Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers

[bride]

weather:
cloudy outside:
12.7°C mood:
... I came across this entry: The Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers by Darren Rowse. I've missed the deadline to submit this though. Not that I come anywhere close to being an Effective Blogger™ at all. I have no delusions of being able to blog/journal even seriously, nevermind professionally. But I decided to play along at home for giggles. =)

• No links without at least a little accompanying commentary. First of all, it's called Bookmarks. If I have nothing else to say other than to paste the link into an entry, then they belong in my browser bookmarks only. As well, I've seen someone post a link and didn't say what they felt about the issue. Someone else commented quite passionately on the subject thinking they had the same opinion as the poster. That got ugly rather quickly.
  
• No quiz results without accompanying commentary. If I have nothing more to say on top of the meme result text, then it doesn't belong. I've posted interesting results where I agreed and disagreed with the results or how the quiz writer seems to interpret the questions and answers. I make exceptions to this once in a while if they're fun and meaningful to me, but I try not to do it often.
  
• No one-word answers to writing prompt questions and no posts less than a few hundred words. I don't always stick to this, but when I only have a sentence or two, I don't feel it's worthwhile to share. It also means that I'm more likely to attract friends and readers with a certain amount of attention span. I admit, I blather at length about insignificant crap on purpose to choose my audience. If people didn't want to read my journal, they'd remove me. =)
  That's one of the few elements of control I have over who reads me and who doesn't. LJ has security levels for posts, but I try not to use them often if I can help it. If I can't make it wide open public, then I shouldn't be posting it at all.
  
• I try to post a minimum of once a week. If I have nothing to post, I have nothing to post, but people thinking I'm dead has never been a problem. =)
  
• Each post belongs to no more than 3 keyword tags. This is so that I make sure each post is roughly packetized. I'm just goofy that way. If it fits under more than one tag, it should really be a true amalgamation and not just multiple unrelated topics in one post. No, I don't follow this to a T either.
  
• I try to keep my posts positive and upbeat. Ranting and angst have their place. Sometimes, I've felt like I'm not being honest by burying all the bad stuff... afterall, it's a part of me. But it really does make a difference in my own attitude to keep showcasing, highlighting and emphasizing the positive.
  I also do this because, seeing as how there are other people in my everyday life, family members, friends, etc., I can't help but mention them from time to time =) Drama usually only erupts when you speak negatively of people or if it's perceived that way. No one has a problem with being complimented, genuinely appreciated or spoken about in a positive way.
  
• I try to stay away from cryptic messages and in-jokes. It's funny and interesting to those in the know, but very exclusionary to everyone else.
  
• I try to respond to everyone who comments. Not everyone has a way of knowing whether you've read their comments and people can't tell if no response means ignoring or not having anything to say. I like to at least say something back to everyone even if it's a tad trite and simple, like "thanks" or "haha". I haven't always kept up with this though because some days, it feels rather dorky and I don't do it.
  It says that I'm here, I'm an actual warm body, I'm not just a source of electrons and I don't just talk to my little clique. It says your words are appreciated and welcome. Of course, I can do this because my friends list is small enough to still be quite personal and I don't get many comments.