I read a piece where the author gave 10 reasons ‘why a blog sucks’. While I tend to agree with some of the author’s points, I feel that the author is not giving bloggers a clearer picture of what or how blogging should be.
Note : I have paraphrased the author’s original points, which are in the italics, followed by my own opinion on his/her points.
Some bloggers simply link back an article. No unique content.
Many people link back to an author’s site after they cut and paste, and left it at that. No personal opinion added, no unique insight from the blogger’s point of view. You can link, and do this more effectively than just cut and paste.
- Links are good, but it should refer to your content. Some bloggers just link, and left readers wondering what the linked article is for!
- “Here’s something interesting I found at ABC website,” and you continue with a quote from the site, followed by your comments. You don’t need to cut and paste the entire 600 words from the article. You could pick a paragraph that best describes your points, and put a link for the readers who are interested to read more.
- You could start with your own opinion about an issue, and then only put up a link that explains your points further, or one that agrees to your opinion.
- Sometimes, you tend to put the main blog address to a link, referring to a recent post. However, 10 weeks down the road, that particular blog post would be way down the line, and it’s difficult for readers to search for the particular blog post you were referring to. So instead, put the permalink (if i’m not mistaken) of that post so that no matter when a reader clicks that link, it would take them straight to the referred blog post.
- Let’s say you have blogged about your personal experience breastfeeding. To increase your readers’ knowledge, you might include a few links to other blogs or postings about breastfeeding.
Some bloggers bore readers with postings about their own interests, and not the interests of the readers.
I totally disagree.
Yes, writing about what interest others offers great possibility of increasing traffic to your blog, but simply writing ONLY about what interest you DOES NOT make your blog suck! You can still ‘engage’ people to your blog, ‘entertain’ and ‘teach’ – without following the majority.
It’s YOUR blog. YOU choose. YOU decide. You definitely should write something that interest you. It is absolutely fine. Why?
- In this way, you would produce good writing because it’s written with great passion for what you like.
- In return, readers would enjoy learning your passion, because you’re so descriptive about it, with all your experience, knowledge and reasons for having this interest.
- Those who share your interests would gain new perspective, and those who don’t share your passions might just learn a thing or two.
- It expresses individuality when you write about your OWN interests, and makes your blog more unique
- You might find some readers even considering adopting your interests because you write about it so well and so often!
The author ‘condemned’ some bloggers who write about their personal stuff. Daily ramblings.
Some people want to blog just because they have ramblings to share, regardless of who reads it! There is this blog where the blogger writes simply about her/himself. The blogger’s hopes, troubles, and joy. And the blogger rambles on and on about them in a lot of insipid sentences, all in one postings. Oh, and that blog has more than 1500 followers!
Why then is the blog so popular with the masses if it’s only about personal stuff and incessant ramblings?
- When you do this, you HAVE to be interesting. This is a given.
- Your writing doesn’t have to be super fantastic with bombastic words, but when you’re an interesting person, your personality will shine through.
- An honest writing always gets into the hearts of readers, and there lies the charm of a blog that focuses on self – so don’t try to put up a cool front, or trying to be happening – just be yourself!
- When a blogger writes about personal stuff, it has the potential to inspire – through a survival of a disease, or experience as a new mother, or how you deal with a new life in Ohio or Cairo doing your phd. Find your niche and work on it!
- Each person is unique, with different experiences, or same experiences dealt in different ways. So personal blogs are always a fun read if you do it right and interesting enough.
- It could even be a way to get new friends through blogs because you’re puting yourself out there for people to get to know.
- A fan of personal blogs once told me that she follows the good ones because they’re like soap operas – something she can’t miss reading, something she always look forward to find out daily, and she feels like she knows the blogger through her/his engaging stories. So you can gain loyal readers even with just personal stuff as your blog content.
Some readers do not like music on auto-play, and find it a taking away your focus from the writing.
“Don’t add music to your site..” is a bit harsh because you’re free to put stuff you like in your blog. Although – yes, some song choice of certain blog is not my cup of tea, and yes, sometimes it makes uploading the blog page a bit slow. And yes, it’s so annoying when Siti is singing in a jerky voice because of poor connection. And oh yes, it’s hard to concentrate reading on your holiday trip to Kampung Pinang Sebatang when an unwanted korean song is suddenly heard over the speaker.
However, music is very subjective. So this particular message in not to bloggers, but to the readers.
- The fact is, you won’t like every music you hear in blogs, just as much as you won’t like everything the DJ spins over the radio. Take it easy!
- The song choice that a blogger has on auto-play does not determine whether that blog is interesting to or not. Give it a chance.
- There’s a mute button on your keyboard. Press it. And continue reading, please.
Bloggers who use clip art in their postings.
Adding free clip art to your blog post isn’t ‘cheap’. In fact, used right, it adds volume to the message of your blog – like father-son hug for father’s day posting, or a cartoon drawing of a sleeping baby for posting about your baby’s sleeping habits. Just be creative when choosing a graphic, and you’re good to go!
Difficulty in finding a particular post, or an old post.
This is a matter of puting the right stuff on the sidebar of your blog for easy access to your previous postings. I think a majority of us bloggers put the categories and search boxes in our blog, right? If you haven’t, you can just add them today through the options in ‘layout’.
Postings that are loaded with typos, misspellings, lost punctuation and other mistakes.
I do agree at some level.
- Grammar perfection is not a must, but if you opt to write in English, you have to be fair to readers and give them a decent presentation of the language.
- This doesn’t refer to English only, even when you write in BM, too much short-forms or slangs will just turn readers off your blog.
- Pleasantly paragraphed posting, with minimal mistakes in spelling and less haphazard punctuation will show your readers that you care enough about your writings.
You are writing similar stuff, just like in everyone elses’ blogs.
Everyone writes about babywearing, so you want to write about babywearing too, huh? If you want to write something that a LOT of others are already writing about, you should consider these points:
- Relate your own experience to make your postings personal.
- Put up pictures to personalized your postings.
- When you cut and paste informations or guidelines from other blogs or websites, put in your own comments to make your cut-and-paste worth reading. If not readers would be better off reading from the original site, if yours do not offer anything new.
- Give your own opinion to make your postings different from others who wrote about the same topics.
You blog less than you should.
To have a lot of short blog postings, or to have few long ones? To blog once a day, or once a week? In my opinion, blogging less doen’t make your blog suck.
- Blog frequency is important especially if you’re just starting.
- You should blog when you have something to say so don’t push yourself just to create a posting.
- Blogging consistently can retain repeat visitors, and attract new ones.
- Remember that consistency is more important than how frequent you blog – You could blog 3 times a day, stopped for a week and then have only one posting after that. This is not going to attract visitors, because they can’t tell. However, even if you blog only 3 times per month, but you ALWAYS blog 3 times every single month, your visitors are likely to stick around because they know they have these 3 postings to look forward to
- You should ask yourself, how often do you check your favorite blog? The you’ll have an idea of how often you should blog
- Also, I’m sure you’ve heard of quality versus quantity? There’s no point in blogging daily if everyday you only report on you ‘tired’, or having ‘too much work today’, or about you ‘picking up your son from nursery’ and what you ‘ate for dinner’. Day in, day out. Then it’s better to post once a month with something really meaningful that happened in your life!
- Finally, don’t worry too much about not blogging as often as other people think you should. Bloggers could subsribe to your RSS feed and will know the minute you have a new post
You can skip a few postings if you don’t have anything to blog about, but don’t let a month pass by!
Your blog looks like any other blogs.
Some of the most interesting blogs have mundane setting. Plain black, or brown. Or just a few ribbons here and there. Remember these points :
- Your blog can look plain, and readers will still flock your blog when you have good content to offer.
- You don’t need a lot of glitters to make your blog different or noticeable. In fact, your blog might end up looking cluttered with too much stuff. Go minimal.
- Your ‘tidbits’ might also distract readers from your content, like too many contest logo on your sidebar. Once the contest is over, it’s okay to take it out to make way for new contest logos.
- Having too much colors might make your blog look gaudy. Have a theme color, if you will. It’s easy on the eyes.
Remember, noone can tell you that your blog sucks – you just need a few more tools will a little bit more awareness to make it special and less ordinary!
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Great, good opinion, Syiqim.
Saya banyak bersetuju dengan Syiqim.
Ya, semua pakar blogging mengatakan, blog lah ikut minat kita. Insya Allah kekal lama. Lagipun, salah satu definisi blog ialah;
“tempat sekumpulan manusia berkongsi minat dan bercerita tentang apa yang mereka sama-sama suka. Itu disebut ‘niche’.”
Jika kita tidak minat dengan apa yang ada dalam satu blog itu, maknanya blog itu bukan untuk kita. Ada berjuta-juta blog di blogosphere, bacalah yang sesuai dengan minat kita
.-= UstazCahaya´s last blog post ..Rezeki Daripada Menulis Ulasan Buku =-.
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syigim Reply:
December 25th, 2009 at 1:56 PM
betul tu ustaz! tak minat, xpayah baca ye tak? saya blog pun mula2 psl mmg minat menulis. xkisah la siapa yg sudi membaca blog saya ni.
yg penting kita puas hati dgn hasil blog kita 
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great enrty Syigim! It’s nice to read something like this especially for the new bloggers like me
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Good advice! Very useful to new bloggers like me
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syigim Reply:
December 25th, 2009 at 4:13 PM
thanks nuradyani. i’m a new blogger too! kita sama2 blaja ok
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seronok baca entry ni..best!
about yang ni…
“Difficulty in finding a particular post, or an old post.
This is a matter of puting the right stuff on the sidebar of your blog for easy access to your previous postings. I think a majority of us bloggers put the categories and search boxes in our blog, right? If you haven’t, you can just add them today through the options in ‘layout’.”
skrg ade widget link within, so post2 lame akan terpampang kat bwh entry kita…:) ramai blogger guna ni rasanye..
http://www.linkwithin.com/learn?ref=widget
however, setiap blog ada kelompok pembacanya sendiri…terpulang kpd pembaca….
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syigim Reply:
December 26th, 2009 at 11:54 AM
thanks doc, for that piece of information
lupa plak psl widget tu
.-= syigim´s last blog post ..Happy Birthday, Kahfi : You’re ONE! =-.
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good points syigim!
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syigim Reply:
December 26th, 2009 at 11:58 AM
thanks nadiah
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agree! suke baca, x suke diam2. tak seronok, bile visit satu blog ni, orang yang comment to condemned habisan2 tuan blog tu. kesian die.
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syigim Reply:
December 26th, 2009 at 12:16 PM
well fairus, if we don’t have anything good to say, better not say anything kan?
.-= syigim´s last blog post ..Happy Birthday, Kahfi : You’re ONE! =-.
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setuju ngan syigim… semua orang ada minat tersendiri terpulang kepada individu tu sendiri
.-= nadnye´s last blog post ..25 Dis… it’s his birthday and it’s Christmast =-.
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syigim Reply:
December 26th, 2009 at 12:27 PM
yup, nadnye…minat tu yg akan membawa kpd blog yg menarik!
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i setuju pasal lagu tu.annoying betul, hilang ‘nafsu’ nak baca sebab rasa serabut dgr lagu. nak2 lagi yang i tak jumpa katne nak tekan stop, terus i stop baca blog tu hohohoho
.-= yatie chomeyl´s last blog post ..Selamat Hari "Gatal" =-.
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UstazCahaya Reply:
December 25th, 2009 at 8:53 PM
Kita serupa puan Yatie. Tapi, ada juga blog berlagu yang saya masih terus baca. If lagu sedap, layan jela, if tak sedap, mute kan aja vol pc.
.-= UstazCahaya´s last blog post ..Rezeki Daripada Menulis Ulasan Buku =-.
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syigim Reply:
December 26th, 2009 at 12:48 PM
haha betul yatie chomeyl…sometimes mmg annoying tp kita kena respek ‘tuan rumah’ nk buh lagu ape hihi… and i’m like ustaz, kalo xsuka lagu yg dimainkan tp nk baca blog jgk, i mutekan je
.-= syigim´s last blog post ..Kahfi’s Rooftop Bday Bash =-.
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setuju dgn catlina, setiap blog ade kelompok pembacanya yg tertentu…
my blog memang tak letak lagu, nanti ramai komplen blog berat…
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syigim Reply:
December 26th, 2009 at 12:59 PM
betul, kak yong. sama jgk dgn penyanyi or pelakon dgn peminatnya yg tersendiri. peminat wings lain dgn peminat ruffedge!
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Great entry Syigim!
To me there are many types of bloggers. There are bloggers who really do studies to engage readers & the rest are blog for fun. Let alone the various types of blogs out there.
The keypoint is find ur niche. You never get all intenet users to read ur blogs but some people might luv ur blogs to the max even if the rest say ur blogs suck.
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syigim Reply:
December 26th, 2009 at 1:00 PM
thanks! and well said, mommy lyna
.-= syigim´s last blog post ..Kahfi’s Rooftop Bday Bash =-.
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agreed dengan isi yang diberikan di atas..
p/s: syigim, i told you rite?you’re a good writer..
.-= arin´s last blog post ..Khas Untuk Para Suami dan Bapa =-.
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syigim Reply:
December 26th, 2009 at 1:01 PM
thanks kak arin..
teruskan sokongan hihihi
.-= syigim´s last blog post ..Kahfi’s Rooftop Bday Bash =-.
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Salam Syigim, Salam semua…
saya pun baru berblog..some of the tips already applied naturally by me..hehe..and thanks banyak lagi perkara baru Syigim highlight yang saya boleh apply pada blog saya..sumtime can’t avoid long entry especially kalau dah berhari2 tak blog..tak kurang jugak mengomen panjang mcm ni..mahap ye…
Neway sangat setuju “You blog less than you should”.. tapi again terpulang pada individu..bagi yang blognya sangat informative dan mesra readers, 4-5 posts sehari pun saya tak teragak2 untuk melawat dan membacanya..
.-= dbalkis´s last blog post ..Cutest Baby of The Planet 2009 Contest =-.
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syigim Reply:
December 26th, 2009 at 1:04 PM
salam dbalkis! komen panjang2 yg mahal tu!
saya pun baru dlm dunia blogging. sonok dpt share ape yg sikit saya tau ni melalui pemerhatian sejak berblogging.
mmg readers ni mcm2 jenis. ade yg mcm dbalkis bole visit satu blog 3-4 kali utk baca posts yg byk, ade yg have no time. as bloggers, kita buat ape yg kita selesa, & tau target grup kita
.-= syigim´s last blog post ..Kahfi’s Rooftop Bday Bash =-.
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Well, said. Thanks for the tips
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syigim Reply:
December 26th, 2009 at 1:14 PM
thanks, sholee
glad i could share it here..
.-= syigim´s last blog post ..Facebook Bday Wishes for Kahfi =-.
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hehe.. saya antara blogger yg meletakkan music dalam blog…
mulanya blog saya hanya suka2 tak ada siapa baca pun…
bila follower mulai ramai saya pernah buang music yang saya letak dalam blog saya… sbb saya juga pernah terbaca, tak semua orang suka music yg kita letak tu…
but… once saya buang music tu, banyak yg kasik comment suruh letak semula lagu tu di blog, ramai juga yg kata rasa macam berada di spa bila masuk blog saya sbb music tu… so smp skrg saya terus letak music tu dalma blog.. hehe…
hopefully tak ada yg rasa annoying dengan blog saya..
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syigim Reply:
December 26th, 2009 at 1:22 PM
hi lady of leisure.. some ppl yg rase lagu tu annoying kalo dia xsuka lagu tu.. tp if u have readers yg actually told u they like ur music, then there’s no reason why u can’t put it up
i pun nk visit ur blog nk rasa mcm baca blog dlm spa…hihihi
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syigim, i read those points before too & thank you very much rajin buat kupasan points from original author.
The last point, ‘your blog look like any other’ => i disagree with him too coz i ada follow blog yang memang plain looking tapi content superb! Suka baca these plain-looking blogs coz I can ‘feel’ it was written right from the heart!And, many things I learnt from it!
Keep up your good post in MBP, syigim!
.-= Hanz´s last blog post ..Why do I blog =-.
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syigim Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 2:17 AM
thanks hanz for ur kind words
plain lookin blogs with good content mmg power – coz they dont need cute2 bckground, or even pictures to make their blog interesting. mmg totally rely on good writing. i envy them actually!
.-= syigim´s last blog post ..Kahfi, Khaleef, Thomas & Friends =-.
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hi syigim.. nice one.. saya suka cerita berinfomasi macam ni.. mesti u buat homework bersungguh2 kan.. keep it up!
nak tambah sikit boleh? disable right click pun annoying jugak.. hehe…
.-= maya´s last blog post ..pinkish patchwork quilt =-.
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Hanz Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 12:20 PM
Maya, disable right click is the way bloggers tu nak protect blog dia…it’s understandable
.-= Hanz´s last blog post ..Sumbangsaran itu bagus! =-.
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syigim Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 12:44 PM
hi maya.. thanks
xde la homework mcm nk buat thesis hihi. sekadar menulis mengikut ape yg i want to see in blogs 
i agree with hanz psl disable right click tu. rasa frust maybe psl xleh amik gamba comel kat blog dia, hihi but then again, it’s their right
.-= syigim´s last blog post ..About Him =-.
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maya Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 9:51 PM
nope.. i tak kata protect blog tu salah.. it is good.. mungkin sebab ayat saya tergantung, saya tak elaborate.. sebab tu rasa macam saya nak ambil gambar dari blog orang.. (ingatkan ada org nak tolong buatkan homework, haha.. kidding)
macam ni, kalau pasal gambar, the way is just not right… itu cuma silap mata.. the reality is, disable the right click not even help.. sebab tu takde satu pun browser yang takde right click.. sbb banyak functionnya… sebab tu mana-mana website, even gambar berbayar pun tak disable right click.
percayalah, cara paling berkesan, letak watermark (walaupun itu boleh dipadam, tapi susah sikit lah berbanding nak melepasi ‘right click yg dah disable’ tu).. ataupun buat macam flickr, tak boleh (walaupun sebenarnya boleh) save gambar walaupun boleh right click.
just my 2 cents & i really hope this will help.. & yes.. at the end, it’s their right..
eh.. cuma nak bgtau, saya suka right click sebab suka nak bukak windows baru pada link.. sbb sayang nak tutup blog yg sedang dibaca yg menyediakan link ke outside url, yg guna windows yg sama.. bukan nak ambik gambar comel.. peace!!
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Little Mama™ Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 10:23 PM
maya, i agreed yg disable right click sgt annoying.. especially kalau time i nak judge contest cutest baby… i need to ‘curi’ the gambar to make judging easy.. he..he
walaupun still can use my capture screen software but it take lots of my time considering i’m juding hundreds of photos *nasib la i penyabar, kalo tak i can easily disregard the entry dah…opps*
the best is still to put watermark
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maya Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 10:38 PM
alamak.. let me show u the way.. walaupun contest dah habis.. mungkin boleh digunakan di masa2 akan datang.. (disclaimer: i tak sokong orang copy website orang, ok, sama macam i tak sokong orang disable right click buat reader rasa cam pencuri.. hahaha… peace peace kacang pis..)
ok. if u use firefox, then downloads “web developer” adds on. you’ll see a web developer toolbar after installation. click at “image” and select “view image info”.. tadaaaa!!! & yes, this is legal & totally not a secret..
syigim Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 12:54 PM
hi maya.. thanks
takde la homework mcm nk buat thesis hihi.. sekadar menulis mengikut apa yg i want to see in a good blog 
i agree with hanz psl disable click tu. frust tu mayb psl xdpt cut n paste gamba comel dr blog dia.. tp that’s their right!
.-= syigim´s last blog post ..About Him =-.
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Little Mama™ Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 11:12 PM
maya, yep, disable right click tak kan menghalang siapa2 nak curi content or gambar (cuma melambatkan saja).. even i use snagit pun sgt cepat but since kena buat one more step to get the photo, sometimes i did feel boring…ha..ha
i pun tak sokong org curi content or gambar blog orang, but i didn’t put disable right click on MBP or my personal blog sebab i know ramai yg like to use the content and share with others *i don’t bother as long as give credit back and the content is NOT used for personal benefit like entering contest or claim as theirs*
thanks for the tips on firefox
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unlisted_one Reply:
December 31st, 2009 at 12:40 AM
betul tu kak Ros,..
tapi, diasable right click tu menyusahkan akan nak judge contest ya? hehe,..saya remove la..
.-= unlisted_one´s last blog post ..Curious kids need to be tough inside =-.
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maya Reply:
December 31st, 2009 at 8:36 AM
setuju kak ros.. saya suka macam tu. bcoz internet means sharing.. bcoz sharing is caring… (as long as they not claim as theirs – kita shara je, bukan bagi kan..)
np for the tips.. it is just 1 of the useful function of the adds on. you will discover a LOT later.. gud luck..
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