Good blog writing style

(Cross-posted to Will Write For Chocolate - click image for bigger version).It seems as if almost everyone today has a blog. I read some because they’re blogs of friends, others because they’re well-written and still others because the focus intrigues me. Most people blog for fun, not profit. Unless you’re hired by a company with deep pockets or are hugely popular, blogs rarely generate enough income to make a living.

I was shocked to get my first Google Adsense check sometime last year. Like many others, I had set up some ads over a year ago but stopped monitoring the reports when I realized there were only pennies trickling in. Since you’re only sent a check when you accumulate at least US$100, I figured it would be a long time before I saw anything. Now, I seem to be getting a check about once a month. I also got my first check from Offpanel Productions last month for ad sale profits for Will Write For Chocolate.

It’s not nearly enough to make a living but hey … it’s almost enough to justify how much time I spend blogging and cartooning.

I’m amazed at how many people launch new blogs and expect to get instant traffic (like Mimi, in this week’s strip). It’s a more realistic expectation for those who have corporate backing (and thus corporate promotion dollars) or who already have a following from some other source, like a big-name author who decides to launch his or her own Web site.

But how does the regular joe find readers longterm?

Here are some useful resources I’ve found on good blog writing:

• Rules For Good Blog Writing by Joey deVilla: good list of rules re: style.
• How To Blog: How to write good posts (Part 3) by Antonella Pavese. Excellent article that covers both style and content, especially in developing one’s own unique voice. I especially liked the following paragraph:

“Whatever you do, try to be respectful of your readers. Provide value, don’t waste their time, put some care and attention in your writing, no matter how long/short, personal/objective, opinionated/balanced your posts are. Put some love in your blogging, and you’ll get some love back.”

• How To Write A Better Weblog: by Dennis A. Mahoney on A List Apart. This article includes some good tips on how to set your blog apart from others.
• Tips Tips For Writing A Good Blog Post by Lyndon from Flockblog. Short, to the point.
• 11 tips for managing a good blog entry by Vincent Maher. I especially like his tip about linking to the context. So often I’ll be doing a Google search that turns up a blog post, and I feel as if I’ve walked into the middle of a conversation without a clue about how it began. “If you are blogging about something that other people are talking about, provide links to their conversations so you don’t seem to be speaking out of context. Linking to other sites is a plus rather than a minus because it will help your readers understand where you’re coming from.”

Good blog writing survey

Just as reading good books helps improve one’s writing craft, I believe that reading good blogs helps one’s blog writing. And that brings me to this week’s survey, which is for those who read blogs as well as those who write them: What blogs do YOU enjoy reading primarily for the author’s “voice” or writing style?