Peoples Republic of South Devon

Blogging tips from the PRSD

October 28th, 2008

The latest addition to our myriad of pages is the People’s Republic of South Devon Blog Tips Central where we share our knowledge, experience and enthusiasm for blogging, and all things communication. We’ll steer you past the pitfalls and get you communicating effectively for business and pleasure. We’ve been blogging since 2006, so we know what we’re talking about.

First up, let’s have a look at content. Here are just five pointers to help you put pen to paper (kinda).

1. Eke out some time
Writing and communicating – whether it’s through words, pictures or video – can be liberating. But it can also be boom and bust, like the economy or New Year’s Resolutions. As the small print says: Stats may go up as well as down. To keep readers returning make sure you’ve got time to dedicate to your new blog. The ideal post frequency for your blog will depend upon many factors including your topic, your audience and how many bloggers you have. Start slow and you will become more efficient as you go along.

2. Choose your medium
Decide what you think is the best blog for you. There’s plenty of blog programs out there (we use Wordpress because it offers so much depth and flexibility) - there’s even blog provision on MySpace and Bebo which can tie in with your social networking. Or why not treat your Facebook site as a blog? Or, if you’re image-led, maybe explore the flickr world, or use your flickr account to feed into your blog. The world is your oyster, and the choice is yours. Just be aware of your, and your site’s, limitations.

3. Create a voice
Think about your topic, what you want to write and how you want to communicate. People are complicated creatures. Do you want your blog to reflect you (warts an’ all); aspects of your hobby; or to promote your business? All of these are perfectly acceptable - but it starts getting a little confusing if you cover each of them in depth on the same site. Fans of your fantastic art content, for example, will get annoyed if you start writing reams about last night’s X-Factor. If you have enough time, maybe create different sites and link to them.

4. Read and link to other sites when possible
Despite what the song says, it doesn’t take just one voice, singing in the darkness. Even if you don’t link to other sites (which we would recommend, by the way), it’s important to keep up-to-date with what else is in the blogosphere… and the world. Why? Because you are part of a virtual community and knowing what other people are blathering on about can only help to inform what you’re going to blather on about. It will keep your blog more relevant.

5. Engage and excite
Content is king - or rather, content is the most democratically acceptable way to get your point across. Even in this hyper-fast world, traditional skills come to the fore. Try to be succinct, consistant and accurate (spelling and punctuation, anyone?). Remember that people don’t often like reading too much on the computer, and they browse like butterflies, looking at the purty pictures, reading the captions, headlines and even (very occasionally!) your stories. Often people will only stick around for a couple of seconds. The trick is to get them to stay awhile. But we’ll discuss that another time.

What tips would you add, citizens? Has this been instructive? Is there anything you’d like us to cover? Comment below please!

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Entry Filed under: Society