Dec 23 2007
How Not To Blog Like A n00B
Want a successful blog? One that people come back to and interact with? (duh!) A good starting point is to not blog like a n00B.
1. Post Stuff People Want to Read. Duh.
A lot of people make their first mistake here. They blog about their life - like an online diary. If you blog about your life, you need to have either
(a) a really exciting life… or
(b) really awesome writing skills.
Otherwise, you’ll end up with low readership. I mean, really - is your life that exciting?
2. Don’t Teach What You Don’t Know How To Do.
Like… making money on the Internet. The only time you should write about how to make money on the Internet is if you actually make a significant amount of income online. You can’t teach what you haven’t figured out what to do yet.
If you’re not sure what to blog about, make a list of everything you know and do. Jobs you’ve had. Hobbies. Interests. Things you actually qualify to give advice on. Those are things you can blog about without sounding like a noob. See?
3. Don’t use sleazy urls
Linking is a big part of blog success. From trackbacks to technorati links, the more incoming links you get, the more opportunity there is for other people to find your blog. Don’t use urls like www.myblog.com/every-keyword-I-can-think-of/HEY-LINK-TO-ME/
Some bloggers go a little crazy stuffing keywords, celebrity names and popular search terms in their urls. It looks amateur at best, and sleazy at worst. No one wants to risk linking to urls like that just in case they get flagged as spammy urls.
4. More Ads Than Content Screams nOOB
Blogs are about content. Ads are okay, but not when your visitors need sunglasses to shield their eyes from all the blinking screaming ads that dominate the page. When you get too ad-heavy, no one clicks on them.
Got More?
What screams “n00B” to you? Post your comments!
Popularity: 3% [?]
