Thursday, March 10, 2011

Blog Etiquette and how to get the Most from your Blog Work

Blogging tends to be a “me” forum even when we are featuring another blogger – there’s usually a “me” link in there somewhere. I’ve been asked and read so many times, “why don’t I have more followers/comments?" There are several reasons for this and I will address a few.

When a blog is used solely as a venue to promote a business, after the first or second visit, the reader gets bored. Even when throwing in a little personal snippet, it’s usually not enough to bring the reader back for more. In the first place, they have already followed your commerce link, hopefully; and secondly your product may or may not be something they are interested in. Hence no new comments. My suggestion is to mix it up with business, personal and expert posts. The latter is the most popular as people are always interested in reading expert accounts on just about anything. Business or Store posts tend to be redundant and don’t carry much weight with new visitors. And it goes without saying not everyone cares if you have just had foot surgery. Keep your posts on point, and easy to read and not an epistle. Epistle writers need to break up their text with photos or diagrams to keep the reader from going to sleep. The eye will “refocus” when they see a photograph and they will continue to read.

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I’ve seen some blogs that are simply difficult to navigate or worse, difficult to read. Blogs with black backgrounds are difficult to read, especially if you choose red as the color of your font. Further, these blogs take longer to load and could result in a visitor hitting the back button. I follow a blogger whose heading (using a very specialized and personal jpeg) and blog are black and I nearly have a birthday waiting for it to load and almost go blind reading.

When laying out your blog, think about the reader first. Make it easy for them to follow; I highly recommend Google Friend Connect as it’s easy and it doesn’t take over a separate page/tab. The best aspect of Google Friend Connect is it allows followers (who use Google Reader) to have a 24/7 blog feed and they can easily follow you and make comments. I can’t stress how cool this is versus clicking all over the web looking for a specific blog or clogging your favorites in your browsers tool bar.

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A couple of other tips for laying out your blog; if you run advertisements (or friend buttons), don’t litter your blog with so many that it distracts the reader. While its’ great to have people follow you on Twitter and Facebook, don’t make those an in-your-face or in the way feature distracting your reader.

There is a setting on nearly every blog platform that allows you to see, via email when a comment has been posted, by whom and to which article. Don’t just sit there basking in the glow of “comments.” Get back in there and comment back to your readers, regardless of how many comments you have on a daily basis. Readers like to know that their comment it appreciated and developing a relationship is extremely important to a successful blog. Finally, if you have a new follower, it is common courtesy to follow them back and make a comment if you are so inclined. I’ve seen blogs that have over 500 followers but have less than a dozen comments a week – what does that say? It’s not the number of followers, it’s the number of people interested enough to comment.

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On the flip side of the coin, the blog visitor; please, please don’t leave comments like, “nice post.” If you’ve read a particularly interesting article extend the courtesy to the author of a more detailed comment or even a question. “Nice Post” and leaving your blog URL is rude and in this case, no comment is better than rude. It goes without saying that cursing or personal snarky comments are also rude. Blog reading takes time and it also takes commitment. Pick a time that is good for you, when you are least distracted, brew up your favorite beverage and have a ball reading all your favorites. Please try to keep in mind; the blogger has made a sincere commitment to put words to blog and if it’s a really good blog, it’s really worth the time to check it out on a regular basis.

Please don't forget to stop by my CremeMagnolia Etsy Store to take advantage of my 25% off March Madness Sale!

23 comments:

  1. Simply great post about earning from blog. You have provided very nice information about how one can earn maximum from the blog or how much blogs can be helpful in promoting business.

    I really like the post a lot. Thanks a lot for sharing such an wonderful post. Keep up the good work.

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  2. I couldn't agree with you more! I'm just now getting used to commenting back on my blogs. I try to have fresh content with pictures, not blog all "look what I made", I've tried to make my blog user friendly, and if I happen to leave a "nice post" comment,(very rarely) it's because I have brain fog (from Lupus). Sometimes I just mark it as keep unread in google reader, and come back to it later when I'm not so fogged, and I can think. I never leave my url on those comments, not that I leave it anyway.

    You have very good points here!

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  3. Excellent blog post! I have to work on the substance of my posts but it definitely takes some effort especially when youre such a newb. New to etsy, new to blogger and the "followers".. its like a juggling act :)
    Thanks for the great info!!

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  4. I agree. Especially when someone left the link for me to see or to follow back. I could remove the person from my reading list and definitely not one of my favourite kind of person I'd like to see in blogsphere.

    I try to post my items combined with others that's related to handmade and of course something that goes with my blog there. I don't put gothic things with blood and vampire on my craft blog.

    Dita

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  5. You made some good points. I would add that if you have a playlist on your blog, please make it easy for the reader to find the off button. And if you include a video in your post, remember the sound from the blog music and video end up competing with each other. I have skipped blog posts because I couldn't find how to turn off the music. Thanks for the great reminders!

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  6. I really enjoyed this posting. I totally agree with black backgrounds. The moment I see it's dark I just click away because I can't read and I don't want to strain my eyes.

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  7. great points! i agree with you on everything. i hate blogs that have insane backgrounds that are distracting. my favorite are crisp clean ones with lots of photos. i will basically not read a post if it is all text.

    -brittany

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  8. I agree with so many points you make here. Some of the colors are so hard to read and some people don't know how to chunk text for Web writing.

    My favorite feature is other shops.

    Linda

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  9. Thank you for reading my blog this morning..It was written so fast that I omitted things that came to my mind after the fact..looks like I need to write part two to get it all out there!

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  10. Great post :)
    I should look into expert posts...maybe guest bloggers...great idea!
    And I love having my comments come to my email so I can respond to them :)

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  11. I agree with all your points-especialy the black background! I hardly ever leave a blog before I read at least one full post, but this morning I had to abandon one mid-post because it's not worth the strain.
    I do disagree with the "Great post!' though.
    I've done it many times. For me, it's not rude.
    It's like saying, 'I took the time to read your post and even though I'm too busy/tired right now to sit and compose a better response, I'm leaving you my calling card so you know that I was here.'

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  12. Oh, and I agree with Anette about the music!
    Especialy when it's loud.It's half scared me out of my wits a couple of times.
    If I can't find the off button I leave the blog.

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  13. Great post containing so many useful points. I definitely agree with you about the black background thing. it's so difficult to read I usually give up, even though some of them are great blogs.

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  14. this is a really great post... especially the point about not constantly promoting yourself on your blog! people are not interested in hearing the same thing every day, so mix it up! promoting other peoples' work is also a great way to make connections with other people in your field :)

    xoxo,
    lesley

    p.s. found you via etsy blog team!

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  15. Thanks!
    You had some good tips in there. I especially think that having photos throughout a post helps visual people like me follow along, instead of becoming overwhelmed by inches of words alone.

    And the black/complicated background tip is right on!

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  16. Based on the comments today I will be posting more about successful blogging especially writing and marketing blogs. Thank you all again for your wonderful post.

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  17. Great stuff. Do you know if there is a way to see if there have been additional comments on a blog that I commented on,.. for example getting notified if you reply to this? That would be very helpful as a reader if it exists, adn would cause me to return to your blog (well not yours specifically, I do that already) multiple times without a new post actually being created.

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  18. "Ive seen blogs that have over 500 followers but have less than a dozen comments a week – what does that say? It’s not the number of followers, it’s the number of people interested enough to comment."
    So true!!

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  19. Wow, awesome post! Thanks for all the great advice! I'm pretty new at the blogging stuff so this definitely helps :)

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  20. Great tips!
    I'm just getting in to blogging regularly and will keep these in mind. I like to get a smile or chuckle, something interesting to take away or a new tip, and a bit about the person in each blog at least...and I hope I do the same.
    I'm still working on my layout but find Google fairly easy at least for a newbie like me.

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  21. Oh, so sorry, I meant to first thank you for commenting on my blog...I rarely get comments so was thrilled to get yours, and one that was more than "nice post" lol...:)

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  22. Great tips! Thanks for the advice--I think I have some things to work on!

    Rachel

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  23. You raise many good points. Especially about blogs used as business venues.

    I read many artists blogs and quite a few are nothing more than "hey I just listed this in my Etsy shop". That tends to get old real quick.

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