Thursday, March 30, 2006
How to Blog
On Friday, I'll be conducting a session on how to blog, basically discussing some best practices for blogging. This will be my jumping-off point.
This is definitely not everything there is to know about how to blog. Blogging takes practice and figuring out your voice, who your audience is, and what you have to say. And all of that can change seemingly almost overnight. So consider this a very basic primer.
A Conversation
Blogging is writing, but blogging is also a conversation. So I want this to be a conversation. First, I want to ask what you think about blogging? What is a blog? How does it fit in with existing genres of writing? How does it differ from other forms of writing on the internet (forums, discussion boards, web sites)? What makes it important? What makes it not important?
Picture from Beppie K.
What is a blog
A blog is often defined as a frequently updated website with the most recent material appearing at the top. The media often equate blogs with online journals. In truth, blogs can be just about anything. They can be about politics, literature, knitting, cats, or comics. They can be made up of text, images, sound, video or any combination of these. On the left is a typical blog (click to enlarge).
Here are its parts:
1. Title of the blog.
2. Date of the latest post.
3. Title of the post.
4. Body of the post.
5. Author
6. Time of the post, also the permalink.
7. Comments, serves as a link to both view and post comments.
8. Trackback, shows other blogs that link to this post.
9. Author profile.
10. Blogroll, list of links to other blogs or sites.
Read blogs
If you've never blogged before, it might be a good idea to read a few before you get started. I started by reading the blog of someone I knew in person, and then started reading the blogs that he had linked to on his blogroll. It's a good idea to find a blog or two that you like and follow them and get a sense of their style. Read the comments and submit your own. Become a part of their community. Reading and commenting on blogs is just as important as writing them. As I said, it's a conversation. Without the audience feedback and participation, it's just online publishing.
Picture from mmmazoni
Finding blogs
There are lots of search engines specific to blogs. One of my favorites is Technorati. Others include Google's Blogsearch, Blogpulse, and IceRocket. Both Technorati and Blogpulse show lists of popular blogs, posts and topics.
What to write and how often
Write about what you're interested in. The most interesting blogs are those that relate current events to the author. Most blogs have a personal voice and that's why people like them. One thing to avoid, however, is to just write about the personal stuff in your life (unless you're Dooce, who makes a living doing that). Generally, a blog's topics evolve over time as a blogger finds her voice, so just write!
Try to write every day. In a group blog, you probably don't need to write that often, but a post should appear every day. Fresh content drives more people to your site and in a group blog, gives everyone stuff to comment on and write about.
Linking
Linking is extremely important in the blog world. Links do what any outside source does; they provide some authority for your point of view. If you link to a source, it's a good idea to also quote from it and if you quote from a source, link to it. Linking is also important to give credit where credit is due. Believe it or not, the blog world is pretty ethical in this regard. If you noticed a source at a blog, it's a good idea to note where and link back to them.
How to write
Writing on the web is a little different than writing for print. Remember you have an audience, an audience that talks back. People are slightly less patient on the web, so you have to grab their attention quickly and keep it. All of the things I mentioned above will help. Remember this is not like writing an essay or paper or a newspaper article. The writing can and should be raw. The point is to get something out there fairly quickly. Especially at first, you may be tempted to edit yourself heavily. Don't. Just write. You'll find your way eventually. That's point of blogging. The more you blog/write, the better you get at it. No, not every blog post is going to be stellar, but quite often many of them will be quite good.
Here's some links to more info:
10 tips from A list apart. Their collection of articles on writing for the web are all interesting.
From the book, we've got blog, Joe Clark writes in "Deconstructing 'You've Got Blog'":
It's about the conversation. Here's a picture that shows some aspects of conversation on the web.
(picture from Nancy White's set on Technology for Communities). Why is it important to maintain civility in an online community? How to listen to those within and without the community. This is important in shaping how you write, how you respond to others' writing and how you respond to commentary on your writing. It's a conversation--even if it gets heated.
Some places to start reading and styles
Academically oriented: these blogs tend to have an essayistic form and longer pieces. They are thoughtfully-written, sometimes research oriented, always worth a read.
Tim Burke's (Swarthmore) Easily Distracted
Michael Berube, professor of danger
Adventures in Ethics and Science, a great blog that's gone pro
Crooked Timber, a group blog focused on economics and public policy
Academic, but personal: these are the blogs of academics, but they write more about the connection between their work and their life. Their work also tends to be shorter, but not always.
Playing School, Irreverently
jo(e)'s page
New Kid on the Hallway
Mommy blogs that are much, much more than mommy blogs. They write thoughtfully about political issues, their children, parenting, and whatever happens to interest them. Wonderful reading always.
11D
Half-changed World
Phantom Scribbler
Tags:
On Friday, I'll be conducting a session on how to blog, basically discussing some best practices for blogging. This will be my jumping-off point.
This is definitely not everything there is to know about how to blog. Blogging takes practice and figuring out your voice, who your audience is, and what you have to say. And all of that can change seemingly almost overnight. So consider this a very basic primer.
A ConversationBlogging is writing, but blogging is also a conversation. So I want this to be a conversation. First, I want to ask what you think about blogging? What is a blog? How does it fit in with existing genres of writing? How does it differ from other forms of writing on the internet (forums, discussion boards, web sites)? What makes it important? What makes it not important?
Picture from Beppie K.
What is a blog
A blog is often defined as a frequently updated website with the most recent material appearing at the top. The media often equate blogs with online journals. In truth, blogs can be just about anything. They can be about politics, literature, knitting, cats, or comics. They can be made up of text, images, sound, video or any combination of these. On the left is a typical blog (click to enlarge).Here are its parts:
1. Title of the blog.
2. Date of the latest post.
3. Title of the post.
4. Body of the post.
5. Author
6. Time of the post, also the permalink.
7. Comments, serves as a link to both view and post comments.
8. Trackback, shows other blogs that link to this post.
9. Author profile.
10. Blogroll, list of links to other blogs or sites.
Read blogs
If you've never blogged before, it might be a good idea to read a few before you get started. I started by reading the blog of someone I knew in person, and then started reading the blogs that he had linked to on his blogroll. It's a good idea to find a blog or two that you like and follow them and get a sense of their style. Read the comments and submit your own. Become a part of their community. Reading and commenting on blogs is just as important as writing them. As I said, it's a conversation. Without the audience feedback and participation, it's just online publishing.Picture from mmmazoni
Finding blogs
There are lots of search engines specific to blogs. One of my favorites is Technorati. Others include Google's Blogsearch, Blogpulse, and IceRocket. Both Technorati and Blogpulse show lists of popular blogs, posts and topics.
What to write and how often
Write about what you're interested in. The most interesting blogs are those that relate current events to the author. Most blogs have a personal voice and that's why people like them. One thing to avoid, however, is to just write about the personal stuff in your life (unless you're Dooce, who makes a living doing that). Generally, a blog's topics evolve over time as a blogger finds her voice, so just write!
Try to write every day. In a group blog, you probably don't need to write that often, but a post should appear every day. Fresh content drives more people to your site and in a group blog, gives everyone stuff to comment on and write about.
Linking
Linking is extremely important in the blog world. Links do what any outside source does; they provide some authority for your point of view. If you link to a source, it's a good idea to also quote from it and if you quote from a source, link to it. Linking is also important to give credit where credit is due. Believe it or not, the blog world is pretty ethical in this regard. If you noticed a source at a blog, it's a good idea to note where and link back to them.
How to write
Writing on the web is a little different than writing for print. Remember you have an audience, an audience that talks back. People are slightly less patient on the web, so you have to grab their attention quickly and keep it. All of the things I mentioned above will help. Remember this is not like writing an essay or paper or a newspaper article. The writing can and should be raw. The point is to get something out there fairly quickly. Especially at first, you may be tempted to edit yourself heavily. Don't. Just write. You'll find your way eventually. That's point of blogging. The more you blog/write, the better you get at it. No, not every blog post is going to be stellar, but quite often many of them will be quite good.
Here's some links to more info:
10 tips from A list apart. Their collection of articles on writing for the web are all interesting.
From the book, we've got blog, Joe Clark writes in "Deconstructing 'You've Got Blog'":
It is idealistic in the extreme to counsel bloggers not to concern themselves with an audience. The advice “Write for yourself,” while appropriate for a self-help course, applies poorly to the Web. Before the Internet, you could write all you wanted, but unless you had actual talent and enough persuasiveness to win over an editor, your work would go unpublished, and only you would ever read it.Full Circle: The Conversation
It's about the conversation. Here's a picture that shows some aspects of conversation on the web.(picture from Nancy White's set on Technology for Communities). Why is it important to maintain civility in an online community? How to listen to those within and without the community. This is important in shaping how you write, how you respond to others' writing and how you respond to commentary on your writing. It's a conversation--even if it gets heated.
Some places to start reading and styles
Academically oriented: these blogs tend to have an essayistic form and longer pieces. They are thoughtfully-written, sometimes research oriented, always worth a read.
Tim Burke's (Swarthmore) Easily Distracted
Michael Berube, professor of danger
Adventures in Ethics and Science, a great blog that's gone pro
Crooked Timber, a group blog focused on economics and public policy
Academic, but personal: these are the blogs of academics, but they write more about the connection between their work and their life. Their work also tends to be shorter, but not always.
Playing School, Irreverently
jo(e)'s page
New Kid on the Hallway
Mommy blogs that are much, much more than mommy blogs. They write thoughtfully about political issues, their children, parenting, and whatever happens to interest them. Wonderful reading always.
11D
Half-changed World
Phantom Scribbler
Tags:
