Scott Hanselman: How To Make Your Blog Suck Less
Scott Hanselman has been blogging for over 8 years. He’s made a lot of mistakes, but done a few things right. Ultimately his goal isn’t to have a perfect blog, but rather to have a blog that sucks less. Ideally, getting better every day.
At BlogWorld 2010, Scott Hanselman gave a practical and solution-focused talk that walked the audience through 32 simple tips to make your own blog suck a little less.
All of Scott’s tips were great and helpful, but some tips stood out more then the others:
1) Don’t apologize about not blogging enough
Don’t bother posting things like “I’m sorry, I’ve been busy doing stuff, I’ll try to blog more.” If this happens all the time readers just might lose interest and stop visiting.
2 ) Steer clear of politics
Unless you are a political blogger, a politically charged post could split your readership down the middle. It’s important to stick to the main theme / topic of your blog content.
3) Think before you blog
Know what kind of blog you have. Are you a food blog? A generalist? A newsperson? A link-blogger? This doesn’t mean be constrained by labels, but it does mean you should think “what am I trying to accomplish by blogging this…” before you post.
4) Have an About Me page
Your blog should contain a page that contains information on who you are. You want your readers to be able to connect and relate to who you are. It can help readers gain come context to why you are are blogging on your specific subject.
You can see all of Scott’s tips on how to make your blog suck less, in the slides from his BlogWorld session
http://www.slideshare.net/shanselman/32-ways-to-make-your-blog-suck-less
Scott Hanselman blogs at http://www.hanselman.com
