A Dinosaur’s Guide to Blogging

Hi, my name is Tyrannosaurus Rex (pronounced as /tie-RAN-o-SAWR-us rex/), but you can call me T-Rex. I’ll be taking over from Syigim today. Don’t worry, she is safe – I didn’t eat her up or anything – one pregnant lady can be so fattening for my diet!

I’m one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs that ever lived and I’m a fierce carnivore. I could eat up to 230kg of meat at one bite! Most importantly, I’m so popular that I’ve appeared in many tv shows, documentaries, cartoons and animation like ‘Ice Age III’ and even a blockbuster movie called ‘Jurassic Park’! I even made an appearance in the ‘King Kong’ movie.

I live 85-65 million years ago during the Cretacious period but I think I can give you mommies a few tips on blogging, and how to become popular like me!

THINK BIG
I am 20 feet tall, 40 feet long. My jaw alone is 4 feet long and my teeth can grow to be 13 inches long. I am longer than the width of a sepak takraw court, heavier than a full-grown elephant and tall enough to look into your upstairs window.

I’m very, very big, and very, very dangerous!

In blogging, you must THINK big too. In the beginning, you may started blogging to just ‘play around’, saje-saje, or simply because we CAN! However, eventually you can continue to grow – Bigger! Better!

• From one paragraph-posting, to few paragraphs, complete with reference and links!
• From mere words, to words AND descriptive pictures!
• From once-a-week posting, to 3 times per-week
• Before this you blog ONLY when you feel like it, but eventually you can create a consistency – blog every weekend, or every monday or first sunday of the month!
• Gain higher traffic with better postings
• Meet a lot more new friends through blog-hopping and comments section
• Enter contests
• Sign-up Nuffnang for extra blog-money
• Explore other niche and eventually start another blog!

HAVE A NICE BLOG HEADER
I have a large skull. It’s 5ft long so your head could just be the size of my eye-socket! Go and stare at a Kancil, and you can imagine staring at the head of a T-Rex! Now imagine my teeth – I have one the strongest bite forces of any dinosaur that ever existed! People see me, and they know exactly what to expect – I’m not cute, I’m ferocious! Grrr!

In blogging, it is best to have a nice ‘head on your shoulder’ – in this case, a good blog-header. (You can refer to MBP ambassador Jiji for samples and tips!)

Blog-header is like your welcome mat, right on top of your blog. When people see it, they can make quick judgement on what they are about to read in your blog. They can even decide whether it’d be interesting or not. There’s this blog header with model-like cartoon, carrying shopping bags – and true enough, the blogger loves fashion, and provided online shopping.

Match your blog-header with your content. However, in Syigim’s case, since she doesn’t have any particular niche, her blog just features her favorite color and her own picture – because after all, the blog is ABOUT her, and her life!

Look at your blog-header now – can you interpret why that picture, and why that color? It should all speaks about you, your character, and what you write in your blog!

BLOG LAYOUT SAYS SOMETHING
Ah, my skin is so lovely – with mosaic scales, and bumpy – like the skin of a crocodile, hippo, or rhino. Beautiful, isn’t it? It shows I’m tough, I’m hard and not easy to penetrate and defeat!

Your blog ‘skin’ is important. It reflects on your character as a blogger, and the things you blog about. Or rather, simply choose your favorite color – like Little Mama and her completely purple layout!

• If your blog lacks color or have no elaborate layout, you may not like colorful stuff, you are straightforward in your writings or you’re just a simple person
• If your blog has colorful features, themed layout (like nature, apron or baby theme) – this should show the content of your blog
• If your blog has ghosts on the layout like Syigim’s – means you’re downright weird, haha (or it simply means her original layout got lost due to some technical prob and she simply chose any quirky layout to express her personality!)

WHAT’S YOUR NICK?
Henry Fairfield Osborn, president of the American Museum of Natural History, named me in 1905. It is derived from the Greek words ‘tyrannos’, meaning ‘tyrant’ and ‘sauros’, meaning ‘lizard’. Then he added the Latin word ‘rex’, meaning ‘king’. So my name becomes Tyrannosaurus Rex! Cool name, huh? Imagine my name Awang Kelubi or something – hmm, not exactly ferocious, eh?

Your nick also says who you are because it introduces you to other fellow bloggers, other than your blog title. Be straightforward, or be creative – this nick is what connects you in the blogosphere.

• Nicks with ‘ummi’ or ‘mama’ in it really says a lot about what you enjoy blogging about, or what you started with when you first blogged
• Some uses their own nicknames back in school days, or what they’re known at home – because it personalizes the blogging experience
• Nick like ‘Catlina’, for example really made it easy for me to remember who she is, because she is a doctor of animals, and she loves cats, and has blogged about cats!
• Nick like ‘Syigim’ simply shows she just wants to be known as her real self – because that is her real name (or maybe she’s just too lazy to create a creative nick!)

What does YOUR nick mean to you?

SUPPORT YOUR POSTINGS WITH STUFF
Now back to my extremely large head. To support such a large head, I have an extremely short but muscular neck so it gives me extra strength. It also stabilises my head as it moved.

You do know I have a pair of tiny arms, right? With such a big head, tiny arms and huge bum, how can I not fall forward everytime I walk? Because I have a tail that is heavy and long, and this helps balance my body!

You can write simple posting on your everyday life – But wouldn’t it be more interesting to readers if you have something extra to support it? Balance your blog – have written words, and other stuff too!

• Add colorful pictures to accompany a family story
• Include links to an interesting news item or referance
• Share permalink of a wonderful post you read from your favorite blog
• Put in youtube videos to further illustrate your stories or tips
• Upload tables or graphs to describe your points in easy-to-digest way

DECIDING ON A NICHE
I’m so popular that there is a still an on-going controversy about whether or not I was a predator, or a scavenger. They still debate whether I hunt for food, or I just eat dead animals killed by others! Some paleontologist said I wasn’t smart or fast enough to hunt! What an embarassment!

My point is, these are some of the genius minds of ancient history, and even they’re still debating about this and that, so in blogging, you don’t have to rush to decide your niche.

• Stop your headache trying to decide whether you have a travel-blog, or a recipe blog.
• You don’t have to choose between photography, or blogging about your baby – you can do both, together!
• Don’t worry about being a ‘Rainbow Blogger’, and writing about everything under the sun – just have fun first!
• When you try out many different topic, eventually you will know which one garnered the highest traffic, and which one you enjoy writing the most
• Take your time, get your groove, and find out what gets the traffic going, or what topic gets you to write the most!

KNOW YOUR PURPOSE
Everything about me – from my thick, heavy skull to my 5-foot-long jaw, was designed for maximum bone-crushing action! Crrr-usshh! Even my short, small arms were used to push myself off the ground after restful naps, or to clasp struggling prey close to my chest!

Everything about me has a reason, a purpose for existing.

What is the reason that you blog in the first place? When you always reflect and look back on that reason, you will never grow tired of blogging, and always enjoy it.

• To share the progress and growth of your newborn?
• To share about your life in a new country?
• To showcase your talent in photography?
• To make money?
• To record your daily activities?
• To join contests, or to organize them?

BE FAST & ALERT IN SPOTTING NEWS-WORTHY STORIES
I have an awesome sense of smell which could sniff out carcasses over great distances, like vultures. My eyes are also positioned forward, giving me a binocular vision, better than that of hawks, giving me the ability to focus on my prey very well.

If you combine the strength of the eyes with the strong sense of smell you can easily imagine how they have made me a very effective predator!

As an effective blogger, you should be able to ‘sniff’ and sense when something is worth writing about in your blog.

• Something that you found under the sofa while doing your weekend cleaning
• The new cheeky thing that your kid does
• An intriguing news or story that you read today, like the one Little Mama wrote on the river that flows under the sea!
• An exciting event like the recent MBP gathering
• A thought-provoking issue like pros and cons of home-schooling or the benefits of family bed
• A catchy advertisement you saw on a bilboard on your drive home
• Something your husband says to you that made you think, or made you angry, or made you smile
• A call from a long-lost friend

Anything can be blog-worthy, – something you see or heard while you’re out on the street, or in the comfort of your home – if only you stop to sense it well!

SOMETHING SMALL MIGHT BE SIGNIFICANT
Like I kept mentioning, my arms are short, and small, compared to the rest of my powerful body. However, never underestimate its strength! My arm bones are strong, able to hold struggling prey while I disect it with my enormous jaws!

So remember, just because something is small, and seemed insignificant, does not mean it’s useless! A tiny incident in your life would seem too little to write about, but it could be interesting to some people.

Like a mommy blogger-friend of mine blogged about her little girl having a sudden weird fixation for kain batik! Simple story, but entirely adorable and funny!

I know Syigim doesn’t really know how to make nasi lemak like all you talented mommies out there, so when someone writes a blogpost on nasi lemak recipe, I’m sure she’s excited to read about it, because eventhough it’s something kacang to most people, it is very helpful to her!

KEEP ON DISCOVERING
The National Geographic news dated 28 jan 2010, reported that a 9-meter-long dinosaur was just discovered in New Mexico, and according to a new study of a fossil, it might be a relative of mine! Hmm, I might go and pay a visit…

Anyway, as bloggers, you must keep on discovering something new!

I know even Syigim has never imagine being able to write tips on blogging, because she herself is new to blogging and still has a LOT to learn. But discovering MBP has led her to apply for the role of a contributor and here she is, discovering that hey, she can actually blog about blogging!

You never know what you can do, if you never try! You’d be surprised on what hidden talents you can discover about yourself through blogging!

HAVE A LITTLE MYSTERY
Why my ancestors are extinct is still an unsolved mystery. What really happened to them, is also unknown. It happened as if all of a sudden, and it was a mass extinction! Every dinosaurs seemed to have been wiped out from the face of the earth!

Some claim volcanic eruption killed them, some say it’s the impact of large asteroids. Sunlight was blocked by the dust and debris that darken the skies, or toxic gas might have been unleashed! It could even be the erupting lava that killed my tok nenek!

Though this saddens me, but a little mystery is what makes life full of discoveries! In blogging it is advisable not to be too open, but keep some sense of mystery to your personal life.

• Ill-intention person might use certain important information against you
• You might be the subject of envy and jealousy if you expose yourself too much
• You make yourself vulnerable to people’s scrutiny when you express yourself too much, and too detailed
• Never reveal important information about yourself like actual home address or a phone number, unless the one used for online business
• Even if you want to share with a fellow blogger, do it discreetly, like through e-mail
• Never describe in too much detail, an argument between spouses, or with your parents, because it should be a very private thing between husband and wife, and within family – unless mentioned in a small, humorous way and very subtly
• Never talk bad about your employer, or your working place – what goes around comes around!
• …And I don’t need to explain about blogging on politics or Malaysian VIPs, do I?

MAKE YOUR MARK : COMMENT ON OTHER BLOGS
My first ever fossilized footprints was found at a wetland mud area New Mexico, in 1983 by an American geologist Charles Pillmore. And only in 1994, they were sure it was mine, and not any other species of dinosaur!

I’m proud of this footprint of mine, which I purposely left for all you human-folks to enjoy and do research on! Haha! Smart move, yeah?

In blogging, it is important to ‘leave a mark’ too! You can do this through comment, and exchanging blog links with fellow bloggers.

• When you comment, your blog link will be visible there for other bloggers to see
• In the comment section, there might even be a link for your latest posting that other bloggers might click if they find the title interesting
• The more people who notice your comment and click on your blog, the higher your traffic flow will be
• Those interested in your blog content will want to add your link to their blog roll

TAKE IT SLOW
I am shy to admit this – but my fellow T-Rexs may have been slow to physically turn around, possibly taking one to two seconds to turn only 45° while humans can spin in that amount, in a fraction of a second! Yes, you win on this one!

It’s difficult for me because of my weight, and the proportion of my body. Imagine if you are carrying a huge wooden log, it would be slow for you to turn too, right? But eventually, I use my strength and I use my speed to catch my prey!

In blogging,

• Don’t worry too much if it seems slow for your traffic flow to pick up – Day by day you’ll learn the tips and tricks to increase it
• Don’t lose sleep if at the beginning, noone comments your blog postings – Make things happen instead, why don’t you go and leave comments on other blogs first?
• Don’t be pressured to write every single day – Recognize your pattern, the timing you’re comfortable with and your writing-mood swings!
• Don’t feel discouraged if at first you only receive ‘cents’ from Nuffnang – things might double up in time!

Relax, take it slow and enjoy the fun process of blogging, before taking it so seriously!

YOU’RE NOT THE ONLY BLOGGER IN THE BLOGOSPHERE
As powerful and magnificent as I am, I must realize that I am not the only one in my species – There are many other types of tyrannosaur prowling the Cretaceous landscape, ranging from the tiny, feathered ‘Dilong’ to the bigger-than-T.Rex ‘Albertosaurus’.

What all of us had in common was the same basic body plan: our posture, tiny arms, and big heads with sharp teeth!

So remember, you’re not the ONLY blogger with your niche, so you have to make your postings as interesting as you can so that you can stand out among others.

You and you and you may have similar traits – blog about babywearing, breastfeeding and WAHM issues. What will make you unique from the other two?

• Your unique style of writing,
• Your points are easily understood with simple explanations,
• Your descriptive pictures,
• Your interesting content,
• Your helpful links,
• And your honest sharing of personal experience!

Thank you for reading this posting by a dinosaur. I hope you enjoy reading it, as much as I enjoy writing it! Syigim will hopefully be back for her next MBP article. Ta-ta!

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Tags: blog, Blog Writing, dinasour, dinosau'rs guide to blogging, good blogging