" 9 More Lessons for Would-Be Bloggers
A follow up to 9 Lessons for Would-be Bloggers. A few more lessons learned in 7 years of blogging.
Write Follow-up Posts
This post is an example of this lesson in action. Two weeks ago I wrote 9 Lessons for Would-be Bloggers and it got a good amount of traffic: people seemed to enjoy it. Darren Rowse of Problogger, who I’ve read for some time, embraced it and added his own thoughts. I had some great comments left on my blog and I thought about them and considered other lessons that I’ve learned. I kept writing them down as I thought of them and eventually built up 9 more of them to write this here post.
So when something resonates with folks, keep paying attention to it. There might be openings for a follow-up post. When you do write up a follow-up post, link back to the original, assuming that some people will have never read it. And if the follow-up works, maybe start a series of posts on the topic. And then, a book. And after that…well you get the idea.
When you screw up, say so immediately
Admitting idiocy is one of the most important things a blogger can do. It completely diffuses a situation that could quickly turn ugly. For some reason we have an assumption that admitting a wrong is like kicking a puppy…some people would do almost anything to avoid it. But I remember listening to a podcast of Adam Bosworth, who is a damn smart guy (VP at Google), in which a point he made was quickly refuted…and instead of defending his position he said immediately: “Yes, you’re right. I stand corrected.” As a listener I was completely disarmed…when was the last time someone said they stand corrected? The result is that I’ve ended up having more respect for Adam than I did previously. So pay attention to people who admit when they’re wrong…they’re the type of people worth listening to because you know they’re not trying to spin anything. And the funny thing is, that if you admit you’re wrong, people might just start assuming that in the other cases you’re right.
Know when to take it offline
Several times I’ve had folks come to my site and try to embarrass or criticize me personally in the comments on a post. Whenever this happens, you have to immediately take it offline. Send them an email and explain your situation. More than likely, they’ll cool down after that"
Read it all : http://bokardo.com/archives/9-more-lessons-for-would-be-bloggers/
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