Roadrunner Reflections on Blogs

My blog buddies Al (of the Bayfield Bunch) and Rick (Rick&Paulette's RV Travels) have offered some thoughts on Do's and Don'ts of writing a blog.  I thought I'd offer some as well.

1. Write what you can and don't worry about it.  Most people will give you a break and appreciate the effort.  Very few will be other than encouraging. 
2. Keep it fairly short and break up long sentences or long paragraphs.  There are a few blogs I will wade through that have long paragraphs with no breaks, but not many.  They are just too hard to read for me.
3. I like Al's ideas on being creative.  I have very few of those creative genes but I try from time to time.  It is easy to get into a rut and say the same thing day after day or say it the same way.  But I think readers appreciate a variety.
4. Change your pictures and header information from time to time.  Again ~ it shows you are maintaining things and trying to keep an interest which is appreciated.
5. Be as honest as you can.  If you don't like something, say so, but remember that most people don't want to listen to a moaner, complainer and generally negative person.  But sometimes it is what it is and that is ok. You don't have to be upbeat and cheery all the time.  Life is not like that.
6. Don't bother with a rant on politics or get into religious views unless you don't care about your readership.  I would rather not read about the back and forth of someone who doesn't agree with you.  Unless your blog is a political and/or religious blog.  I'd say most RVers reading this are not.Most readers are accepting if you are a religious person and have a comment from time to time, just be careful so it doesn't seem too pushy.
7. Throw in some pictures.  I like to see photos if there are not more than 20 on a page.  If so, put them in a slideshow.  I guess that goes back to my briefing days and they were real big on graphics and emphasized how important visuals are to support the message.
8. Provide some personal thoughts from time to time.  People who read about you are interested in who you are.
9. Always try to improve.  Change things up some on your blog and see if you like it.  Banners, side bars, widgets, photos, colors ~ dabble with it and see what you like.
10. I agree with Rick and Al:  stay away from music unless the off button is handy. 
11. Reference other peoples blogs and copy a link to their site.  It's one of the best compliments you can give someone and it is an encouragement to them also.
12. Add comments to other peoples blogs.  After a while I began to look at it as my 'price of reading' ~ if that makes any sense.  These people have put time into communicating their thoughts and I like that fact that they did it, so instead of 'paying', I like to drop a note and say a few words.  It doesn't even have to be a lot of words.  I marvel at statistics that tell me 216 readers viewed my site and I had only 3 comments.  On the other hand I write for many reasons, not just numbers and Followers.
13. There must be some protocol about asking for people to 'Follow' but it must be unwritten.  Few people actually ask people to 'Follow' their blog but I see nothing wrong with it.  Almost everyone says, 'Please leave a comment' which seems fine too.
14. Short.  Keep your posts short for the most part.  If people read like I do, they skim through them so they can get on to the next blog...
15. Some blogs have no pictures and I find those difficult to read sometimes.  But not always. Nick of the Gypsy Journal is a very good writer and sometimes doesn't use pictures.  I think Adam is a good writer and seldom uses pictures.  Kelly is both a good writer and used to use more pictures than she does now.  Rick usually posts pictures to have pictures and sometimes are not related to the post.  That works too.
16. If we visit a museum or park or monument, I like to have a few facts and specifics.  But as Al said, don't go overboard, provide a link so I can go there and read about it myself.
17. Ask questions.  If you have a question about something you read on a person's blog, ask them about it.  Usually, they appreciate the question and maybe your question will turn into a blog subject all by itself.  And bloggers would rather have too many ideas for a post than not enough.
18. That is all I could think of for now and I have violated my own guidelines in keeping posts short...

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