Blogging Basics

I don’t know how many times I’ve seen the words in the title used incorrectly. Heck, I’ve even made the same mistakes. So, quick lesson in English grammar.

Don’t say “loose” when you really mean “lose”. You “lose a wallet” but “a screw is loose”.

Don’t say “your” when you really mean “you’re”. It’s “your home” is different from “you’re home”. The former means you own/live in the home but the former means you’ve arrived home.

Don’t say “its” when you really mean “it’s”. “It’s rainy outside” is different than “its battery charger”.

Blogging is about communicating, engaging and sharing. How do we do that? We link, link link! But, do you know the proper way to link to share your “link love”?

No question bloggers find news from many different sources. And really good bloggers link out everywhere. Heck, some blogs are nothing but links (for example, check out Fark and Gizmodo).

But I’m seeing a lot of variation in terms of how the links are “anchored” (i.e., what terms are used to describe the link). In my opinion, really good blogs link news sources by using descriptive anchor text followed by a non-linked name of the referring source.

Good Linking Example:

[How to pick a cell phone carrier via Cell Phone News]

Bad Linking Example:

[Source: Cell Phone News]

Why is one better than the other? Answer: It all has to do with how search engines like Google use links’ anchor text to determine what the site is all about–and use that information in determining SERP rankings when someone searches for a keyword phrase. Sometimes (or usually), a site’s name has little to do with the descriptive subject matter. However, if many people use descriptive anchor text in their links, then they are helping the search engines figure out what the site is all about.

If everyone does it, then we’re all helping each other out in the SERP rankings.

Being a consistently good blogger is hard work. Writing up posts that interest and captivate your visitors is a challenging task. Where do great bloggers get their inspiration? While others may have different opinions, here is how I’d go about getting blogging inspiration.

Step One: The Very Beginning

Building a blog is like building a pyramid. Cover off a broad base of questions and knowledge before moving on to more esoteric stuff. Generally, this means first building a foundation of basic content. I assume that my audience knows very little about my subject area so I have to educate them on the basics of the topic.

In order to help me along, I think about what questions my visitors may have if they are just learning about the subject. Also, I consider how to answer their “questions”. Perhaps this can be easily accomplished with a FAQ posting? Or, for highly technical topics, a glossary of terms? Maybe a guide would be useful to your visitors–on my Cell Phone News blog, I have a guide on How to Pick a Cell Phone Carrier.

Step Two: Getting More Inspiration

Once you’ve settled on the basics, it’s time to build on the generalized content. Report on news in your topic, opine on developments, link to useful posts and resources by other bloggers and sites. Do searches in the search engines for your topic, read related blogs, set up your newsreader subscriptions to other related sites so you can take a pulse on what the hot topics are.

The idea here is not to reinvent the wheel nor is it to rehash what everyone else is talking about. It’s all about incrementally adding value to ideas/opinions/posts already out in the blogosphere. Suppose someone has just broken the news of a great new product. Perhaps you can opine as to how that product would make some currently hot product completely obsolete. A great example of this was done over at Performancing where Chris Garret posted about how the new and free Google Analytics stats package might make other stat packages that charge money obsolete. He then went on to review some popular stats packages to see whether they stacked up against Google Analytics.

Some blogs distinguish themselves by trying to be the first to break news. The Apple-centric blog Thinksecret regularly posts rumors that later on turn out to be true (though some have been false). TechCrunch also does the same thing. If for some reason you are “in the know” (by, for example, knowing someone on the inside), perhaps you can use that to your advantage.

What if you don’t have anyone on the inside? Perhaps then you can analyze data that is publicly available and discover something unique. Perhaps you can take a visit to the local bookstore and review some magazines for inspiration then incrementally adding value by taking a different perspective.

Step Three: Top of the Pyramid

Once you’ve gotten Steps One and Two going, you can start to focus on Step Three. Step Three is the top of the pyramid and it is hoped at this point you are viewed as an authority on the topic of your blog. Now you need to be on the cutting edge to distinguish yourself from the other blogs out there. You need to read and be up to speed on the latest theories, news and techniques of your topic.

You should have well-formed opinions on any number of sub-topics related to your blog’s main topic. You should be a regular contributor to a number of other popular blogs. You should consider taking perspectives others have not considered before.

You should try different techniques for expanding your blog’s reach. For example, guest bloggers help present a different perspective and adds to the authority of your site. Darren runs contests from time to time and regularly conducts polls. Increasing participation is the name of the game at this point.

Summary:

• Step One. Get the basics of your topic area set up. Post on FAQs, set up a glossary, create a guide for beginners.
• Step Two. Contribute incremental value to existing ideas and perspectives. Try to be a “news breaker” if possible.
• Step Three. Take a different perspective on a hot topic. Try to interlink topics/viewpoints/perspectives. Participate in hot topics, engage your visitors.

Whatever your goals are for having a blog, there are a general set of Key Success Factors to reaching those goals.

Your blog must be:

1. Remarkable–A unique viewpoint, a rare tip, a useful resource (e.g., “flagship” content). All of these things (and others) make your blog remarkable. Simple rehashing of content found elsewhere is much less remarkable but generous linking out to useful content goes a long way to making your blog remarkable.
2. Easy to understand–A blog is an “engaging” (i.e., a dialogue between you and your subscribers) and a “transmitting” (i.e., a vehicle to convey your thoughts) medium. A prerequisite to both is that your blog must be easy to understand. Get away from jargon (unless your audience is generally familiar with such jargon).
3. Elegant looking–A blog should be elegant. Elegant design goes a long way to generating inbound links from other sites. People view elegant looking websites as conveying more authority and “expertness”.
4. Linkable–All of the previous key success factors make your blog “linkable”. Links are the currency of the web (how many times have you heard that?) and without them, your blog voice will never be heard.

[I tip my hat on this post to Chris Garret for his excellent article on creating Killer Flagship Content (where I got the idea for KSFs) and Jeremy Wright's Blog Marketing book (for the discussion on "engaging" versus "transmitting" websites).]

Some claim there are over 12 million blogs in the US right now; a significant number of which are not being updated regularly. I guess it’s easy to have a general idea as to why one would want to start a blog (e.g., make money, be heard, etc.). And it’s easy to start a blog. But without concrete goals, it’s hard to blog consistently and well. I’m not saying that goals can’t evolve or change, but they need to be somewhat specific when you start a blog.

Don’t get confused with statistics like revenue, number of readers, number of comments, number of links, etc. Those are all just measurements of how close (or far) you are to your goals. Setting specific goals helps you focus. Having focus allows you to blog consistently and with one voice. It’s easier to find topics to talk about when you have focus.

A couple of examples of some goals include:

• Being known as the first to post on breaking news on a particular topic
• Being an expert in a particular subject

To be truly useful, goals must be engage you on a daily basis so that you are motivated to seek topics to discuss all the time. Nobody wants a blog that isn’t updated.

Here’s a discussion on What Determines Your Blog’s Popularity and Success that is relevant to our discussion on goals for blogging.

Now, what are you goals for blogging?