Effective Internet Presence: Now required for success in business and life
What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging and Podcasting, Real-Life Advice from 101 People Who Successfully Leverage the Power of the Blogosphere
5 Stupid Ways to Sink Your Blog!
1) Don't stay on topic!
Ahhh, you just had a baby -- please post a couple dozen pictures and blog on nipple soreness and whatever else for a few weeks. We won't mind, really.
And if your college curling team or favorite NFL team is in the finals or Super Bowl, please post about it for days on end. If you care then we must care. After all it's your blog, not ours. We are merely peasant readers.
What were you blogging on anyways?
2) Be insular.
Yeah, maybe they call it social media but you can be antisocial if you'd like. Don't link to others. Don't read, never mind comment, on other blogs.
Your never ending soliloquy is enough for us to flock to your blog daily for the rest of our lives. If soliloquies are good enough for Hamlet, then they're good enough for us!
3) Write like traditional writing, not speaking.
Conversational, smonversational! We want perfect English, proofread multiple times and worthy of publishing in an encyclopedia (remember those?) or The New Yorker.
4) Don't let us know who you are!
No picture, no about us page, nothing personal. Your profound thoughts are enough for us! Your identity is your own business.
5) Lots of colors, dozens of fonts, flashing lights, autoplay audio.
Make it look like a casino. Or even MySpace :)
Viva Las Vegas Jugheads!
One more set.
Work hard to develop credability.
Have your site highjacked.
Move to a dot com and start over from scratch.
:)
Posted by: Reg of Elemental Truths | 30 August 2007 at 01:11 PM
Reg, Let's hope you're all set now and didn't lose too many readers when you switched -- you always lose quite a few.
Posted by: Ted Demopoulos, Blogging for Business | 30 August 2007 at 10:00 PM
Ted,
I'm down to about 50 visits a day and maybe 8 bloglines subscribers.
The urge to write about sex, famous people, and weightloss is almost overpowering. :)
Posted by: Reg of Elemental Truths | 31 August 2007 at 08:32 AM
All good points. I am amazed how many people actually do these things. Flashy pink background and I click off. Lots of text with no paragraph breaks, not for me or overly large postings that I have to plough through to get the point.
Posted by: Vic Grace | 08 September 2007 at 04:35 PM
Great Post, I have to agree with Vic, Sifting through very large posts can be a killer to your readership.
Posted by: Real Estate Editorial | 08 September 2007 at 06:16 PM
Good points. I like your thoughts about being insular. Blogging is so community-oriented you can't get around interaction.
Posted by: Steven Snell | 08 September 2007 at 10:45 PM
All great stuff guys!
Text needs to formated so it's easy to read -- lots of white space, bullet points, and getting to the point quickly make posts easier to read and absorb.
Posted by: Ted Demopoulos, Blogging for Business | 09 September 2007 at 10:09 AM
"Make it look like a casino. Or even MySpace... Viva Las Vegas Jugheads!"
Hahaha... that made this whole post worth reading. I can't stand what kids do to their xanga/myspace sites.
Look, just because YOUR on drugs doesn't mean we all are...
Posted by: David | 12 September 2007 at 04:37 PM
Thanks David -- well put!
Posted by: Ted Demopoulos, Blogging for Business | 12 September 2007 at 09:43 PM
Just read this post - funny stuff...
I like this:
No picture, no about us page, nothing personal. Your profound thoughts are enough for us! Your identity is your own business.
Posted by: Ross | 06 September 2008 at 12:07 AM