My Grey World

11 Sep, 2008

on the way to become a popular blogger

Posted by: Sylvia Giacinta In: blogging world| sylv.thinking();

This post is to clarify that my previous post, Dear Bloggers, is not a response to a highly popular blogpost by Cowboy Caleb “How to be an irritating Singaporean blogger“.

Probably it’s the timing that makes it inevitable that people think it is, and I have to admit that in some way or other the post has triggered me to write “Dear Bloggers”. In any case you still think I’m lying or sort, I actually wrote about my concern of writing something “meaningful” and “valuable” almost 2 years ago in The Burden to Write.

My intended message in “Dear Bloggers” was actually this : Don’t be afraid to blog, don’t stop blogging.

Blogging is good, and it’s not discouraged to start young. Sure, your writing won’t be too good, but at least you try. Ever heard the cliche “You’ll never know until you try”? There’s a reason why it became a cliche : it’s true.

Doing writing constantly and practicing to express your thoughts will only do you good. Nothing bad will come out of that, really. If you don’t believe me, you can just browse my archives from years ago and compare it to now. You might see that my writing has improved.

And I think that I missed a point in Dear Bloggers. Being a blogger is one thing, but being a likable/popular blogger is another thing. “Blog what you want, blog responsibly” is just the basic of being a blogger.

So, you want to be a popular blogger? Or at least recognizable blogger? Well make your blog interesting, and take care of your readers. The first thing of all is to know your readers. Position yourself as the reader, and ask yourself, what do I want to see? What will interest me? If you’re not planning to make a niche blog to attract certain groups, the least you can do is to add some flair in every posts and always remember to give sincere effort to each of them.

My friend Isaiah just posted a comprehensive summary about how to be an interesting blogger (or at least be a person who has an interesting blog). Do read up, since it’s one opinion from a reader (hell yes there are bloggers who are not blog readers. Selfish.). Alternatively, I urge you to read up Problogger. This is THE ultimate resource of how to make your blog interesting. Visit there, and read the archives. No need to swallow it all in one day. Blogging in an interesting way takes time, as it’s a habit. Habit takes time to form.

So all in all, my message is simple, really. Don’t stop blogging. Don’t be afraid to blog. And remember the two things each time you’re going to update your blog : Blog what you want, but blog responsibly.

Cheers.

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