Friday, February 22nd, 2008...5:05 pm
Blogging away to nothing: blogging tips I hate
I’m having trouble writing anything lately. I think I’ve been reading too much blogging advice, and it just depresses me. Did you bloggers out there know these things?
1. Posting every day is passe — just clutters up people’s readers. Work the system, I say.
2. No one cares what I had for lunch. Great. How about breakfast? That might be interesting. No? In that case, I got nothing.
3. No one wants long scrolling first pages. It’s all about the “click here to read more” button. Well, Mister Smartypants, where’s all my sidebar crap supposed to go?
4. Offer your readers VALUE. Great. See #2 above.
5. Everyone loves Photoshopped stuff (OK, I don’t actually have a link for this theory, but everyone DOES love her, him, her, and her, so it must be true!). More trouble. I don’t know how to Photoshop because I don’t own Photoshop. I know, I’m lame. Or lazy. Or both.
Do you follow these tips? Do you follow any helpful, non-depressing blogging tips?
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11 Comments
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:11 pm
These tips do not apply as strongly, IF you are a very good writer and extremely funny.
I strictly follow these rules.
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:48 pm
My tip of the day: Only blog when you feel like it. Sometimes I can go awhile without blogging, and you know, I’m okay with that!
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:19 pm
I blog when the spirit moves, when I feel I have something worthwhile to say. I do NOT blog to a) keep the beast fed; or b) out of a fear of losing readers.
After the failure of my first blog, I’ve learned that quality counts for more than quantity. That being said, I’m damned if I’m going to let anybody but me decide what quality is for me.
A good blog, in my opinion, is one you’d like other people to read. But you’re no less happy with what you’ve written — or with the time you’ve taken to write — if you happen to be your only reader.
February 23rd, 2008 at 7:23 am
This idea of writing about “nothing” reminds me of a very popular TV series, “Seinfeld.” When asked what his show is about, he says, “Nothing. It’s about nothing.” So, it just goes to show — you never know who also may love to read about “nothing!” I like what Jim wrote — the main criteria for writing is for you, the writer, to be happy with your work.
February 23rd, 2008 at 9:07 am
I feel okay about writing about nothing. It’s when the pressure is on to write about Something that I choke.
Good points. All good points. I’ll think on them.
February 23rd, 2008 at 5:30 pm
May I be blunt? Fuck all that. Seriously. You blog what you want to. I post every day or every other day because I feel like it. Sometimes I tell what I had for lunch (as in my last post.) Hell, I often post photos of meals. And I don’t want to do the “click here to read more” thing. I want my post right there in one place. And value? Value??? What is that? I’m not being paid to blog. My readers are free to come and go as they please. If my blog doesn’t suit someone, I feel sure they will move along to other blogs that do. That’s fine. If you start crafting your blog around some absurd set of rules, when does it stop being authentically your blog?
February 23rd, 2008 at 11:55 pm
it must be in the air, I’ve had a major case of writer’s block myself. I think part of the problem is that I have this specific post I’ve been trying to write… you know, about SOMETHING, and it’s killing me! Finally i threw my hands up and thought, well that’s it then I won’t write about THAT and immediately began blogging again. So it goes to show that I can ONLY blog about nothing. Gah!
February 25th, 2008 at 8:07 am
I haven’t had much to write lately either. feel like i am pulling ideas out of a hat. i sure understand the feeling!
February 25th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Citizen, you really need to work on expressing your true feelings. I mean, we can’t really tell where you stand.
It’s weird how sometimes it seems like dozens of posts are longing to be published (and I try to pace them out) and other times, nadda.
February 26th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Sheesh.
1)I post whenever I feel like it. Sometimes MORE than once a day. It doesn’t seem to be hurting my traffic.
2) It is my blog. I’ll post about whatever I want.
3) I surveyed my readers on this. They hate the “read more”, you can’t read that stuff at work on bloglines.
4) If I had something of value to talk about I would do this as a job.
5) I never learned to photoshop. Craps.
February 26th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
I update when I feel like I want to say something, and I don’t care much about whether other people find it boring or not. Well, that’s not EXACTLY true, because I love to be read and I love to get comments, but I won’t force myself to blog if I feel like I have nothing to say. As much as I love my favorite bloggers, I think part of what keeps me coming back is that they blog when THEY have something to say.
I’m not much of a “rules” person, anyway. I think we all work to make our blogs fit our needs and lives, not necessarily the other way around.
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