Blogging for Dummies

As you guys probably know, I'm rather new to the blogging scene. I may be new, but I've been trained by some of the best, and have a couple of hints to pass down to the newer than me bloggers.

First off: Blogging is not for everyone. If you think blogging about the dump you took or about anything in your personal life is going to be of any interest to anyone, you're delusional. You are not Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, or any other pretentious socialite. (If you are, please toss me a tweet or comment, cuz I'd love a quick jump up to the limelight ;) )

People that aren't you

Second: Pick content is meaningful to not only you, but also a key demographic. Talking about your collection of dolls may be lame to some, but if you have a collection that belongs in a museum, and the couple to hundreds of thousands of doll collectors out there actually want to see and hear about, you might be able to make it work. Do something that means something to you, because if you get bored a week in you've wasted a lot of time and effort while not enjoying the community you're connecting with.

Hey, at least you're almost doin it right.

Third: Appreciate your followers. The people that follow you share a common interest with you. If they're reading your blogs and appreciating your content, then chances are you're going to be able to appreciate their content as well. This doesn't mean you have to immediately go and +follow every blog you view, but commenting on their blogs that strike your fancy allows them to know when they're writing blogs that are relevant to you, which in turn means more content you will enjoy. See how this benefits you?

Fourth: Make your life easier. This includes Morning Coffee ; a firefox addon that allows you to set up lists of bloggers you want to open up and read every day, and  Reload Every; another firefox addon that allows you to set certain blogs to reload every x minutes. I've used this on everything from NFL draft blogs to friends blogs every couple of hours to see what they've posted without having to check each tab and slam on F5 until new content pops up.

Finally, have fun. If it's not fun, it's not worth the effort you have to put in.