Eleven and a half years ago when I hit publish on my first ever blog post, I had little idea what I was doing and what was going to unfold for me over the coming decade.
As I prepared for a recent mini ProBlogger event event in Perth, I created a little list of some of the 'dos and don'ts' of blogging that I wish I'd known back in 2002 when I started. As it's Beginner Week here on ProBlogger, I thought it might be appropriate to share them here on the blog today:
Note: these are MY dos and don'ts, and reflect my own style of blogging. I am not putting them forward as 'rules' that apply to all. I'd love to see your dos and don'ts in comments below.
My 43 DOs of Blogging
- Do create a blog that is meaningful to you
- Do set yourself some goals and objectives for your blog
- Do 'write' something every day (note that I didn't say 'publish')
- Do as much as you can to get in your readers shoes and understand who they are
- Do use surveys and polls to help you understand your reader
- Do create content that meets your readers’ needs, answers their questions, and solves their problems
- Do write in an engaging voice
- Do start an email newsletter
- Do pay attention to the design of your blog – first impressions count!
- Do communicate clearly what your blog is about into your design
- Do spend time 'off' your blog engaging in the places where your potential readers gather
- Do go to the effort of registering your own domain
- Do create visual content
- Do model the kind of community that you want your blog to have
- Do install analytics and track the results of what you do
- Do find some blogging buddies who you can bounce ideas off and have mutual support with
- Do make sure you have 'real life' friends too – they'll ground you
- Do become hyper-aware of problems (yours and other people’s), and obsessed with solving them
- Do create something to sell from your blog
- Do think beyond what you'll write today – develop an editorial calendar
- Do set aside time to learn the skills you lack
- Do set aside time to brainstorm topics to write about
- Do read other people's blogs – you'll learn a lot from them
- Do share your opinion – it is what often differentiates you
- Do share stories – your own and other people's
- Do back up your blog!
- Do blog with passion
- Do look for 'win/win/win' relationships with brands where you, the brand and your reader benefit
- Do show your personality – be yourself
- Do pay attention to what is energising you and do more of it
- Do pay attention to what is energising your readers and do more of it
- Do spend time refining and perfecting post headlines
- Do think about what 'action' you're calling readers to take in your content
- Do make peace with the fact that there will always be more that you can do
- Do learn how to prioritise and focus upon activities that take you closer to your goals
- Do pay attention to your archives – update and promote them regularly
- Do push through bloggers block
- Do spend time analysing what types of content are being 'shared' in your niche – publish this kind of content semi-regularly
- Do use social proof
- Do take breaks from blogging – weekends and vacations are important!
- Do ask your readers a lot of questions and listen to what they say
- Do treat your blog as a business today… if you want it to be one tomorrow
- Do create content that Informs, Inspires and Interacts
My 25 DON’Ts of Blogging
- Don’t be afraid to hit publish
- Don’t feel you have to publish something every day
- Don’t publish when angry (or drunk)
- Don’t become a comment spammer on other people's blogs
- Don’t publish just for the sake of publishing content
- Don’t use other people's stuff without permission and credit
- Don’t focus so much about the readers you don't have – have a big impact upon the ones you do have
- Don’t stretch yourself too thin (too many posts, too much SM) – do what you do really well
- Don’t become too promotional
- Don’t hit publish without one last proof read
- Don’t write purely for search engines
- Don’t sell out
- Don’t engage in every type of social media – analyse where your readers are and do those mediums well
- Don't look for a 'blueprint' for successful blogging – forge your own path
- Don’t publish large chunks of text – break it up and make it scannable
- Don’t hide your mistakes – be transparent
- Don’t feed the trolls – be polite, kind, and firm
- Don’t let the negative things people say about you sink in – it'll pull you down
- Don’t let the hyped praise people give you sink in – it'll over-inflate your ego
- Don’t expect to get rich quick
- Don’t compare yourself to others – compare yourself to you when you started
- Don’t spend all your time 'learning' about blogging at the expense of actually blogging
- Don’t think there's just one way to monetize your blog
- Don’t become so obsessed with blogging that you forget to have a real life
- Don’t give up too quickly – building a blog takes time
Of course I’m scraping the surface in this list but I hope for those of you starting out it gives you a few starting points. Also keep in mind that these are not ‘rules’ and that the do’s don’t guarantee success and the ‘don’ts’ don’t guarantee failure. In fact I’ve written many of the don’ts as a result of my own mistakes but things turned out ok in the end for me despite those failures.
If you’d like to go deeper on some of these themes check out the recording and slides of my webinar – 10 Things I Wish I Knew About Blogging.
Also don’t forget we are having a 50% off sale on the ProBlogger Guide to Your First Week of Blogging during Beginner Week. Simply enter the code BEGINNERWEEK at the checkout.
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
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Beginner Week: My 43 DOs and 25 DON’Ts of Blogging
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