blogging for dummies

I came across this article yesterday, and I found it quite humorous and interesting. I wouldn't nescessarily heed all of Tony's advice, though he has a lot of good things to say. He seems to be a "pro-blogger", if there is such a thing. I've edited most of it, because Tony seems to have a problem with using apostrophes. And, anywhere you see a missing number or an ellipsis (...), that means that I have cut out some of Tony's words. And where you see [brackets], I have changed his word to a softer, less harsh one of my own or added new words where I felt nescessary. ;) Anyway, I wanted to share this with you all, because I think a lot of people should take some of what he says and apply it to their blogs. Especially the part about changing my cursor to a butterfly. Ugh. I can't stand that! Once again, I will remind you all that I don't agree with all that he said. What I don't agree with, however, I find humorous. Hopefully it will give you a good laugh as well. :)

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how to blog by tony pierce, 110

1. Write every day.

2. If you think you're a good writer, write twice a day.

3. Don't be afraid to do anything. In fact, if you're afraid of something, do it. Then do it again. And again.

5. Don't 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 didn't read it, ask them nicely to grant you your privacy.

6. Have comments. Don't be upset if no one writes in your comments for a long time. Eventually they'll write in there. If people start acting mean in your comments, ask them to stop; they probably will.

7. Have an email address clearly displayed on your blog. Sometimes people want to tell you that you rock in private.

8. Don't worry very much about the design of your blog. Image is a fakeout.

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.

10. Use spellcheck unless you're completely, totally keeping it real. But even then you might want to use it if you think you wrote something really good.

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 you're done, re-read it, edit it, hit publish and forget about it.

12. Link like crazy. Link anyone who links you, link your favorites, link your friends. Don't 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 you're full of [crap].

13. If you haven't written about...religion and politics in a week, you're probably playing it too safe, which means you probably [messed] up on #5, in which case [you should] start a second blog and keep your big mouth shut about it this time.

14. Remember: nobody cares which N*Sync member you are, what State you are, which Party of Five kid you are, or which Weezer song you are. The second you put one of those things on your blog you need to delete your blog and try out for the marching band. Similarly, nobody gives a [crap] what the weather is like in your town, nobody wants you to change their cursor into a butterfly, nobody wants to vote on whether your blog is hot or not, and nobody gives a rat's [butt] what song you're listening to. Write something Real for you, about you, every day. (See, I slightly (personally) disagree with the part about "what song you're listening to", because, :shrug:, I kind of enjoy finding out what songs people are listening to, what mood they're in, etc. I think it's interesting, and sort of sets up for their blog post. It almost gives you an idea of who they are.)

15. Don't be afraid if you think something has been said before. It has. And better. Big whoop. Say it anyway using your own words as honestly as you can. Just let it out.

16. Get Site Meter and make it available for everyone to see. If you're embarrassed that not a lot of people are clicking over to your page, don't be embarrassed by the number, be embarrassed that you actually give a crap about hits to your gay blog. It really is just a blog. And hits really don't mean anything. You want Site Meter, though, to see who is linking you so you can thank them and so you can link them back. Similarly, use Technorati, but don't obsess. Write.

17. People like pictures. Use them. Save them to your own server, or use Blogger's free service. If you don't know how to do it, learn. Also get a Buzznet account. Several things will happen once you start blogging, one of them is you will learn new things. That's a good thing.

18. Before you hit Save as Draft or Publish Post, select all and copy your masterpiece. You are using a computer and the internet, [bad stuff] can happen. No need to lose a good post.

19. Push the envelope in what you're writing about and how you're saying it. Be more and more honest. Get to the root of things. Start at the root of things and get deeper. Dig. Think out loud. Keep typing. Keep going. Eventually you'll find a little treasure chest. Every time you blog, this can happen if you let it.

20. Change your style. Mimic people. Write beautiful lies. Dream in public...cry scream fight sing...and don't be afraid to be funny. The easiest thing to do is whine when you write. Don't be lazy. audblog at least once a week.

21. Write open letters. Make lists...Lead by example. Invent and reinvent yourself. Start by writing about what happened to you today. For example: today I told a hot girl how wonderfully hot she is.

22. When in doubt, review something. There's not enough reviews on blogs. Review a movie you just saw, a tv show, a cd, a kiss you just got, a restaurant, a hike you just took, anything.

23. Constantly write about the town that you live in.

24. Out yourself. Tell your secrets. You can always delete them later.

25. Don't use your real name. Don't write about your work unless you don't care about getting fired.

27. Nobody likes poems. Don't put your poems on your blog. Not even if they're incredible. Especially if they're incredible. Odds are they're not incredible. Bad poems are funny sometimes though, so fine, put your dumb poems on there. whatever.

28. Tell us about your friends.

29. Don't apologize about not blogging. Nobody cares. Just start blogging again.

30. Read tons of blogs and leave nice comments.

Courtesy of tonypierce.com

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God bless,
lv