Excellent post, ill be taking all these tips on board!
A year on, and this article is still receiving lots of great attention.
I’ve read it before, taken a lot of it to heart. But this year I am seriously considering a lot more options offered/suggested.
Great reading.
Good points. The only one I disagree is #8. If someone wants to write a public diary: why not? If nobody reads it, who cares? If there is someone out there that is going to read it, that is ok too, right?
Maybe the advice should be changed into: Don’t expect to get a lot of regular readers if your blog is a lot of personal bla-bla with no value to the subscriber.
Great post but I want to disagree with the random pics part. A pic like that which has little or no connection to the post is a nice quirk in itself. It helps you to add that bit of zaniness to ur article in ur own style.
And also about the anonymous part of posting-it works well for people who shy away from too much attention and love the obscurity of the web. Thats one of the advantages of the web, right?
Nice to see so good informations. Very good blog.
Without reading any other user comments first…
Disagreement on #8, This Ain’t Your Diary:
YES IT IS!! Or, it could be. I think a better way to phrase it would be Don’t Make Your Blog Your Diary…Unless It Is! As to your remark …let’s be perfectly clear: your readers aren’t coming to your blog to read about you. They’re coming to your blog to find out what it can do for them. That might just be to find out about you! If you’re writing about soap operas, nobody cares that you watched today’s episode while at your best friend’s house. But if another friend wants to check in on you, then she might be interested where you were today, and that can even be a starting point for a conversation later. I know I wrote too much already; I’m just asking that you don’t forget what made blogs popular: writing about oneself, whether as general statements or–well–as your diary.
And quick, on #13 (I’ve a sneaky feeling this would be your most disagreed upon point):
A blog without a comments section is…a blog without a comments section. Blog = Web log = catch-all phrase for any sort of running, regularly posted to online journal/diary/newspaper/list/thematic work. Comments are an AMAZING addition to that, and quite possibly what made them so successful in the first place! But… to omit reader comments might be in poor judgment… or it might serve your need. And those needs would vary greatly based upon who’s writing and why.
Point of interest… how many comments area conversations tend to be mostly disagreements or mostly agreements… so rarely are they discussions… just my irrelevant $.02.
A hearty, thank-you-handshake to you.
Great advice for everyone. I’m glad I stumbled across your site!
In general, I agree, except for – in some cases – rule #2. (No, not just because I do it!)
Several reasons in favor:
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Some people are constitutionally nearly incapable of reading long pure-text articles. This crops up a lot with ADHD (the real thing), and maybe with Rand’s N.A.D.D. as well. In any case, the pictures may be expanding the potential audience for your blog content.
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Sometimes the pictures aren’t as random as they appear…they are, while not directly related on the surface, actually intended to add content, context, or overtone to the explicit text of the post.
For example, in my latest blog post (http://exold.com/article/how-i-spent-my-winter-vacation-part-1), I placed three photos, all of which could be construed as off-topic.
The first picture, of the African storyteller, is an indication that this particular post is in full-on story-telling mode (this is echoed by the text). A secondary tidbit, for those who click through the photo’s source link, is that the appearance of this storyteller is an indication that spring is on the way, a nice reminder to those of us who woke up to snow on the ground yesterday ;P.
The second photo, of a maze, visually reinforces the figurative maze I discuss in the post. Those clicking through the source link will probably find it an even more appropriate reference to my situation.
The third photo is another seasonal reference, and is in fact almost entirely unrelated to the post’s topic. It’s intended as more of a sign-off to leave the reader with a bit of refreshment on his or her further journeys.
I could have written the post without the visual flavor enhancers, but if we’re not going to try to add subtlety and richness to our writing, we may as well just post telegraph-style updates: QUIT JOB STOP STARTED ART BUSINESS STOP NOW LOOKING FOR JOB STOP. (I’m not trying to say you’ve advocated this :).) -
(Bet you forgot we were amidst an enumerated list.) If you don’t like the pictures in a particular blog post, it seems an easy solution would be to ignore said pictures. They may annoy you, but they neither pick your pocket nor break your leg (as Jefferson said in a different context).
Other than that fundamental issue, you’ve got a good list of bad things here.
Since we’re on the subject, I’ll go ahead and toss in a link to an amusing (I thought…) take on the whole Top-N List meme: http://exold.com/article/the-top-69-subjects-for-top-10-lists-that-i-came-up-with-the-other-day-in-the-bathroom-while-i-was-getting-ready-for-work.
Very interesting and useful writing. I’m trying to take a critical view on my blog and I found your points helpful to analyse it.
Great post but I want to disagree with the random pics part. A pic like that which has little or no connection to the post is a nice quirk in itself. It helps you to add that bit of zaniness to ur article in ur own style.
http://landprof.ru
Great list. Number 2 Random Images Arbitrarily Inserted In Text is one that really helped me. My problem has always been that I have so much to say, I would ramble on with thousands of words. When I broke it up with images, everything changed. PR went up, traffic etc.
Interesting blog. Found this article and I note that despite the fact that it is now nearly 2 years old (a long time in the world of the interweb!) most of it still holds true. Particularly number 4 (more buttons and widgets to click on than anyone could possibly ever need!) and number 7 - blogs (and other sites) are still plastered with ads. http://www.tshirtinsight.com/
I go through lots of websites a day and only a few catch my attention. I read this whole article. Very well written and down to earth.
Nice post, the cliches is about right and its unusual to find a blog that doesnt fall into at least half of them!
well, that is really good to know.
pretty sure you are an expert.
Wow, I fit in 2 of your clichés and sometimes I lean towards another 2. Plus, I can’t bring myself to post at an acceptable rate. Seems like I’m not reaching blogging success anytime soon 
J/k. I read your disclaimer. BTW, I’d like to say that I really like this blog. At the very least you made me do two things: fire up my own blog and buy a copy of Steve McConnell’s Coding Horror!
it’s really helpfull for me…thank you
I turned my calendar widget in to a heat map of my activity over a given month, and I think it turned out rather well. I don’t have it on the homepage though so the chances are no one ever sees it: http://simonwillison.net/2007/Aug/17/