Advice for New Bloggers

I started blogging by myself.
At the dining room table.
I pressed the button on Blogger that said
What is a Blog?
and before I knew what was happening
I was choosing font design.
It was all very scary and exciting
because I had never done anything on a computer before.

In fact
- if I am being honest -
I had only just learned how to switch on the laptop.

You can do it the hard way like I did
I can still remember the day
that I got the link to 'hide' under the writing
(that would be a hyperlink, folks )
or you can read these amazing posts
which give you all sorts of useful information.

Driftwood has written a great post on this subject

I love the advice on Blog Manners
which was posted originally at Meet Me At Mikes
MrsG drew my attention to these posts

I think that the commentary on Blog Security is excellent.

If you want to get inspiration
you can always sit at the feet of the great artists
and learn from their wisdom.

My advice is as follows:

1. When you choose a Blog Name you should Google it
and check that it will not get lost in a list of similar blogs
or sit uncomfortably close to weird sites.

2. Check out other blogs for inspiration
but do not slavishly copy the ones that you admire.
Have fun and play around with your own ideas.

3. Create an anonymous email account
that you use for your blog.
which is separate from your personal account.
Do not use your personal account to reply to comments.
This is a security issue.
Commenters who appear to be delightful at first
can quickly become obsessive.
I know.

4. Do not make assumptions
about people that you correspond with.
Remember that you only know
what they choose to tell you.

5. Install Site Meter at an early stage
and understand who is coming to your blog
and why they visit.

The second most popular post on the Magpie Files
is one about ties.
I can only assume that there are fabric factories in India
copying MrM's ties for the offices of the world.
I am relieved that pictures of my children
do not appear to be of interest to other people
but I keep an eye open - just in case.

6. One day you will discover
that your content has been splogged.
This is an unpleasant fact of blogging life.
Do not burst into tears.
Shrug your shoulders and say
'Peanuts...I have been splogged'
or some similar profanity.

I have discussed splogging with a professional blogger who manages sites for customers and he tells me that there is nothing that you can do to prevent it because your RSS feed is used. I have noticed that it is more likely to happen if the words knitting, quilting or health are used.
So that is triple whammy for this post.

7. Use the spell check button
which Blogger thoughtfully provides.
It is so easy.
It shows you your mistakes in colour.
Learn to love it.

8. Who knows about Technorati Search?
You enter the address of your blog and it gives you
a complete list of everyone who has linked to you.
Then you can visit them and say thank you, thank you.
Unless you are a Big Important Blog
in which case you can take it for granted.

9. Do not forget that there are
cultural differences in humour -
something that you find highly amusing
might not read so well
on the other side of the Atlantic.

10. Don't be afraid to ask other bloggers
In my experience
they are very generous with advice
and glad to help beginners find their feet.

***edited to add***
Dear New Blogger,
finding your way to this post
from all over the Internet
If there was ONE piece of advice
that I regretted missing out from the original post
it was :
PLEASE put an email address in your Blogger profile
or on your blog.
It is very difficult to respond to enquiries from lovely people
if there is no email address to reply to.
All the long term, successful blogs have an email address
and it enables you to correspond off-blog
with the delightful people that you will meet.

And here are some lovely new blogs:

Blogless Kristina is no longer Blogless - hurray!
Go and visit her at Jolly Hockey Sticks

New to me is Attic24
- I can feel the sunshine on my back every time I visit.

Speechless, Mostly is a photo montage of family life
but I am trying to persuade Lynn to write more
because she is funny and interesting
and has such perceptive things to say.

And finally,
if you have managed to read this far
without falling asleep

Do not forget that it is your blog.
You can write what you want to write.
Or not.
Do not apologise for things that you choose to omit.
Do not feel obliged to do anything
that makes you feel uncomfortable.

Always remember
why you started blogging in the first place.