Log Week 1 - Top 5 Tips

To answer the question posed by my tutors at Curtin... my "Top 5 Tips for New Bloggers" focus on the common questions that beginners have asked or at least should have asked. There is much written about how to find and choose a blog host and what to do to get a bigger following (audience) but I found little mention in a quick Google search about the reasons people would want to start a blog and why this is an important step to consider before they begin to type a word.

My top 5 tips are probably valid and certainly personal however I think they will be helpful tips all the same, regardless of ones technical skills and knowledge about internet communication. So here we go:

1. Who are you? Ask yourself this question and categorise yourself! For example: Are you an individual toying with the blog idea for fun and interest or are you an entrepreneur looking for more market exposure? Why do you want a blog? Stay with me, this is a tip but I just needed you to categorise yourself because this would be your blogs purpose.
   
2. Individuals can approach blogging in much the same way as an ordinary conversation. People with a business or a slightly more professional purpose would be advised to write in the same professional manner. It's important to add personality and connect with your audience too but don't forget who your blog reader is.
3. So you've started a blog, you've started to communicate with the world. Great. Keep your readers interest and help them to stay in touch with your updates. Install an RSS feed, set up a subsribe widget and plugins so we can enjoy being on your blog and return to read it. Entertainment (a bit of humour) never hurts and it's especially cool to make someone smile. If they like you, they will stick by you and follow, you need to give your readers the tools to remember you and return.
4. Keep at it, regular posts and helpful or interesting angles that would otherwise be newsworthy helps keep your blog alive. Your own reason for starting your blog will come to the fore here, so get creative and enjoy sharing your knowledge and opinion.
5. Familiarise yourself with netiquette, that is, how to write without inciting a mini hateful war of words, not misleading your readers, not putting someone elses work into your own words or quoting them without crediting (citing) them etc. Bascially make sure you are aware of your blog host (or website host) terms which usually state that spam practices, racist, hatred and other seriously unlawful opinions are kept off your space - which is actually their space. Avoid being officially slapped or worse "kicked off" the service you use for your blog. Prevent your blog from being terminated! Not knowing the rules is no excuse.