The 7 habits of highly ineffective bloggers!
Well, I was thinking of writing The 7 habits of highly effective bloggers but it seems that Skellie was fast enough and she wrote a post with same headline as a guest post at Daily Blog Tips. So, then I thought that why not write a post which will highlight the habits of ineffective bloggers and so here they are :
1. They don’t work on a niche : They’ll post about something today and something the other day and will have all sort of jumbled topics across the blog. This will ensure that they’ll not have a topic in which they provide some useful information and thus readers will love to leave their blog soon.
2. They post what they like : They’ll post about anything which they like and will only post what they see. They don’t take pain to research and their posts and you won’t find any Pillar posts on their blog.
3. They don’t take pain to chose the headline : They’ll just keep the headlines simple and the ones which don’t catch attention. That ways the posts just go away from the eyes of the readers. Effective headlines also help in getting lot of diggs and that’s said by most of the people however, Ben has given a great post on the importance of headlines.
4. They fail to give proper credits : Ineffective blogger will always copy content and ideas from other sources and will not reveal the real source. I think there is not harm in revealing the source as it just increases your credibility and readers trust you more.
5. They forget about the comments left by readers : Ineffective bloggers don’t reply to their reader’s comments or emails. This way they lose the readers because everyone loves to have attention and if fail to give attention to your readers then for whom are you writing ?
6. They don’t make regular posting & read only their own blog : Ineffective bloggers don’t post regularly. They do it 4 in a day and then they forget their blog for next 5 days. Also, they prefer to read their own blog. Even if they read other’s blog they don’t leave comments on those blogs.
7. They don’t pre-plan their posts I.e. No Time Management : Skellie in the guest post (the one mentioned at the top) has talked mostly about time management only and so I’ll say that go ahead and read that post properly. Shankar has also written a great guide on how to save time and utilize it the most.
I hope that you get my point and that is in order to become an authority you’ll need to leave these habits and you’ll need to start following what is opposite of these points. What else do you think can be the habits of ineffective bloggers ?
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Moksh Juneja
August 15th, 2007 at 11:31 pm #
Agree with you on all most of them, except the second one, since the blogger will definately put what they like or dislike that is why blogging is different from reporting for a newspaper.
http://mokshjuneja.blogspot.com
Skellie
August 16th, 2007 at 6:54 am #
I’m sorry, it was an accident, honest! ;)
I had the same thing happen recently. I planned to write an article on writing leads for blog posts when I woke up to discover Leo Babauta had published an article on that same topic on the morning I wanted to write my own piece.
Vyoma
August 16th, 2007 at 8:45 am #
Agree on all of them except #1, #2 and partly #3.
Blogging, is a personal voice. It is ok to give opinions and views and rants of what you like.
But again, that does not mean we should do it on our niche blogs. I have a info blog and an art blog – even though I give my views there (and some other people too), I see to it that it is with in the boundaries fo the topics.
On the other hand, I love to rant about just about anything else. Throw copywriting to the winds, kick of my shoes and just write. I love to write. Hence, I have kept myself a personal blog. That is a chaotic place, and I love it for what it is. Of course, I do not expect anything out of it, and there is nothing I do specifically for it.
Having such a place is actually good – it is a way of keeping track of your thoughts. It might as well serve as raw materials for your actual blogs.
My advice is turn your weakness of posting about random things into a strenght. Focus on topics in blogs that you want to perform – the others, stuff it into the personal blog. And keep writing – there is nothing in this world that is harmed by practice.
Vaibhav
August 16th, 2007 at 8:46 am #
agree on all. earlier we used to do these mistakes, but now we have learned a lot, we dont commit these mistakes again.
i hope everybody learns from their mistakes only, and this post will help new bloggers to make sure that they dont commit these mistakes again…
V. Khawani
August 17th, 2007 at 3:23 am #
I agree with Vyoma, except on three. I fully agree with the third one.
I write because I enjoy writing & I write about anything that interests me.
If I find something that might be useful to others, I like to share that with the readers. But otherwise I write, what I like. I think, that is what personal blog is all about.
ram
August 17th, 2007 at 3:53 am #
I couldn’t agree with you on 1 & 2.
1. Blogs are all kinds like personal, niche…, a personal blog contains unrelated things
2. blogger has the choice of posting what he likes and dislike. Researching is another thing and i will agree with you
TipsoSaurus
August 17th, 2007 at 10:37 am #
@ Moksh : Well, what I really meant by point 2 was that ineffective bloggers don’t make pillar posts and rather do most of the reporting. Lets say that there is a story published in techcrunch then they will mostly write about it and will just give the opinion which any of the techcrunch employee says. You are absolutely right about the difference between a blog and newspaper reporting but then you’ll always find that the effective bloggers will post something they think of and they’ll do the research properly before writing anything.
@ Skellie : Well, I can certainly understand that. You won’t believe I searched for the headline “7 habits of highly effective blogger” and I got loads and loads of search result with that same headline. Mr. Covey did a great job in choosing that headline :D
@ Vyoma : Well, your comment already says what I was trying to say. There is a difference between a personal blog and the blog which shares an opinion or which works on a niche. How many personal blogs are there in the technorati 100 list ?
@ Vaibhav : Thanks for your support buddy :)
@ Vimz : Again my point is something else. I don’t say that don’t share your voice. Personal blogs are meant for that only, but how many personal blogs do you find making any difference in the society or if you’ve changed the way you think by just reading a personal blog ?
@ Ram : Maybe I didn’t explain it in proper way (the point 2) but I’ve given good explanation of point 2 in this comment only. So, may be that will clear up things :)
Shankar Ganesh
August 18th, 2007 at 10:46 pm #
Great post there, regarding the 5th point, I take care to reply to comments promptly. It’s an important thing to do if you want people to come back and comment again :)
BTW, thanks for linking to my article :D
V. Khawani
August 18th, 2007 at 11:48 pm #
You have got a point there. What I was talking about, is a personal blog, as I don’t have any other one. Maybe in future, when I have more time & start a new blog, I’ll remember your tips. Thanks for giving me the idea.
Haris
August 19th, 2007 at 6:47 am #
Loved the post! Thanks for sharing :D
Nirmal
August 19th, 2007 at 10:02 pm #
Well I disagree STRONGLY :D on point number 2, I support the fact that you should blog on what you like and just don’t follow other popular blogs. Also to an extend partially disagree on #1, rest all looks fine for me.
Sunil
August 19th, 2007 at 10:41 pm #
Nice Post.. Being a amateur in blogging.. it helped me in many ways.. thanks again!!
TipsoSaurus
August 20th, 2007 at 9:53 am #
I’m glad that these tips came handy for you :)
TipsoSaurus
August 20th, 2007 at 9:55 am #
@ Haris : I’m glad you like the post :)
@ Sunil : I’m happy that you found them useful. I’ll keep posting more blogging tips :)
@ Nirmal : Well, Did you read the explanation I’ve given in the comment. If you disagree on that one, then I believe I’ll need to convince you. If you agree on that, then I’ll say my job is done :)
Nirmal
August 24th, 2007 at 7:45 am #
Mayank,
Your job is done, I agree on that. I read that previously but still wanted to express my opinion. :D
TipsoSaurus
August 25th, 2007 at 4:46 am #
@ Nirmal : I’m glad that you liked my idea and that you expressed your opinion too :)