Blogging Tips: A Guest Post

 

We’re excited to have Alece Ronzino guest posting for us today. If you’re not already reading her blog or following her on Twitter, make sure you fix that. Now.

I’m just gonna pass the mic right over to Alece…

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There are people out there I’d consider pro-bloggers. And I am certainly not one of them.

But I’ve been blogging for 6 years and have definitely learned some things along the way.

The purpose and “face” of blogging has changed for me since I first began in 2005, but it’s been an incredible journey that I wouldn’t trade for anything. Sometimes (all too often actually), writing doesn’t come as easily as it used to. And as things have grown, I often find myself feeling overwhelmed by everything that goes into blogging well. BUT, underneath it all, I absolutely love blogging and the amazing community that has grown out of it.

Every blogger out there probably has their own list of things that works for them. And what works for one, won’t necessarily work for the next.

There isn’t a right or wrong way to blog.

Certainly there are things that will cause people to click away or lost interest… And those elements will differ for each person. You cannot please everyone, and you will destroy your blog (and yourself) trying. It’s best to learn that sooner than later.

There’s no magic formula for blogging well. It’s about discovering your own natural bent and learning how to best engage with your own community of readers.

Here are some of my own personal best blogging practices:

• Interact with commenters. Engagement is everything. Participate in the conversation.
• Respond via email to first-time-commenters. It’s personal. And it lets them know they matter.
• Read and comment on blogs. Even when you don’t have time to do this regularly, it makes a difference when you link over and engage on your readers’ sites.
• Size does matter. I aim to keep my posts under 500 words.
• Break things up. Use paragraph breaks and bold headers to make your content easier to read.
• Link back. When referencing a concept or phrase you’ve blogged about before, link back to your previous post. It’s the simplest way for people to see what you’ve written on similar subjects.
• Make it easy to comment. Requiring a log-in or using those annoying “captcha” verification things just deters people from engaging. It’s your loss as much as theirs.
• Foster dialogue. End posts with a question. Use a threaded comment system so readers can reply directly to other readers and a plug-in that automatically emails commenters when someone replies to them.
• Keep it clean. In terms of blog design, less is definitely more.
• Make it easy to find you. Links to your Twitter, Facebook, and email/contact page should be clearly visible.

I never want to just blog. I want to blog well.

And I know that to do that, I need to keep learning.

So fellow bloggers, I wanna learn from you!

What are your personal best practices of blogging?
What are your top do’s and dont’s?