SB/ Sharon
suzanne
Stephanie
Catie 
Habits Roundup
problogger's challenge to write about the Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers has resulted in a great many thoughtful posts; mostly, of course, about professional blogging, rather than the personal and idiosyncratic blogging in which I indulge.
I was hoping for some truly eccentric suggestions. You know, like turn three times clockwise, then bow to the west twice; or put on your FEAR THE POET T-shirt, burn sage incense, chant "I am creative" thirteen times. Something.
But no, pretty much the expected good advice, with a few not-so-typical good ideas; and some of the usual, unusually well-expressed. To the extent there is a common theme, it is: Passion. Persistence. Patience. To which I would add: Play!
One writer managed twelve P's: The 12 P’s of Successful ProBlogging.
I did a very quick look-through, and offer below some brief excerpts. The excerpts are linked with Deep Quote, which, I discovered too late, links to the Deep Quote site instead of the originating site -- so I've linked each blog title to the relevant post as well -- and will use Deep Quote with more discretion in future.
Carry a notebook . . . Inspiration strikes at the oddest moments.
Good advice for any writer. Carry your camera, too.
Develop content based on principles and values. While a blog cannot deliver “key messages” in a canned and contrite manner (this isn’t a soundbite medium), it can be written from the values and principles of its writer or company. Knowing these values for yourself is the key to developing a “voice” for your communication.
This one struck me because I so rarely see it said quite this directly, though some others, below, speak about specific values.
Be generous in your attributions and never be afraid to link out. People who are selfish about linking generally don’t rank as well as websites who link out a lot. If you found an idea interesting, make sure you’re fair to the source of info. Any pictures you may download, etc, should be clearly sourced to wherever you commandeered them from. If you smile at the world, the whole world smiles back.
Yes yes yes!
Hav[e] an outlet. I wrote an article a while back about good bloggers are not always blogging. Effective bloggers need to be reading, writing, going for walks, visiting friends, and just giving your brain a rest. Too many times bloggers don’t have an outlet. I think of your brain as a muscle. A large part of building a muscle is actually resting. You can’t just lift weights all day long every day. You need to do other things for a while.
Interesting metaphor. Descriptive. A good reminder for me, since I tend to get a bit obsessive and single-minded at times . . .
. . . [be] willing to expose yourself to a bunch of strangers. I have no control over who is reading my thoughts and that makes me vulnerable to the weirdos while gaining new friends at the same time; That exposure also includes the danger of sometimes being misunderstood.
Or of being understood and then embarrassed about it . . .
Well put.
Use habit. Don't let it use you. Your daily routine is the framework you use to live a creative life, but it is a framework, not your life itself. Don't let your habits become ruts. They are there to serve you, to free you to focus on creation. Periodically examine your work to make sure you aren't just working out of routine, but are actually putting conscious thought into what you are doing.
Good advice in general, not just blogging.
Do What You Can, Get Help with the Rest . . . ask for help. You don’t have to know it all. If fact, I think it’s better if you don’t even try. Know what you know. That is, get really good at whatever it is you can and want to do. Then, ask for help on the other stuff. You can’t master all things.
Being willing to not know is really important, I think. In fact, when I used to hire folks, this was one of my criteria -- the willingness to admit ignorance.
Use technology efficiently - From the blogging platform you use, to your RSS feeds, effective bloggers know what works for them, and what doesn’t. Also, being able to adjust to the ever changing environment which is the internet, is key to blogging success.
Toys, toys, toys. [Oops, sorry -- did I say that out loud?]
Link. People like the web because it’s non-linear. I still remember the joy I felt when I visited my first web page in 1994. It was a hypertext version of Hamlet. I was thrilled to be able to click to other parts of the play – and to related articles, notes and dictionaries. Keep that feeling alive. Link.
I remember this excitement, too. I love how multi-dimensional the internet is, how deep. It's part of what I'm still learning.
. . . use the social bookmarking services to take your blog posts to a wider audience.
It has never occurred to me to bookmark my own sites -- good idea, this.
Brevity is good. Expanding on this one will dilute my point.
Yep.
Case Notes from the Artsy Asylum:
Pay Attention: Notice what you like and what you don't like while you're reading. Your own blog will benefit.
Pay attention all the time. Look, listen, taste, smell, touch.
I linkback to my own previous articles on the blog related to the same topic. Whether it’s a follow up story, or even if it’s only somewhat relevant to the current article, I try to linkback to previous article. It allows new readers to have access to older material, as well as giving search engines a link closer to the “root” of the website, which is a good thing
I do this, too -- though I know it annoys some folks who view it as self-promotion.
Make sure you have several posts that can easily or quickly be published at any time. This is my “idea” because I find that sometimes things come up that was unexpected. By finishing or somewhat getting some posts that are close to be “ready” for publishing, you can save yourself when the unexpected happens.
And I do this, to accommodate unpredictable energy levels.
This just seemed like a great metaphor for lots of things. Besides, I love the title of the site.
Hooks and Suspense: The post title and the first line are sometimes all it takes for a reader to decide if he/she will finish reading the post and/or recommend it to others. I like to post bold headlines and start off with a hook. It could be a joke, an incident or a story, but I find that grabbing the readers' attention and taking them along works almost always.
Writing good titles is a gift and a skill -- one I keep forgetting to develop.
When looking at all the blogs I like, not just like but visit ONCE A DAY, all have in common?
- New Posts Everyday
- Consistent
- Pictures
- Links to the original Story
- Clean Design
I think some variation on this can work -- publishing regularly, for example, even if that is weekly rather than daily. Some folks don't like pictures and graphics, because they slow loading; some of us are addicted to them and think blogging is a visual medium.
I'm one of those who feel that links and comments are essential elements of blogging -- not that sites without either aren't worthwhile, I just don't think of them as blogs.
Two other posts I enjoyed were Effective Bloggers are Learners, Thinkers, Explorers and Dreamers, and Highly Effective Blogging: Just Like Highly Effective Writing.
A final principle I believe in is that one can't review the basics too often, and this has been a good exercise in that -- both writing my own post, and reading others. Though I don't plan to participate every week, I look forward to reading the next in this series.
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