Top Tips For Blogging

As a reader and a blogger I like to share, so here are my top tips for writing your own reviews and blog posts.

• Be consistent– particularly in the quality of your writing, but also style of posts, length of posts, topic and layout. As a reader of other people’s blogs the ones I find myself going back to the most are the ones where I know what to expect (to some degree) the next time I take a look.

• Do use spell check, grammar check, proof read and edit before posting. Also if you are quoting someone or a passage from a book be sure to use the proper punctuation and make it clear they are not your words.

• Major spoilers are NOT fun. If you’re writing about a novel, film or TV show make it clear whether your post includes spoilers, you have to be fair to your readers. Personally I like to read reviews that tell me about a person’s experience of reading a novel, I don’t like posts that spend most of the time telling you the entire plot of the book and thus making it pointless to read; because you already know what’s going to happen.

• Do have varied posts. A blog can be tedious if a person only reviews one genre or one author, adding a new page once in a while or posting about something related yet not the same adds variety and interest to keep your readers coming back. For book review blogs posts about writing competitions are always a hit!

• Try to post fairly regularly. If your readers can get a feel for how often you publish a post they’re more likely to subscribe to or follow your blog.

• Don’t give up. If you start a blog writing about a topic but find yourself unwilling to make regular posts or bored of the topic don’t be disheartened. There is no limit to how many other things you can write about, if your original idea of what you thought your blog would be doesn’t interest you as much as you thought it would; don’t feel like you have to persevere with something you don’t enjoy.

• Do respond to comments. If someone takes the time to comment on your blog it’s only polite to respond, it’s nice to know someone is reading what you’ve written and taken the time to think about it. Engaging with fellow writers and readers is always good if you share an interest.

• Only put a contact email if you truly do not mind being contacted. Write your own set of rules for people to follow should they consider contacting you. Also be wary of emails that go to your junk folder or those which don’t follow the rules for contacting you.

• Do respond to emails. Chances are you will receive genuine emails from readers of your blog, so it’s respectful, polite and only fair that you respond accordingly. Even if your response is not what the person had hoped it is better than getting no response at all.

• Do include images in your posts. A large amount of text with no break can be daunting to read and may put off potential readers, plus images bring posts to life by making them vibrant and colourful.

• Be mindful of your readers and those you write about. Yes we all have the right to our opinions but if you are posting a public blog be mindful that someone will read it. If you’re reviewing an indie writer’s debut novel chances are they will read your review. If you found fault with the novel or a plot hole it’s fair to include it in your review and offer critique or resolution, but it’s not fair to be unkind or unnecessarily negative.

• Be honest. If a book was good but not as good as the marketing hype made it out to be just be honest with your readers. They may still intend to read the novel but perhaps they will have a better experience if you can help to balance their expectations. Being honest includes the above tip of mindfulness, if you didn’t enjoy a book or a film it’s okay to say that, but it’s better to tell people why you didn’t like it rather than just saying it was terrible- save those comments for your Facebook friends.

• Promote your blog. Sync your blog to your twitter and Facebook accounts, that way you are extending the number of people your blog reaches, and can potentially gain followers and return readers.

• Be original. There are so many people blogging these days they could all mesh into one if it wasn’t for our unending ability to be original. Originality can be as simple as the layout, name or look of your blog, not just what you write about. But on the topic of what you write about, books which are marketed as best sellers such as the latest JK Rowling will generate plenty of newspaper reviews of their own. Writing a review on a lesser know novel, author, genre or even writing a review after the hype has died down will have much more on a impact for your readers.

• Do your research. Read blogs similar to yours, read reviews of books you’ve reviewed or are planning to review to see whether others had the same experience, but also to make sure you’re not a blogging sheep following the same old path as every blogger/ reviewer before you.

• Get creative. If you come across something new and exciting that you want to try out on your own blog don’t be afraid to change it up a little and make it your own!