Top Ten Tuesday

Posted April 18, 2012 by Whitney in Top Ten Tuesday / 12 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and Bookish is a weekly meme to be served David Letterman style through a top ten list.
This week’s prompt is:
Tips For New Bloggers

Stay true to yourself —
While it is obvious that you started blogging due to a passion for books, but the key is to standing out, elaborate on the subject and answer the question why.

Quality over quantity —
It is so easy when you first start out to “over-post” and while memes are great and an excellent way to get noticed a blog full of memes can feel redundant, I personally exit out if I see a week’s worth of memes on a site.  The reason you are out there is to express your fondness for the written word.

Commenting —
Even though memes are a great way to build followers I think the most effective way is to comment on other’s blogs; and not just this “great review” crap, that’s too generic.  A thoughtful comment expressing that you care and have read the full post is excellent.

Scheduling —
Scheduling is my best friend, which I only made an aquantence with last year.  I usually write a grouping of posts over the weekend to be scheduled to go up throughout the week.  Of course there are times where I have a spur-of-the-moment post but this concept aliveates any pressure to regularly posting and opens up more time for reading and that great big ball in the sky.  (My mother is always reminding me to get my vitamin D.)

Be honest —
Screw Thumper’s mom and her “If you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all.”  I have always firmly believed that honesty is the best policy.  If you hated a novel don’t be afraid to share it steering your readers away from an awful DNF.  I will say one thing though,  be some what nice about it there is no reason to completely bash an author’s work, it was a project they worked hard on and should at least be commended for having a published work.

Don’t sweat the small stuff —
You will not acquire 1,000 followers over-night.  Blogging takes a lot of time and effort i.e. sweat and blood to create that status.  The key is to be realistic and not put too much pressure on the amount of hits you get compared to another book blog.

Preview is you friend —
Not only do I spell-check several times over but I also preview a future post.  It is amazing how many mistakes I catch in that window and is also helpful to look at how your readers will see it too.

Word verification is not your friend —
It is annoying.  End of story.  Captcha can discourage commenters seeing it as an inconvenience, another step to prove you’re human.  Although, I will admit that I screen all my comments due to recent spam.

Be selective —
When I first started blogging I followed the “follow me and I’ll follow you back”.  While this is again a good way to build readers I soon realized that I can’t follow every book blog out there.  So my suggestion, at the risk of sounding like a snob, is to follow blogs you are seriously interested in what they have to say.

First Impression —
First impressions are everything.  Most people form an opinion within the first five minutes (and I’m being generous here)  therefore it is important that your blog be soothing to the eye and state what you want to get across.  This could be through a neat sidebar, easily readable text or even an “About Me” page

Last, and most importantly —
Have fun!  That’s why you started a blog in the first place.

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12 responses to “Top Ten Tuesday

  1. Very good tips! I am envious of your ability to schedule posts. I try to have at least one scheduled at any given time, but even that doesn't always happen. Also, I totally agree about making sure your blog has a soothing appearance! I like your blog's colors- the purple is comfy. 🙂

    • I don't always get a whole week's scheduling in either but I've found it makes it a whole lot easier. Thank you for the compliment on my blog as well, I'm a girly girl and therefore a big fan of pink and purple.

    • I was a little worried I'd come off with my nose in the air with that tip, so I'm glad you like it. I really do believe that being selective is the only way to really get to know a blogger — on a wider scale that is.

  2. Preview is my friend and yet I think I still need a big honking button to remind me to do it. Luckily when I switched to wordpress there is a plug-in that forces me to look at my post twice for grammar and spelling LOL

    For a reader, I am the WORST speller on the planet 🙂

    • Oh, an "I'm going blind" preview button would be excellent! I still need to remind myself at times.

      I was a horrible speller until I started blogging and it somehow improved that skill, now my dad (who I inherited that from) is asking me how to spell

  3. Great tips! I agree with everything you've said here, especially the need of editing. Despite going through my posts several times, including preview pages, I still manage to miss typos and such. Eek!

  4. Great tips, Whitney. Particularly the "be selective" one. That doesn't sound snobbish to me; it sounds like good sense. After all, the point *is* to have fuin, and to experience a journey for YOU. So following and commenting where you're not really interested is against the true purpose of a blogger (or of bloggers like me, anyway.) Why comment and follow if you aren't truly interested?

  5. Nicely said! I almost feel like I'm leading a blogger on by following with complete indifference to their content. I'm happy to hear others think the same.

  6. Great tips! Scheduling is the bomb. Falling behind stresses me out, and having my next few posts written and scheduled is the best feeling ever!

  7. So many excellent tips on here! I really particularly like the "be selective" tip. It's SO TRUE. There are so many blogs and it's easy in the beginning to just buy into that follow for a follow mentality but then you end up months later, a little more established in what you want out of blogging, with a bunch of blogs you don't want to read. there's too many blogs out there to read every single one of them. I try to stick to commenting to my core blogs that I love but also dedicate some time to venturing out to new blogs or commenting on blogs of people who commented on mine..sometimes I find really great blogs that way and they become favorites!

    Great list of tips!

    Jamie at The Perpetual Page-Turner/ The Broke and the Bookish

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