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Monday, May 17, 2010

10 Blogging Mistakes and Cute, Yes "Cute" Fabric Goodie Bags


Alright folks.  Hmmm, can't say that I've ever used that word seriously before, but it seemed to fit here.  I found this helpful post at Scraps and Scribbles.  And she found it from someone else, who very well could have found it from someone else, but let's just get to the point.  The original author is Darcy from Life With My Three Boybarians.  Cute name, huh?  So here it is, 10 blogging mistakes (many of which I know I have made myself!)

1. Being totally anonymous.
It isn’t necessary to reveal confidential information like your last name or city to establish that you are a real person. But revealing something about yourself lends your blog credibility. As your reader, I want to know what we have in common, what we don’t and what I can learn from you. Introduce yourself in a descriptive about meprofile, or consider having a page or post that tells a little about you.


2. Never showing your face.
How do I know you’re not really a Canadian man? Or a spammer? Adding your photo to your profile or somewhere on your bio where it can be seen is another step in telling your readers that you’re real. In a world when 1:4 blogs is manned by a robot, we want to see your smiling face.


3. Always apologizing.
If you start each post with, “I am so sorry, it’s been so long since I’ve blogged, but I promise I will post more regularly…” then we don’t hear from you? You’ve lost us.


4. Nagging on your family.
Unless your niche is the “angry ex-wife niche”, posts that insult your spouse, your mother-in-law, your co-workers makes you appear untrustworthy. If you need a place to write and vent, consider making a separate, private blog for those journal entries that are better left unseen. Anything you write on your blog could potentially be seen by your spouse, your mother-in-law, your coworkers or any boss – present or future.


5. Not running spell-check or proof-reading.
You don’t have to be a white-hat grammarista to have a well-written blog. But do run spell check and read over your post before hitting publish.


6. Cutesy wootsy posty titles.
Consider your post title carefully. It is the salesman of your writing. If you write a brilliant post and name it something irrelevant, the readers won’t click through. Consider the main topic. Be engaging. Remember high school English? Make your post title a twitter-like, 140-character summary of what to expect in your post.


7. Busy, cluttered sidebars.
This isn’t the TGIF restaurant. You aren’t required to wear 10 pieces of flair. Putting stuff on your sidebars for the sake of stuff is messy, cluttered and makes your readers feel claustrophobic. We don’t know where to look if you give us too many choices. Remove anything that doesn’t aid navigation, help us find your content, earn you revenue, or promote your networking. Streamline your categories, remove dead links, minimize stuff.


8. Automatic Music.
Fergoodnesssakes, if your blog plays music when I arrive, I’m leaving. I haven’t even had a chance to know what you have to say because you’ve just scared me with unexpected noise. Once upon a time this was new and trendy and very few blogs did it, but what happens when everyone can? The blogosphere becomes a noisy, startling, annoying place. Lose the music. Yesterday.


9. Making comments closed or difficult. Being unreachable.
A blog isn’t a one-way street. Allow your readers to engage and respond even if they disagree. Do you have a captcha or word verification on your comments? Why? The purpose of word verification is to limit and filter the number of comments. As a reader, if I see the word verification, I honor her choice to limit feedback and I do not comment. If you prefer comments and open communication, make it easy.


10. Links that don’t tell where they are going.
Click here.
Really? How do I know I want to go “here”…? As a reader, I want to know where the link takes me. Used sparingly, and well-placed in context, a clickable ‘here’ isn’t going to break your blog. But the rule of thumb for links is make it obvious where you are taking your readers.
 
I think those are some good rules to blog by :)  Of course I still had to title this next feature "cute fabric goodie bags" because, well, they just are!
 
I found these at Diamonds, Fur, and Laundry.  I think they are super cute and versatile.  Plus you can re-use them forever ans if you have fabric lying around they may just be cheaper than typical gift bags since they are typically way overpriced (although I know fabric can be too, so wait for the good sales to come around). 

12 comments:

  1. These are great rules. Thanks for posting them!

    Nancy

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  2. I disagree about the word verification for comments. I have received spam comments in the past and I'd prefer to keep them away. I comment on a few blogs a day--most of which require word verification--and while it takes a few extra seconds to type in the verification, I don't mind.

    Thanks for the tips! I love your blog!

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  3. I have to second Brianne on the word verification. When I first started posting regularly, I didn't have it turned on and guess what? I had spam commments that were so inappropriate and then a virus too.

    The music on blogs: I can't stand them. I would like piece and quiet when I check out blogs that way I can read in peace.

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  4. Great tips, thank you!!
    And you're right, those are super cute fabric bags! :)

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  5. Thanks for the reminders... the longer I blog, the more I see the wisdom in some of these tips

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  6. Yeah Darcy really did come up with some good tips didn't she? I don't really mind one way or another about the word verification myself, but for those of you who have gotten spam comments I can see why you use it!

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  7. Thanks for the tips! They are sure helpful. :) And cute goodies, indeed!

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  8. Nice post... I don't show my face but I show my body ( not in that way) I have a blog of craft , no need to show myself except for modeling clothes and I have a blog for mode there I only show clothes no my manke up or else.

    about music, it's true I don't stay when I as soon as I listen to the music and if the blog really has something for me I do the effort but don't like it.


    Greetings
    ☺☺☺

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  9. Hy, I found your name on Craft eNVy. Love your writing and agree with everything you said about blog.
    Have a nice day
    Mädchen für alles

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  10. This is SO true...especially the automatic music and always apologizing...I "bite" my cyber tongue from apologizing, because it drives me nuts when others do it!!!

    And sorry, I would prefer my own choice in music.. = )

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  11. Great tips! I'm definitely to blame for some of these... great reminder.

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  12. I love this blog post! I found it through shared items on my Google Reader.

    As someone who had the "angry ex-wife" niche covered for over a year, even *I* found that to be too much. In fact, I deleted the old blog I had for five years and recently started a new one just to purge that ugliness from my life!

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