalization. It just doesn't look right, and makes me feel like maybe the writing, even if the story is good, is bad, and hard to read.
    And if you have photographs they should be big, not really tiny. Okay, you've listened to me rambling long enough, but thats just what I've picked up from all my time spent blog-hopping!!

    ~SofieRose

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  5. Those are all wonderful tips Olive Tree!

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  6. Oh, I have a question. You know the thing on your side-bar titled "I heart these blogs!" Well I really want to know where to get one.

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  7. Brooke: That's an HTML gadget where you need to write out some code. There will be a tutorial on Robin Blogs soon. :)

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  8. Great tips, Olive! I'll try my best to follow them :)

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  9. These are all great ides Olive Tree!

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  10. Lovely tips, Olive Tree! I'll remember to keep those in mind. :)

    Oh, and text talking? I SO agree. Sometimes I feel like I have to read blogs with my "grammar sensor" on, automatically correcting and fixing the mistakes in my head. It really makes it harder on the reader, and I'm so glad you pointed that out.

    I loved this post!

    In Christ,
    Lizzy Rose

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  11. Those are great tips! I need to work on de-cluttering my sidebars a little bit. :P

    Thanks,
    -Kaylee
    thisiskaylee.blogspot.com

    P.S.- I had the same question as Brooke, but I'll be keeping my eyes open for the tutorial on Robin Blogs. :)

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  12. Wonderful tips, Olive Tree! I agree with you on every single one. :)

    -- Much love,
    Lindsay <3

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  13. Thank you Olive Tree! That's helpful (since your tutorials are so easy to understand).

    ~*Brooke*~

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  14. Thanks for sharing these. I try to unconsciously follow these rules, but I do want to pick my blog up a bit. I think another thing that is great for blogging is to do memes, join parties, etc-as long as they are relevant and not too random.

    :)
    Katherine

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  15. Awesome tips Olive Tree! I totally agree with all of them especially the Tweet/Chat one. It doesn't help when I don't know what half of the abbreviations mean! The only one I use is LOL...Oh and thanks for following by the way! :)
    Tessa Brooke

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  16. All these tips are great! I also think that posting regularly is a good idea so you keep your followers interested, and wanting to check out what your newest post will be about. Speaking of follwers, I also think checking out your followers' blogs ofter and commenting on their posts would be good as well. :)

    --Shelley

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  17. Thanks for the tips!! They're so helpful and I really needed something like this to help guide my blogging!

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