how (not) to blog

since I have been talking about blogs lately, here is another one.

Tony Pierce has jotted down certain do’s and dont’s of blogging. The list is interesting but not applicable to everyone. Some of the points that I want to comment on are as follows.

1. write every day.

Ideally yes, but it really depends on how colorful your life is. I don’t want to blog about how warm the water in my shower was today or how many times my dog farted. I know people who blog once a week and are pretty popular in their circle. Mainly because their posts are intellectually more challenging then the ones about what color your date’s pink hat was.

5. dont tell your mom, your work, your friends, the people you want to date, or the people you want to work for about your blog. if they find out and you’d rather they didnt read it, ask them nicely to grant you your privacy.

What privacy? If you need privacy then don’t blog about things you don’t want the world to know, or better, don’t blog at all. Your blog is out there in the wild waiting to be discovered by random people. If you are good at blogging then eventually your blog will become popular and it’s only a matter of time when your mom, your work, your friends or the people you want to date will find out about your blog. If you are concerned about privacy, don’t blog.

9. use Blogger. it’s easy, it’s free; and because they are owned by Google, your blog will get spidered better, you will show up in more search results, and more people will end up at your blog. besides, all the other blogging software & alternatives pretty much suck.

Wrong. b2 is pretty good. I use it and am completely satisfied with it. WordPress is also awesome. Someday I’ll upgrade to WordPress.

11. say exactly what you want to say no matter what it looks like on the screen. then say something else. then keep going. and when youre done, re-read it, and edit it and hit publish and forget about it.

This is rule number 1 for learning to be a good writer. No arguments with that one.

12. link like crazy. link anyone who links you, link your favorites, link your friends. dont be a prude. linking is what seperates bloggers from apes. and especially link if you’re trying to prove a point and someone else said it first. it lends credibility even if youre full of shit.

Couldn’t agree more.

13. if you havent written about sex, religion, and politics in a week youre probably playing it too safe, which means you probably fucked up on #5, in which case start a second blog and keep your big mouth shut about it this time.

Again, depends who you are. Some blogs are about a very specific topic. And not everyone has an opinion about sex, religion and politics.

20. change your style. mimic people. write beautiful lies. dream in public. kiss and tell. finger and tell. cry scream fight sing fuck and dont be afraid to be funny. the easiest thing to do is whine when you write. dont be lazy. audblog at least once a week.

Rule number 2 to be a good writer

25. dont use your real name. dont write about your work unless you dont care about getting fired.

I almost got a new job because of my blog. Some blogs are totally work related.

30. read tons of blogs and leave nice comments.

Probably the best way to attract people to your blog.