AlanBarber.Org
Monday, September 13, 2004
Everything you wanted to know about blogging but were afraid to ask
This is a great little post I found just surfing from blog to blog. Honestly, I’m not sure how I even ended up there!
I give you “Everything you wanted to know about blogging but were afraid to ask" at Simon World.
Here are my five favorite points from the list: (original quotes are in bold. My response is in plain)
* If you think this blogging caper is a path to fame and fortune, give up now.
That’s the truth! I’ve been doing this for over a year now and I’m still just as unknown and poor as when I started. I have been lucky enough to have free hosting thanks to a good friend and even gtt a free license to Expression Engine. Still I’ve paid plenty in for domain fees and hosting in the past. Lets be honest here, the Google Ads, while great, aren’t going to let me retire anytime soon.
* It’s not fair. It never was and never will be. Deal with it.
This reminded me of how many bloggers start complaining when they start getting a lot of attention. I’ve seen many a blog shut off comments or even kill the entire blog as soon as they get any negative attention. If you don’t have the cajonies to take a little negative criticism then don’t start a blog people. Not everyone is going to love you and what you believe in. They even might tease and harass you but don’t go run and hide. Stick it out. You might have a bad week but remember we live in Internet time now. You’re fame will pass just as fast as the star wars kid or that girl in the apple switch ads. Don’t threaten lawsuits and other crap. Just ride it out and you’ll end up fine in the end.
* Learn to spell or how to use a spell-checker.
It amazes me how many blogs I go to that have horrible spelling mistakes. Let me put out a word of advice from a fellow blogger folks. Write your posts in your favorite office application, be it Word, Open Office, StarOffice, etc. They all have spell checkers!
* Forget what your schoolteachers told you. Form matters more than substance. If your blog is a hideous pink colour the best content in the world won’t get people coming back. Invest effort in your design, or get a pro to do it for you. People respond a lot better to good designs. The key is simple: if you think you right good stuff, keep the design simple. If you write cr@p, then use as many distractions as you can.
I’ve ranted about this before. I can’t stand how many “blogs” I go to that have the more disgusting layouts and schemes in the world. Let me give you another hint folks. 8 point purple text on a black background is not easy to read! Take a second and open your favorite book or magazine. Notice something? See that black text on white pages? They don’t do that because they’re not “hip” or “in style” people! They do it because it’s easy on the eyes to read. Try it! You might just find people visit your site more when you don’t make their eyes bleed.
* There is no greater diversion than your own blog. You will spend hours getting the coding right, the format right, the content right, fixing links, trying to get readers, reading other blogs. You don’t get paid for it. In fact blogging is the one game where the more successful you are the more it costs you (e.g. in bandwidth charges). It really is a sucker’s game.
Heh… boy isn’t that the truth! I wish I would keep track of how much time I spend tweaking and playing with my site. I’ve probably wasted hundreds of hours. I should know better but hey, long as it’s fun I’ll keep slogging at it.
Now go read the rest of the list.
on 09/13/2004 at 05:45 PM
“I’ve probably wasted hundreds of hours. I should know better but hey, long as it’s fun I’ll keep slogging at it. “
Exactly! If it’s not fun then it is time to stop. No matter what chances are that doing this is better than watching reality TV shows.