Writers Who Blog . . .and Drive Me Away

There are millions of blogs out there. Why should you have one? And why should anyone want to visit it?

People have blogs for lots of different reasons. Some people with networks of extended family and friends spread over the globe find it the easiest way to keep in touch rather than repeating the same stories over the phone or via email.

People keep blogs for professional reasons, personal reasons, business reasons.

I think most writers keep blogs for a mix of the professional and the personal. They want to promote their writing, and they want to give the readers a glimpse of what they go through to get the work out there.

As a writer, I look at the blog as morning coffee with my friends and colleagues. I feed the cats, do my morning yoga, do my first 1000 words of the day. Then I blog, read other blogs, check email, and get on with my day, writing and otherwise.

I blog almost every day. If I’m traveling or something comes up, I let people know, so they don’t keep clicking and clicking and clicking and it’s the same old content.

I also wander the blogosphere to find other “kindred spirits” as Anne of Green Gables would call them, be they writers or in other lines of work. As a reader, here are some of the things that will make me never return to your blog:

–It’s all advertising, and all you’re trying to do is get me to fork out some money.
Sorry, babe, I don’t read the ads on most sites anyway, I don’t look at most of the ads in magazines or on TV, I’m not coming every day to hear why I should give you money. Buh-bye.

–It’s badly written and badly spelled. This especially sets my teeth on edge if the person proclaims to be a writer. We all make typos sometimes, but when blog entries are regularly full of mistakes, it tells me you don’t respect your work. If you’re a writer, your blog is part of your online portfolio. A lack of polish and professionalism is going to taint the way readers, editors, publishers, and other writers view you and your work.

–It’s hardly ever updated. I understand that not everyone can or wants to update every day. Once a week, twice a week – understandable. Once every six months – why should I bother coming back? If you take a hiatus, let us know. If you shut down for good, let us know. Don’t just leave us dangling.

–It’s updated six times a day. That makes my head ache.

–I can’t comment. This is like a slap in the face, especially if it’s the time of post that invites a response, and then doesn’t allow it. Some bloggers who post blogs without any sort of comment section claim they get so much traffic (this is mostly famous names) that they “don’t have time” to read the comments or respond. Honey, if you didn’t have all these fans, you wouldn’t be making a living at what you do. While there are parasites who masquerade as fans, there are also a lot of great people out there, and a response to a comment once in awhile wouldn’t kill you. Maybe what you need to do is learn how to manage your time better. The other type is the one who insists on having iron control over anything that appears on the blog, although claiming it’s only to control spam or to keep rude comments off the blog. If you’re going to put yourself out in public, not everyone’s going to love you, and sometimes it will get ugly. That’s part of the package. Fine. Moderate comments. Turn over scary ones to the proper authorities. If you have to, delete the ones you don’t like. But at least let people comment.

I have the most problem with Blogger bloggers. Because Google/Blogger refuses to acknowledge my existence, in spite of the fact that I have Gmail and I was on Blogger for several years, I can’t comment unless the “Choose Identity” function is enabled. At this point, if I visit a new-to-me blog on Blogspot, I check the comments first. If it’s set up so I can’t comment – I no longer read the post, and I don’t come back.

To me, interaction is what sets blogging apart from e-zines or newspapers or other sites. Even most professional blogs have a touch of the personal in them, and are meant to create a connection. But a connection needs to work both ways.

If you’ve got a professional blog, the point is to get as many hits and return visitors as possible. So make them want to come back – both with regularly updated content AND with interaction.

Otherwise – why put it out there in the first place?

--Devon Ellington

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