Tips for writing and managing a good blog

In the nine years (2000-2008) when I was mostly off the internet, nursing my RSI and trying to write a book or two, the internet world changed. I was a creature of Web 1.0, but now we have Web 2.0. Indeed, prior to June 2010 I was stuck in paper-based communication (books, articles) with a little internet use and blogging on the side (I did own and maintain a few websites, but my knowledge about the internet was getting rapidly dated.) 

And so, one fine day in June 2010 I realised that I've not been using even a fraction of the potential that blogs have to reach out to my target audience: Indians. It finally dawned upon me that blogs are a powerful medium to reach out to others – particularly after I figured out how to use RSS Graffiti to link up to my blog to Facebook. One can now rapidly multiply one's "subscribers". That was quite a discovery. 

And so in June this year I moved from blogspot to this blog, and significantly intensified my blogging efforts. In this post I will summarise my thoughts on the use of blogs as a medium of communication and share some learnings as I move from the "blog newbie" I was to a lower end "intermediate" blogger. The fact that I'm providing some guidance here doesn't mean that my blog is particularly good or that I'm an expert. All I hope through this post is to provide some useful insights to those who haven't yet thought about using blogs, or to those who want to use their existing blogs more strategically.

This post aims for a two-way exchange. I'm keen to learn from you so I'll be very happy to receive your comments/ thoughts on this post. But first let me make my pitch to the Indian liberals. This post is not a random blog. It is strategic. It has a purpose.

The Indian liberals must take over the internet!

The internet represents a  great revolution in information-sharing and freedom. It represents the essence of freedom of expression and the freedom to communicate, allowing people to choose between competing ideas. Moreover, its marginal cost is zero. What better way than this to get out one's message? Indian liberals should use the blogsphere actively as a marketing and educational tool. Blogs have become both sophisticated and easy to manage, so now there is no excuse for liberals to not use them. 

Like everything else in life, there are trade-offs. Is it worthwhile educating the current generation or is it better to write good books that can inform future generations? It it worthwhile reaching out to a few extra people given they might not join FTI and contest elections? Of course they could become Freedom Partners. There are also other spinoffs: some blog material could be converted into FTI flyers, some could flow into TAGI editorials. Some could even inform a further book. Either way, a good blog must form a necessary strategic complement to the communication toolkit of a liberal. 

Tips for running a good blog

These are early suggestions. I'll keep adding thoughts and links to this post in the coming months/years. Your comments will be appreciated, as they will provide me with food for thought. This lists below are in no particular order.

1. Establish a neat and tidy blog

1. Buy your own domain. I think owning one's domain is a fundamental requirement. I had operated a blogspot blog for a few years, but blogspot has very poor text editing features. Also, once you get your own domain, you gain greater control over its features. Of course, you can start on blogspot, for your posts and comments can be transnferred to your domain once you are ready. Note, though, that it is quite a challenge to transfer blogspot posts to your own domain, but if you search around on the internet you'll find instructions on how to do it. 

2. Use WordPress themes and plugins. I use WordPress on this domain. Do make sure your theme is not cluttered and that the published text reads easily. I like the Whitehouse theme that I'm currently using because it allows me to use a customised image as a header, and its published text reads nicely without hazy "fancy" colours that strain one's eye. The text should be simple: just plain black against a white background.

3. Provide Feedburner feeds. Feedburner offers email subscriptions – a great boon to novices who find RSS daunting. For an internet novice, understanding "feeds" can take quite some time (I didn't understand them till recently), but many internet users now actively use Feed readers like the Google reader. They don't need the email option. A good number of my readers have chosen the direct feed option (https://www.sabhlokcity.com/feed/). They are RSS experts and that's fine. But I'd like to be able to reach out to internet novices, as well. As a result of the combination of options I now offer, I'm able to reach out to quite a few people with each post. I'm also going to hook up the IndiaPolicy Yahoo group to my blog posts. 

4. Use multiple languages. I'm still struggling with this, but I'd like to publish both in Hindi and English. I've tried to use a few plugins, but they don't seem to work. I'll keep trying. Publishing in multiple languages is particularly important for a political blog like mine. My audience largely speaks Hindi. I should therefore write for them directly in their own language. 

5. Provide good navigation to your posts. Categorise systematically and provide archives. I don't like tag clouds, though.

6. Use videos liberally. But don't use the autoplay option!

7. Don't clutter.  Avoid all kinds of clutter. I'm trying out Google Adsense advertisements, but these should be used in moderation I'd suggest. Plus it is crucial control your Adsense settings to avoid rubbish showing up on your blog.

2. Let the world know your blog exists

There's not much point in having a blog without letting others know of its existence. A blog is a communication tool. It must aim to reach out as widely as possible. So do the following:

1. Write to your friends. Send them an email requesting them to subscribe to your blog. 

2. Comment on related blogs. When you do so, provide a link to your blog. Comment on Facebook sites (e.g. Economist) and provide links to your relevant posts. I don't do this – commenting on other's posts/Facebook sites – as much as I should. I must do more. There's NO POINT in my writing if people for whom my posts are intended aren't reading what I write!

3. Get your blog registered in relevant directories. As you'll note I've registered my blog in a few directories. That apparently helps get some more visitors, particularly if the listing is well-targeted. This is a matter of searching on Google and finding such directories, then writing to them.

4. Hook up to Web 2.0. Hook up your blog to Facebook, Twitter, Friend Feed, BlogFrog, etc.

5. Do a few SEO [search engine optimisation]  things (like 'meta'). On WordPress there are "widgets" (ready-made computer programs) that help you set up meta tags. Use them, particularly the title of your blog. Also check around on the internet to learn more about SEO. I'm still learning.

6. Download and install Alexa toolbar. This is important since for some reason Alexa is now the default method to determine a website's rank. Putting your Alexa code (widget) on your blog is good. Note that Alexa counts your entire domain's rank, so if you set up subdomains with useful mini-blogs/ information sites on them, your overall rank will rise. It is crucial to always remember that most of us will remain on the 'long tail' end of global traffic. My blog (actually my combined domain) receives only 0.00026% of global traffic – only one out of every 384,000 website visits on the internet comes to my blog. So remember that there will be a lot of variation in your blog's rank.

6A. Keep posting. If you don't post sufficiently regularly, your blog rank will fall off. Keep posting! Traffic is king. In my case I want millions of Indians to read my blog. That can't be achieved if I keep quiet.

7. Go to Stumbleupon and 'like' your blog. This requires setting up a Stumbleupon account and downloading the Stumbleupon 'bar'. One of the pages I 'liked' received over 100 hits suddenly. I don't know the long-term benefits of this strategy, but there is no harm in spreading the word around. Who knows where you find your readers.

8. Monitor your pagerank: There are websites that let you monitor your pagerank. Apparently the more links your have on higher ranked sites the higher your own pagerank. What does this do? Don't know. You can't do much about your pagerank, though. Much depends on how others choose to link your blog.

9. Follow Google's advice! Here's excellent piece of advice from Google. 

3. Write well and respect your readers

1. Use the save option and revise before publishing: In June I started pumping out blog posts in one hit, without revision. Then I found my posts had a lot of typos. I soon realised that one should try to avoid typos, as a courtesy to ones readers. Good content must be smooth and easy to read. So I have now started drafting and saving my posts. I then try to check them at least once before publishing. Of course, if something is urgent one can't be so choosy. And a blog does not aim to be the same as a book (which I'd revise at least 7-8 times before publication). One first draft plus one revision (ideally two) is good enough for a blog. There are always going to be trade-offs between quantity and quality.

2. Be yourself. Most of use will naturally disclose our thoughts and preferences on our blog. But definitely don't try to be an expert in something you are not!