My 27 Favorite Blogging Tips

Ideas, Organization, and Writing (1-13)

Links and Tags (14-19)

Comments and Community (20-27)

1. Don't force an idea.  If it's not happening, that idea is not ready.  Move on to another.
2. Trust yourself and the idea will come.
3. Shorter is always better.  This means titles, sentences, paragraphs, and the entire post.  The more you work at it, the easier it gets.  This gives us a speedier read – pure content!
4. Everyone loves lists.  Just don't fall into the "list-mania" trap. Use it sparingly.
5. Complete the loop.  I like to have my final thought tie in with the initial one.  It feels complete to me, as opposed to being a fragment of a conversation.
6. Start in the middle.  We don't need a long-winded lead in.  Cut out anything that doesn't add to your story.
7. Write with a purpose. My formula is to tell a story that has a learning purpose. 
8. Break your posts into short and easy to read paragraphs.  A fast read is better than none.
9. Keep a log of ideas that you occasionally glance at.  As you know, sometimes you get your best ideas in the shower!  If you have already written the core idea down, your mind will fill in the details over time.  
10. Do it again!  Good ideas never go out of style.  If you can clarify with new information, you are serving your audience, especially the new readers. We all need a reminder once in a while to take action.
11. Change up your how you present your ideas.  Use images, videos, audio, and screenshots.  Try lists, a series, interviews and commentaries.
12. Get emotional.  It humanizes your content.  Just try not to rant, unless that is your thing.
13. Organize your posts into sections or categories to make them more digestible.
14. Ping.fm will post to multiple sites with just one click.  And now that Seesmic purchased Ping, it is sure to become even more functional.
15. Tbuzz creates a shortened bit.ly link with one push from the bookmarklet in your Firefox browser. Or you can use bit.ly to benefit from the analytics.
16. Linking to your previous blog posts encourages more click-throughs.  Set-up a Google search for your site to quickly find the links through keywords.
17. When your create links, be mindful of SEO (Search Engine Optimization).  Never create a link that says: Click here.  Use your keywords for the link.
18. Don't use a shortened url for a link when that link is invisible.  My reason for this is you never know if a link a shortened link will work in a few years if the company goes out of business.  Shortened links are for the social media sites. 
19. Tag your posts for your audience and yourself.  It makes finding a post much easier with that Google search.
20. Encourage comments.  Recently Chris Brogan asked everyone who had never commented to do so.  He encouraged nearly 1000 comments, which even for him is easily 10 times the usual!  This has to be some kind of record.  A very cool idea.
21. Read the blogs of people that comment.  It builds community and a greater depth of understanding.
22. Set up an account with Disqus.  This ensures your image and blog or website links are automatically included with you comment on other blogs.
23. When you get an insightful comment, write the next post from that idea.  More community building!
24. Build expectations.  When I started blogging in 2006, I blogged every Friday and included video. Now I blog daily.  However you do it, we just need an idea of when to tune-in to your channel.
25. Subscribe to blogs you enjoy with Google Reader.  Then embed that into iGoogle for a quick – at-a-glance view of what's happening with other blogs in your community.
26. Keep the faith. Google is always reading your blog, which means others will get the same opportunity when they happen upon that link.
27. Blog for your audience.  Show them you understand them, that you care about them, and that your blog is not about you – rather its by you for them.

  Now its your turn to share your your favorites with a comment.