Blog Tips

I'm still wearin the damn hat.
I love this hat.
It suits me.




I've been absent lately.
The minute I say I don't have much to say,
you can pretty much guarantee a good ramble.
I think I found something to say.

I've been asked a time or two for advice on putting together a blog.
I'm no pro.  But I do have a few thoughts.  They probably won't be popular.
Trust me I've been there and done it, made all the mistakes.
I've even gone back to earlier posts from my humble beginnings, edited the hell out of them.
Deleted photos, that at the time I thought were brilliant, so brilliant ...
I posted 3298454332 million per post.
[in hindsight I wonder what the hell was I thinking]
I've taken my years of experience, gone back and rewritten content
from circa 2001. I probably should fix a few more.
[yeh back then it was funnier in my head] most of the time it still is. 
.



Keep it Simple
If your background is so busy with "stuff ",  your content gets lost.
I know you think it's cute. It's distracting.
And not in a good way. It's like chotsky hoarding.
No one likes clutter. Not in your home, not on your page.

 Less is More
You may be a great photographer, you might not be, 8 million pictures
of the same thing at different angles, or 8 million pictures
from a trip on one post ... too much.
I understand, you have talent, and you like hearing people tell you so.
Don't get me wrong, great photographs/art should be shared.
If you're good you don't need more than a few per post,
more than a few, now you're just showing off.
If your pics are blurry and composition is lacking,
well ......it gets embarrassing, especially if you think you're skilled.
A few pics at a time gives me the reader a chance to really
take in what you've shown me.  Don't overwhelm me. Please?

We're Not Groupies 
or fans, kiddos or lovelies or any other name you want to give us.
We're your peers, so don't refer to us as anything but ...
If you refer to me, your reader, as anything other than a peer,
I won't read you,
I don't care who you are or how good you are.

Music
Don't do it. Don't ruin the music I'm already listening to
by forcing yours on me with those instant players.
Use them sure, but adjust the settings so your readers
can choose to play it.  Auto play sends me for the hills.
There's nothing worse than surfing blogs, listening to my own music,
 landing on a page and suddenly I'm knocked out of my chair
by some song I don't know where it came from clashing horrifically with my tunes.
Ruins my groove. Who am I kidding it's irritating and a pain in the ass
to have to stop what I'm doing turn off your player, and I'm usually using
ear plugs so I've been blasted deaf because you have the volume way
up on the player.

Blog Fame
I've seen some great blogs go what I call commercial.
By that I mean all of a sudden
they get hungry for comments, for more readers,
a ton of advertising I never click on.
I know you are hoping to make the list.
Make some money. I get it.
You want to be noticed.  You're going to be the next great blogger,
with readers in the hundreds, thousands, how good for your career if not your ego.
I shake my head. Usually that means a bunch of guest bloggers
going back and forth, groups that offer up an I'll follow you if you'll follow me,
I'll comment on yours if you'll comment on mine.
Spend a little time on blogs you like, comment,
the rest will follow.  People will check you out.  Yes they will.
 La Table De Nana is a wonderful example of quality writing,
food and photography, and because she's good, she has a great following.
Let me ask you this, what was your intention when you first started?
Is it the same now?
Listen, just do you, Be you.   If you're good they'll come.
If you're really good, they'll stay.

Guest Blogging
A guest blogger every once in a while is great.
Variety is the spice of life, you bet it is.
But remember I come to read YOU.

Quality over Quantity ...
 wins every time.
Over posting.  It's not twitter.
Who can keep up with every single thing you do.
I can't. And I don't want to.  More than one posting a day is a bit much.
Believe me the most important things you do in life, you do away from the computer.
Remove your fingers from the keyboard slowly, c'mon you can do it, I know you can,
you won't miss a thing, it'll all be here when you come back.
Life happens when you turn the damn thing off.
I promise.

Keep it positive
No one likes a whiner.
If you sit in negativity that's all you're going to get.
We all have bad days, we surely do.  It's life.
Unless its truly tragic, or catastrophic ... suck it up.
A lot of people have it worse than you do.
Most days I want to see the good in people, the good in life.
If you sit on the toilet every damn day complaining about no toilet paper,
I'm not reading you.  I know right, nice analogy Kathleen.
[note to self, you couldn't come up with anything better than that?]
 
Roll and Scroll
I like to.
I like to roll and scroll right on down
to the bottom of the page, and click 'older posts'.
I'm seeing these new templates, that give bloggers the option to post mini feeds. You know
those squares with a picture and one sentence.  I'm lazy. If I have to click to read the rest of
your story. I probably won't, especially if I'm looking at ten of those squares on your page.
There is one blogger who says "jump for more butter". For her I will.
You all know who she is, and if you don't check out  USE REAL BUTTER

Comments 
Pop out comment boxes. Love them. They don't take you away from
the main page.   That's all I have to say about that.

Sharing is Caring
We have the opportunity to learn from each other, inspire one another,
share laughs, share hearts, share compassion,  it's the better part of this blogger world.
Share the best of you, not the worst of you. 



I think that's about it for now. 

Take it or leave it ...
This is just one readers view.
I was asked. I've answered.















One Love. One Peace. Always and all ways.