1. A true weblog is a log of all the URLs you want to save or share. (So
del.icio.us is actually better for blogging than blogger.com.)
2. You can certainly include links to your original thoughts, posted elsewhere …
but if you have more original posts than links, you probably need to learn some
humility.
3. If you spend a little time searching before you post, you can probably find
your idea well articulated elsewhere already.
4. Being truly yourself is always hipper than suppressing a link just because
it's not trendy enough. Your readers need to get to know you.
5. You can always improve on the author's own page title, when describing a
link. (At least make sure your description is full enough that readers will
recognize any pages they've already visited, without having to visit them
again.)
6. Always include some adjective describing your own reaction to the linked page
(great, useful, imaginative, clever, etc.)
7. Credit the source that led you to it, so your readers have the option of
"moving upstream."
8. Warn about "gotchas" -- weird formatting, multi page stories, extra-long
files, etc. Don't camouflage the main link among unneeded (or poorly labeled)
auxiliary links.
9. Pick some favorite authors or celebrities and create a Google News feed that
tracks new mentions of them, so other fans can follow them via your weblog.
10. Re-post your favorite links from time to time, for people who missed them
the first time.
CafeMom is a fast-growing network for mothers. You can get advice, share
photos and much more. Check it out at www.CafeMom.com.
Blog Her is a site that features a growing list of blogs by women (and,
sometimes, men) and is organized into 20 topic areas. It can be accessed at
www.blogher.com/bloghers-blogrolls.
All Women's Talk is a resource that surfs the Web for the best and newest blogs
that cover beauty, as well as society blogs. Reach this site at
www.allwomenstalk.com.
WIMN's Voices is the blog of Women in Media &News, a women's media monitoring
group. It features a diverse online community of 50 women blogging on media
coverage of women and women's issues.
When writing posts for your blog, categorize your posts into topics so they are
more easily searchable.
Avoid long titles for blog posts. The more intriguing and eye-catching they are,
the more hits they will garner.
It is very important to read other people's blogs if you want to be a successful
blogger. You can get a sense of what people respond to and the types of posts on
which people leave comments.
More successful blogs are focused on a niche area of your expertise. For
instance, rather than writing a blog on current events, it can be best to choose
a subsection of current events, such as political news or environmental news.
When a blog is done well, however, you can expand the range of topics you cover.
From your blog, link to other people's blogs that cover similar issues so your
audience gets to see the big picture and not just what you have to say.
Ask questions. To prompt a response from people and get a conversation started
in your blog's comment area, it may help to ask your readers what they think.
Avoid elaborate and long posts. Go for quality, not quantity.
