blog tip: guidlines

As I told you last week, I taught a blogging class and it went fantastic! It was a LOT of information to give in the allotted time but somehow I think I got it all out. Hopefully it was as clear as I thought it was.

I thought I might share a tiny snippet of what I covered, I can say a lot in an hour and a half so this is just a fraction of what I shared. One idea that I think is especially important in blogging, whether it is for yourself or the rest of the world, is the idea of having guidelines.

Maybe you blog for yourself or for the public to see, it's important to have guidelines. This was something that formulated over time for me and as I blogged more, I saw how important it was to have some kind of railways leading me in a direction. Guidelines can really be about anything, but they do help with consistency which is important in blogging. Consistency is important-- even if you're consistent in being inconsistent.

Some guidelines to keep in mind are: How many times will I post per week? Will I keep with only one subject to blog about? Or will I include many? If so, which one or ones? What is my writing format? In poems? In essays? In short sentences? In a mix of everything? How long per day or week will I spend blogging? Or is there a time limit? Editing Guidelines: How will I edit my posts before I publish them? Will I read it out loud? Will I copy and past my words in a word document to check spelling and grammar? Will I have someone else read it? Do I allow comments? Are there some things I will not write about? What do I plan to share through my blog? And how? And many, many more...

I know these are vague and I could talk for an hour about these themselves. Like I said, these were things I developed over time. For example: I knew I wanted to keep my blog somewhat lady like so I knew there were things I would share and wouldn't share. I knew I wanted to be consistent in my posting for others to rely on (although the last few weeks I have been purrr-ty terrible). Over time these seemed to form into some type of guidelines of what I was exactly doing on this blog here.

And don't forget that guidelines can change and form over time! I'm a visual person so I actually have some written down on a note card from some time ago but however fits you best, do it. Even if you have written down: "I blog once a month on anything I darn feel like." That's still a guideline. If you're blogging to gain viewership, guidelines will actually help readers connect to your blog better. Readers like to know what to expect and like consistency in posting and subject matter. Guidelines give you a little more purpose and direction in what you blog about and it's nice to see where you're going.

Do you have any guidelines you blog by?