Tips for Good Blogging
I need your help, everyone. I am applying to teach a blogging class through my city and am trying to come up with a class syllabus. The class would be for people interested in creating a blog or those who have just begun and would like pointers on how to proceed. I've thrown together a rough outline below of a few things that I think might be of interest to a newbie. Please tell me what I'm missing or what things you would be interested in knowing. I haven't yet decided how long the class will be but am thinking maybe four one hour long sessions. Your advice is greatly appreciated!
Blogging 101
How to create a blog
Various platforms to create a blog (blogger, wordpress, livejournal, on your own, etc)
Finding a Theme for your Blog
Making your blog a trustworthy source. Determining what will and will not be posted.
Creating an Audience
Listing your blog on blogrolls, finding similar interest groups, courting other bloggers, utilizing social bookmarking websites, personal p.r.
Proven Post Formats
Simple tips to make sure your posts aren't dismissed before they are even read and how to make sure people come back for more
Blogger Ettiquite
Respecting your readers, turnoffs, the law of reciprocity, giving credit to original sources
Basic html formatting
Formatting Tricks to create a polished blog
Drop down menus, an inviting color scheme, testing your blog on various internet browsers to check format variations
Protecting your Privacy
How much information is too much? What others can learn about you from a non private blog. The pros and cons of anonymity. What statistics programs can tell others about you and your surfing habits.
Beyond the Blog
Syndication, publishing, editorials, contests, and making money off all your hard work.
Blogging 101
How to create a blog
Various platforms to create a blog (blogger, wordpress, livejournal, on your own, etc)
Finding a Theme for your Blog
Making your blog a trustworthy source. Determining what will and will not be posted.
Creating an Audience
Listing your blog on blogrolls, finding similar interest groups, courting other bloggers, utilizing social bookmarking websites, personal p.r.
Proven Post Formats
Simple tips to make sure your posts aren't dismissed before they are even read and how to make sure people come back for more
Blogger Ettiquite
Respecting your readers, turnoffs, the law of reciprocity, giving credit to original sources
Basic html formatting
Formatting Tricks to create a polished blog
Drop down menus, an inviting color scheme, testing your blog on various internet browsers to check format variations
Protecting your Privacy
How much information is too much? What others can learn about you from a non private blog. The pros and cons of anonymity. What statistics programs can tell others about you and your surfing habits.
Beyond the Blog
Syndication, publishing, editorials, contests, and making money off all your hard work.
Comments
How much information is too much? "
better let me be a guest lecturer and teach that particular portion of the class. otherwise it will be the blind leading the blind.
I was looking at an article about John Chow today. He says don't add advertising to your blog until your hits are sizeable (like upwards of 10,000 hits a day) wow. I am not sure I get 10,000 hits a year.
Looks great to me!
HTML - include how to create a link, how to make ordered and bullet lists, how to control text (aligning text, styling text, changing fonts), minimal cross-browser compatibility
Banners/Headers and buttons - how to design a banner, when is something too large or too small,how to create blogs, what "instant" tools are available to make custom-looking blogs
Theming - how to make your website catchy and coordinated (a la how your sections are all creatively named)
Organization - that is "why to link within your own website first and then put links to your 100 friends"
Time - how to find the time, energy, and enthusiasm to blog
Advertising - why or why not to use various advertising widgets
Style - how to make your writing engaging and notable
Chronicler, I definitely disagree with John Chow about the ads. That may be the case with Google ads (very low yield) but with just my one BlogHer ad on the site I'm getting a significant check each month. I get 10,000 hits a month, not a day. It definitely depends on which ads you use.
As far as "courting" goes, if you can woo a blogger that you admire and actually make them like you too, you increase your networking power. While many bloggers don't care about whether or not they are read, others really want more exposure and getting noticed by other bloggers and mentioned around the blogospehere gives them warm fuzzies (myself included!)
When starting a blog, you should really be able to rattle off ten or so topics you'd like to discuss right off the bat.
Oh, and also the fact that you need to read a lot of blogs to be able to write one. It's really important to know where to look for ideas for posts. To do this, you have to be familiar with the types of blogs your target audience reads on a daily basis. (This is also a great way to boost traffic.)
Man, I read too many blogs.
now there's a gig!