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3 Blogging Blunders

I’m not a blogging expert. And I’m certainly not a social media guru. But I have been blogging long enough that I’ve learned a few things about what can help make blogging successful.

Over the past year, my readership has steadily increased. And one of the factors that has played a role in the increase has to do with presentation. When a writer who’s serious about publication sets up a blog or website, in a sense, they’re hanging out a sign and saying, “open for business.” And as in any type of business, how we present ourselves is important. (Read this post: Maintaining a Professional Blog.)

A blog acts as a writer’s online “office.” It’s open to the public, to literally anyone in the world who wants to stop by. Our offices should reflect us—everything from the color we paint the walls to the pictures and decorations we set out. Sometimes, we can even decorate our cyber office in a way that reflects our writing style or voice. A great example is suspense writer, Brandilyn Collin's blog. The colors, headers, and font all work together to give an aura of suspense.

No matter how we choose to set up our offices, we want them to be inviting places—orderly, easy to read and navigate, and well-maintained. In other words, we want people to be able to stop by our offices, have a great experience, and ultimately desire to come back.

Since I’ve recently blogged about some of the positive things we can do to attract readers and generate more traffic to our blogs, I thought instead, I’d mention a few blogging blunders—things that may be detrimental to our online writing “business.” As with everything I write in my blog posts, I'm merely sharing my opinions. Everyone has the right to blog the way they want. There aren’t any hard fast rules about blogging—that’s one of the beauties of it.

With that said, if we hope to present ourselves as growing professionals in the writing industry, then we should think twice before doing the following:

Blunder #1: Not having our name clearly visible.

Occasionally, I visit writer blogs and I can’t find the blogger’s name anywhere. I’m not sure why some writers choose to avoid displaying their names. But those of us serious about publication have to get serious about having our names out there. If we’re too afraid to put it on our blogs, how will we cope with having it on our books?

It’s never too early to promote our names—on our blogs, in the comments we leave, with our twitter username, etc. The more places the better. From the start, we should use the name that we’ll put on our books. We should display it in the header of our blogs, and if not there, then it should be somewhere at the top of our blogs where everyone can see it right away.

Blunder #2: Not having our contact information easily accessible.

Yes, there are spammers. And yes, there are privacy issues involved in revealing our email addresses. But again, those of us serious about publication need to get used to the idea of having an email address that’s readily available—especially for future readers. We won’t be able to hide after publication, so why hide at all?

And what if an agent, editor, or other industry professional wanted to contact us? It’s been known to happen! What if they couldn’t find an email address?

Individuals and businesses who hope to succeed need to make themselves accessible. I have a Contact tab at the top of my blog. Listing our email address can suffice also. To avoid most spammers, we should spell out our emails. For example, whenever I put my email address on my blog I write it as: jodyhedlund (at) jodyhedlund (dot) com. Anyone wishing to contact me would fill in the area in parenthesis with the symbols.

Blunder #3: Focusing too much on ourselves.

I like blogs that are personal, especially when the writer shares about their experiences in their unique voice. But I like it even better when I come away after reading it challenged or changed in some way. In other words, I think there’s a difference between those who write to serve primarily themselves and those who write for their readers too.

If we’re only thinking about ourselves, it’s going to show. I’m not an advocate of posting large chunks of our stories within blog posts as a way to get critiques or to get noticed. I’m also not a fan of making a big deal of how many followers we have or don’t have. We're better to exude quiet confidence rather than chance coming across as desperate. If we’re hoping to present ourselves as professionals, then our “shop talk” is best left to the privacy of those closest to us.

So those are some of my opinions! What are yours? Are there other blogging blunders that you would add to the list? Or do you think we should do what we want in blogging and not worry about what anyone else thinks?

47 comments:

  1. Totally agree with this! Now I must go add my email to my blog! :)

    My biggest struggle is probably the last one - how personal do I get? I want to be helpful to my readers, ya know? Even with my 3 C's post, I've been thinking, "How can I make this more helpful or insightful to my readers?" I'm still rolling that one around.

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  2. I'll echo Katie...I don't think I have my email listed on my blog. :)

    I'm currently struggling with direction on my blog for a couple reasons. (1) I'm a contributor to two group blogs plus a personal blog, which has me tempted to make my personal blog, well, more personal. :) and (2) If I get published with my latest book, I'd love to switch my blog to more reader-focused topics (i.e., Amish stuff, etc.). For now, I've decided to keep my current direction and re-evaluate when the new year rolls around.

    Great post as always, Jody! :)

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  3. I suppose I'm guilty of the last blunder but only as far as my writing goes. Right now for me, I'm just a struggling writer with no contract and no book deal on the horizon so it makes sense to focus more on the journey. Trust me I could fill up the blogosphere with my personal blunders that have nothing at all to do with the literary world. I shall show restraint. ;)

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  4. I think I have my email listed on my profile...one of the generic email links or some such thing. Should probably also add it in a similar fashion as to what you mention.

    I think I'm like Sarah with my blog - I struggle with direction and what to post. I think I feel that since I'm really just starting out with my writing, starting to get more serious, I don't know what I should really be posting. My posts tend to be everything from personal struggles with writing, to book reviews, to not posting because I don't know what to write, etc. I've also posted some of those meme's that make their way around the blogsphere from time to time.

    I have been thinking of tidying up my blog - to make it look more professional and pleasing to the eye; to make it look less of a "for fun" blog, and more serious.

    Whew, so much to do to "fix" my blog, lol! But I suppose the time to do it is now :o).

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  5. I made changes #1 and #2 to my blog about a year ago when you mentioned this.

    And I hope my blog is interactive and the start of a conversation. I'd get bored if it were all about me. ;)

    ~ Wendy

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  6. Good morning, everyone! I didn't mean to imply that we shouldn't share our struggles on our blogs. As you know, I do that! We want to be real. But I think we need to find that balance between between being personal and yet remaining professional, just as we would at any type of job or workplace.

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  7. I think you covered the basic blunder especially if we're in it to get published. I think we have to think of our readers and what we write. We want our blog to somewhat reflect our writing.

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  8. I think you've touched on the most important ones!

    I also think it's important to be mindful of your content. In so much that we are conscientious as to whether or not we're consistent, and doing the best to draw our readers in. What's our purpose? What's our theme? We should be aware.

    This is what's hardest for me.

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  9. You always provide such great suggestions for making our blogs the best that they can be, Jody! I agree with these completely!

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  10. Thanks for some great ideas. I just ran into a problem the other day when someone shared a post and the person asked WHO WROTE IT. I thought--my profile is in the sidebar! But I guess some people don't notice it.

    I will go forth and make some changes. Thanks!

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  11. Great tips Jody. We spend a lot of time maintaining a blog so we should do it the best we can for optimum results. Mine needs an uplift and I'll be back here to learn more of what I need to do.

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  12. Wonderful tips, Jody. I am going to have to read your other linked ones as well! I just started posting to my blog (better) only about two months ago. It's a personal one right now. One thing that I quickly learned...you get more comments/links back when your post is clear, concise and has a specific purpose for your readers.

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  13. great points--esp. the part about contact info! I've run into that problem of wanting to contact bleeps and their contact info is nowhere to be found. Even their comments aren't linked back to their email addresses. Not good~

    Thanks, Jody! :o) <3

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  14. Great advice. I just caught myself whining on my own blog. Egads! Thanks for the tips; I will definitely use them.

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  15. Interesting. Thanks for your thoughts! Looks like I have some tweaking to do on my blog. :)

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  16. Excellent points, Jody. I always look at static websites as sources of information, but at blogs more as places of communication. I like the interaction.

    One mistake I think some bloggers make is creating posts in too much haste and not thinking of them as samples of their writing. Blogging makes our writing very public. Even when the words are spontaneous and informal, I think it's still wise to consider if they follow the tenets of good writing before we hit the Publish button. Posts that are full of typos or that wander from thought to thought without any apparent purpose leave me questioning their value. For those of us who are aspiring authors the image we portray may be less than helpful.

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  17. A.Man said...
    I love these comments, all from serious writers. Anyone on a blog should be able to leave a comment (for moderation) so why do you need to provide an email address? I have used a pen name for my first book and a contact@ email address, makes my novel more mysterious, but we are Brits!

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  18. I have been meaning to streamline and strengthen my blog for a long time--and combine it with my website. I agree with most of your advice, here. I really like reading first chapters on blogs if they're available, but huge chunks of books is not such a good thing. I was posting a serial novel for a while, but with no intention of ever getting it published--however, even that has caused a great time strain. Would like to take it up again some time.

    I'm clearly the worst blogger ever! I don't take it as seriously as I should.

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  19. Great post, Jody; so informative and helpful as always. Thanks for the tips!

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  20. Great information...very helpful. Thanks much.

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  21. Great post! Blogging does still feel a bit narcissistic to me...maybe a sign that I need to be thinking about Blunder #3 more.

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  22. I used to have my username, "Shmologna" on every blog comment. I changed it because I want to make sure people know my name. I may need to fix that on my blog as well.

    I think I write too much personal stuff. It's all writing related (or related to the Smokies that I write about) but alas, I don't have many help pages. Something to think about.

    Thanks for the heads up!

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  23. How you set up and administer your blog depends solely upon its purpose. For writers everything you wrote it paramount. I also think there has to be something that points to your WIP or your novel. I’m not saying to display it, but to let people know what you’re up too. I’ve been to a few published authors’ blogs and I’ve not seen any mention of their book anywhere. That’s crazy!

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  24. Undoubtedly you have got a beautifully crafted blogging template. It's got a Nav Bar with links, one side bar, a blog roll, a subscription form. And Jody Hedlund written prominently as you smile next on the header. Lol. This is quite professional.

    The three errors that you've detailed are known type and all newbie bloggers commit that.

    Thanks for the post.

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  25. Leave it to you to point out things that I've missed. It's why I keep coming back.

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  26. I totally agree, especially with number one. When I was starting my blog I thought of all these witty names and then my husband said, you're trying to sell you, just use your name.

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  27. True true, I started my blog with no intention of ever publicizing it lol I just thought of it as the perfect idea journal because I had access to so many fantastic writing blogs. Then, a couple people followed and I thought "why?" and then I got a few comments with encouragement and suggestions. I was hooked. But it was after writing an article on writing (instead on MY writing) that I saw big numbers.

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  28. Another blogging blunder I see all the time is not having an email address attached to the profile. I frequently receive comments that I wish to respond to directly. But if there's not email address, I can't do that. I don't understand why anyone with a public blog would make it the least bit difficult for fellow readers and bloggers to contact them.

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  29. Karen, that is an excellent point! I think we need to make it as easy as possible for people to connect with us. And having our emails in our blogging profile is important too!

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  30. What a great post; I have been struggling with what my blog wants to be.

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  31. I have a professional website where all of my pertinent information is listed. The site is linked to my more casual (but still professional-ish) blog where I only list my first name. However, the traffic to the blog is far greater than the website...something for me to think about. I may need to make some changes according to your #1 point.

    A blog blunder, in my mind, is when every post becomes thinly-veiled self-promotion. I read blogs for conversation, information and camaraderie.

    Thanks for sharing your insights!

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  32. Great thoughts here Jody, I totally agree and at times pulled myself up for too much of one thing.
    Another is to never post anything on your blog when angry. The tone can come out all wrong.

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  33. Jody, these are all excellent posts. I especially like visiting the blogs where I learn something new. Whether it's about craft, marketing, whatever.

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  34. Well, now!

    Ahem.

    Some strong opinions seeping through on that last point!

    So how does one exude quiet confidence? I'm pondering. Another post on this perhaps?

    In the meantime, you can hop over to the Moonboat for a recipe your kids will love -> a practical take-home goodie, instead of my usual post about myself.

    (grinning like the Chesire cat here)

    My recipe IS really good, by the way.

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  35. I rarely follow a blog if there's no "real" name and sometimes if there's not a picture. I also like to know where the blogger lives. You're right, Jody. We set up a blog to draw in readers, and then we say we don't want them to know who we are? I like the personal touch, meaning, I like to know who I'm responding to. It's the old "pen pal" thing of my day.

    You always write such an excellent post!!
    Ann

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  36. These are great, Jody! Thanks!

    Hey, your comment this morning really made me think. I went back, reread my post, and realized what I'd said... then re-worked it. Thanks for pointing out that minor characters should never steal the show... just enhance it!

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  37. Excellent points, Jody. I don't often comment, but one of the things I appreciate about your blog is the professionalism

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  38. Jody, the worst thing about showing up late is I don't usually have time to read through all the previous comments, and I'm afraid I'm missing part of the conversation and won't have anything to add that hasn't already been said. :) But I will say this: you've done something right, so I should really pay attention. I think the fact that you've really focused your blog for writers, and have opened up your writer heart, has helped it become so successful. Having been blessed with finding an agent and publication certainly has been a draw, too, to those looking to do the same. It's been fun watching your blog grow. I'm good with #1 and #2 but my blog is a bit more personal and less focused with three different main themes. I'm still enjoying the exchange, however; it's been a fun world to step into. Now, to find time to read all the blogs I've discovered and come to love every day. :) Hope you are doing well!

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  39. Great post, Jody. Loved the tips. I find it difficult when bloggers don't put up their names. How does one know what their names are. I am guilty of removing my email id from my blog because of spam mails. Need to rectify that situation.

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  40. Thanks for the tips Jody! I'll have to use this information when I get my blog up and running again.

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  41. Great observations. I really don't understand people who do not provide contact information or those who don't encourage others to seek them out on other networking options. If someone is hard to get a hold of or find, people tune out. There are plenty of other bloggers who are interested in networking and communicating.

    Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse

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  42. Great post. My blog probably suffers from all of the above! I started it with the intent to just keep distant family up to date on our happenings. Then I wanted to reach out to writers, then homeschoolers etc. Long story short, direction and purpose, need to be decided when presenting your blog because it does make a difference:)

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  43. Hi Jody -

    You've made some excellent points.

    I want to revamp my blog at some point to include more pages. I need a contact page.

    Blessings,
    Susan :)

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  44. Great post.
    I also wonder about people that don't put their names on their blogs. I very seldom return to those.
    I love reading personal blogs - people and their lives - but when they start hanging out dirty laundry and that kind of stuff, I don't go back either.
    *dashes off to check my own blog*

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  45. Thanks for the great post. I've noticed a more subtle blogging blunder, and that is when other bloggers use my comment space to write what amounts to blogs of their own. I don't like to be put in a position of publishing other people's 500 words on my blog or potentially losing the contact by deleting their thoughtful essays. All the best.

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  46. Once again you have given me so much information to take home and work with. Thanks for consistently putting out good posts for us. :)

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  47. This is helpful as I am new to the blogging world. I just added my email address.

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