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1. Make sure a new visitor can discern the who, what, where and why of your blog within three seconds
2. Write original content
3. Make your posts scan-able
4. Use pictures and other visual content
5. Use a custom theme
6. Have easy and multiple subscribe options
7. Include blog author information
8. Don’t use too many categories
9. Reference old posts and topic history
10. Use spell check
11. Link out to other relevant material
12. Have an opinion
13. Use humor
14. Write lists
15. Make sure your blog’s top post has content that will appeal to a first time visitor
16. Use categories and keywords that actually describe your posts
17. Identify the look for your blog, e.g. whether you want a corporate or informal look
18. Market your blog content
19. Encourage community building with third party services
20. Respond to comments in the comments section of your blog
21. Give links to other interesting blogs and articles
22. Don’t overload the site with ads
23. Have a blogging strategy
24. Use a unique domain name
25. Brand your blog
26. Don’t steal or duplicate other people’s content
27. Organize your categories
28. Cite your sources
29. Join conversations on other blogs and continue them with follow up posts on your blog
30. Be controversial, but courteous
31. Use a personal voice
32. Write with passion
33. Tell stories
34. When writing about tips, show examples
35. Try to merge advice with examples and stories whenever possible
36. Write series of posts
37. Write consistently
38. Don’t apologize for your opinion
39. Provide resources to on topic sites
40. Update your old posts and pages if possible
41. Post updates to old posts and pages in new “update” posts
42. Join on-topic communities and get involved in other conversations
43. Be friendly
44. Moderate spam comments
45. Moderate overly negative or flaming comments if it’s a business blog
46. Don’t go off on religion (unless it’s a religious or strictly personal blog)
47. Don’t go off on politics (unless it’s a political or strictly personal blog)
48. Talk to your readers in second person occasionally, e.g. “what do YOU think?”
49. Use humor to liven up dull material
50. Use personal anecdotes to liven up dull material
51. Get the audience involved
52. Ask for contributions
53. Listen when you get contributions
54. Encourage user generated content
55. Always have comments turned on
56. Check your anti-spam software for false positives (everyone hates it when they spend time to comment and it disappears)
57. Link to direct sources
58. Give credit when you reiterate other people’s ideas
59. Recognize other quality bloggers and sites
60. Don’t be afraid to critique low-quality competing blogs or companies; the Blogosphere thrives on conflict
61. Use catchy titles and keyword strings so you have sexy content as well as posts that can be found via a keyword search
62. Use bulleted and numbered lists
63. Use the bold and italic styles, but only one sentence or less at a time
64. Use offbeat sources as well as the MSM (it’s the Blogosphere; talk about other people’s opinions)
65. Write about what you know
66. Write about what you’re learning (just make sure to disclose that you’re still learning to avoid backlashes if you misrepresent something)
67. Write about where you think things are going.
68. Write about where you think things have been
69. Simplify complicated concepts, use easy language
70. Cut the fluff
71. Enable full feed
72. Write content that isn’t completely disposable
73. Don’t Overdo the sensationalism
74. Provide easy social bookmarking options
75. Provide easy social media voting options (e.g. digg, reddit, netscape)
76. Manage your blogroll
77. Change things up once in a while
78. Leverage new technologies
79. Change your blog’s look and theme at least every few years ( web design trends change )
80. Keep the same naming conventions
81. Have consistent navigation
82. Use sub-navigation when appropriate to break general categories and pages down into more specific ones (categories pages, etc.)
83. Use breadcrumb navigation
84. Comment on press, links and awards the blog has received (let the readers know how you’re doing)
85. Disclose sponsorship or paid advertisements
86. If you provide top ten lists or link lists please include why you found those resources valuable compared to the infinite other sources online
87. Put sources, posts, and other information in context for new users / visitors
88. Don’t assume readers or visitors understand every acronym and neologism. Link niche words to Wikipedia or other references.
89. Make your links stand out so they’re easy to find
90. Make your call to action stand out
91. If you don’t have a call to action, then make the blog’s purpose very apparent.
92. Monitor the Blogosphere for news and info on your blog’s topic; information moves faster through blogs than in the MSM.
93. Avoid sweeping generalizations
94. Check facts; they’re online and easy to find.
95. Don’t blog pissed off; remember your words are permanent, so least attempt to calm down or be rational
96. If you need to rant (we all need that sometimes) label it a rant so visitors know what to expect.
97. Bait people when appropriate to encourage discussion and conversation
98. Promote yourself (hey, it’s your blog) but don’t over do it.
99. Don’t be overly commercial unless that’s what you want your blog to be.
100. 100. Appeal to multiple audiences (customers, other industry professionals, other bloggers etc
101. 101.Disclose potential conflicts of interest when you write about a product or service to which you’re connected
102. 102.Be social and have fun!

Have anymore that you would like to share? Please leave them in the comments! And make sure to leave a name and url and I’ll add the best ones to this list and cite the source!

Technorati Tags: blogging tips, blog tips, blog search engine marketing

9 Responses to “102 ways to make your blog not suck | Blogging Tips”

1. Daniel Says:
   April 11th, 2007 at 8:59 pm

   Quick,easy and straight to the point. Nice read dude. ^_^

2. 102 Blogging Tips | Marketing Pilgrim Says:
   April 12th, 2007 at 7:06 am

   [...] Rothman has put together a quick list of tips to consider when blogging. The list has 102 items, but I noticed a few “fluffy” ones that looked like they were [...]

3. This Week In SEO - 4/13/07 - TheVanBlog Says:
   April 13th, 2007 at 4:24 pm

   [...] 102 ways to make your blog not suck | Blogging Tips [...]

4. Some blogging tips that I found useful at Facibus Reviews Says:
   April 14th, 2007 at 6:49 pm

   [...] Rothman has 102 tips to make your blog not suck. I read through the list - there are some things that are compliant with his advice already, and [...]

5. Advice I can recommend from Solomon Rothman at Facibus On Blogging Says:
   June 17th, 2007 at 6:02 pm

   [...] 102 tips to make your blog not suck (discussed here) is something that I re-read every so often to see how I am going. It’s been a good checklist for me as I slowly get more serious about blogging. [...]

6. Andrew’s Autoblog Experiment » Blog Archive » Advice I can recommend from Solomon Rothman Says:
   June 17th, 2007 at 6:20 pm

   [...] 102 tips to make your blog not suck (discussed here) is something that I re-read every so often to see how I am going. It’s been a good checklist for me as I slowly get more serious about blogging. [...]

7. Share the link love without expectation or hesitation at Facibus On Blogging Says:
   June 25th, 2007 at 5:12 pm

   [...] post - I do this a lot, especially when I find posts that I can recommend like Jeri’s, Solomon’s, and this one from Print is [...]

8. Andre Says:
   June 25th, 2007 at 5:18 pm

   This is what I call blogging 101 in 102 sentences. Great list! Great guide! I’m very surprised it only got 12 diggs. Oh well, happy blogging everyone!

9. Andrew’s Autoblog Experiment » Blog Archive » Share the link love without expectation or hesitation Says:
   June 25th, 2007 at 5:48 pm

   [...] post - I do this a lot, especially when I find posts that I can recommend like Jeri’s, Solomon’s, and this one from Print is [...]

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