Back to (Blogging) Basics

Jennifer Hogan recently wrote a post about the 13 things to consider when blogging. Here is a summary of her list:

1. Every journey is unique
2. Make time to learn each day
3. Blog regularly
4. Forgive yourself when you don’t post
5. Put your social profile links on your blog
6. Schedule posts ahead of time
7. Create graphics for your blog
8. Actively engage on twitter
9. Have an About Me page
10. Include links to previous posts in your blog posts.
11. Comment and leave comments
12. Chunk content, use clean fonts and leave blank spaces
13. Keep a blog idea list.

I started writing a response, then realised that it might be better to just write my own list. So here is my list of the basics that I think every blogger should know:

1. Why: Everyone can write a post, that is not the point. What matters is why blog. Maybe it is personal? A particular project? Collaborative? A professional portfolio? The investigation of a subject? Curation? There are many faces to blogging and they are developed over time.
2. Expression: Hogan makes the point, every blog is unique. One of the ways this uniqueness shines through is the voice on the screen. This could be choice of format, the length of posts or the use of tone. The challenge, find the expression that suites you best.
3. Way of Being: For some blogging is about the daily habit of writing. Others suggest a routine of once a week. What must not be ignored though is the right not-to-blog when needs be. Whatever the frequency, the focus should be on capturing ‘fringe-thoughts’. Blogging to me is better considered as a way of being, of thinking, of seeing.
4. Portability: There are so many platforms to choose from. Blogger. Edublogs. Medium. WordPress. WP.com. Jekyll. Tumblr. Weebly. Some look good, others are easy to use. What matters the most to me is portability. A few years ago, I moved from Blogger to WordPress, I could not travel in reverse though. Although you may not think that it matters, when it does, you will be happy. Many were burnt by Posterous. Who knows what will happen with Medium?
5. Look and Feel: With the world of RSS and AMP, It is easy to ignore how posts are presented. This is the allure of Medium, every post looks slick and clean. Although most platforms provide useful defaults which do the job, it is important to clean up any widgets or features that may not be needed. This includes adding an About Me page and links to other sites on the web.
6. Content: Just as it is important to consider expression, it is important to consider different content that can be embedded to add to posts. This might be creating images, adding a Storify, recording audio or video, visualising data, customising a map, showing it with a GIF or developing a dynamic resource.  Each provides a different way of representing ideas.
7. Connect: There are many options when it comes to engaging with a blog. This might be writing a formal comment, but it also might be engaging on social media. What matters is connecting with others in the creation of community. This might be remixing an idea or linking to a post. What is important is developing a community.
8. Workflow: In part, this will be decided by your platform, but think about how you go about writing. Maybe ideas will start with a physical journal? Maybe you might write notes in an app. Whatever it is, make sure that it works for you and works with the devices that you use. Personally, I usually start out with a Google Doc and then transfer to WordPress when I am ready to publish, but there is no right or wrong way.

So they are my blogging basics? What about you? Maybe you prefer Hogan’s list or maybe you have something different altogether. As always, comments welcome.

NOTE: For all of my blogging resources, click here.

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Back to (Blogging) Basics by Aaron Davis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.