Blogging is a whole different world to me. I never really intended on ever making one and writing for pleasure until this semesters writing class. Personally I do not even consider myself a good writer and so why would I have ever started a blog if it weren't for this class. When asked to respond to a blog post where the other blogger responded to yet a different blog, I found it interesting stumbling upon a response for making killer social content.
The original blog post was created by Debra Donston-Miller from The BrainYard, a community for social business. The blog that I am now responding to is from a writer at IMAVEX, which runs several social media campaigns. For a big social media, of course the response was given in agreement to all points with comments on how important each tip was. I however will be taking a different approach. Although I agree for a big time blog or other social content writer these tips are very important. However, for me its just a blog where I am writing and not looking to go anywhere big with it.
In similar fashion to the responding blogger, I will write each tip with a little response to each with the tip.
1. Make it original. Obviously this tip is a no brainer. Plagiarism is bad and also no one wants to read the same thing over and over again. By all means I do agree with this as your ideas are your own ideas and even if they aren't twist it so that they can become your own.
2. Make it useful. This one is a little tricky. I neither agree nor disagree with this tip. There are all kinds of blogs out there and not all of the people who write are writing to be discovered. Yes, there is an audience no matter what is written but I don't believe it always has to be useful. At the same time though, something may be useful for one person and not for another even if the author did not think it would be. A piece of writing may also not be useful to an audience but I believe it is always useful for a writer to get something off their mind.
3. Make it fresh. The responding blogger wrote "post often" under this tip. Let's be realistic though because unless you are doing this for a living or just enjoy writing that much, you may not have time to post often. I know I personally do not. Personally I don't go searching for other blogs wanting more either but I do understand that other people in this world do and again, if you want to make it big in the blog industry than of course post often! My take on making it fresh however is just writing about new content. No one wants to hear about the same issues over and over again if they are not changing or going anywhere.
4. Go out on a limb. Going out on a limb is always a good idea (well to a certain extent that is). By all means try writing something new and getting out of your comfort zone. Different ideas do attract different kinds of attention from all sorts of people. I have already gone out on a limb by just creating this blog! It really is just an opportunity to see what you are capable of.
5. Don’t ignore comments. For the most part I agree with this. Don't be rude! Be thankful for comments that praise your writing and don't be afraid to actually reach out and thank your supporters. However, haters exist and you just have to ignore them or they could get to you. I really wish that the "if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all" rule applied 24/7 everywhere. People would be so much more confident and potentially less hated.
6. Put things in perspective. With this you win some and you lose some. You can try to put something in your own perspective and explain something in a way that you understand. Surprisingly some people might love you for clearing up an issue with them. Others on the opposite hand could think you are absolutely crazy and make no sense. Either way its worth a shot.
7. Match the message to the medium. I guess it's a good idea to put information out in a way that makes most sense and will be most helpful. The problem is, many people have their own ideas of what is helpful for them and although you think that writing a blog may be the best approach another person might think a video so they can see what you are talking about is way better. It is also not that hard to do both and add links to other content. There is really no limit to where a blog can go.
8. Employ (updated) SEO best practice. First off I do not even know what SEO is and after finding out it means Search Engine Optimization and that it has something to do with being found on the internet as a blogger. I do not intend on being found as some big blogger so this honestly has no importance in my brain what so ever. Feel free to google it if you want to know though.
9. Write well. The better writing you have the more that people will probably believe what you are saying. If you write something that has nothing spelled right and lots of grammatical errors, people will either think you are five or just stupid. No offense to the people that do but if you can write well enough to fake it and make it then I see no problems.
10. Be emphatic. I truly believe that you will never please everyone but you could at least try. This is a bit hard to do in my opinion but you have to make some points of your writing entertaining enough to keep a readers attention long enough to finish your piece of writing. Props to the people that can do this because I feel like my writing is even too boring for me sometimes (but whatever I like it and I am proud).
This actually was a sort of fun post to do because I got my feelings on these tips out and also from the point of view of a writer not looking to get discovered. Of course all of these tips are great and useful but in my opinion a few could be thrown out of the list. Everyone should be able to write they way that they want to and express themselves in their own ways as well. There is no limit to what you can write, for whom you write, and how you want to express yourself.
Thanks again to both IMAVEX and Debra Donston-Miller for each creating original blog posts on this topic and tips and for providing a great conversation starter!
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