RA2.0: Blog Tips

 

Dos

 

Update frequently.

Adopt your own tone/personality.

Be honest.

Ask questions to encourage discussion/comments.

Always answer comments, and comment on other, related blogs.

Keep posts on the short side.

Provide copious links (in text and as a "blogroll" list of other sites).

Date your entries, and "sign" them with your name (for blogs with more than one author).

Use graphics.

Provide RSS feed links/capabilities.

Provide a "search" function.

Have a purpose.

Learn a bit of HTML; knowing the <a href=""></a> tags, for example, is very helpful.

Leave way more time to play with software than you think you'll need.

 

Tips from Jane Jorgensen, editor of Madison Public Library's (WI) book blog MADreads:

"The Three C's of library blogging are:

 

Commitment - Before starting a blog make sure you and your contributors (another C) are committed to keeping it going.  You know it takes a lot of work and the next C.

 

Content - Blogging has to happen frequently.  Blogs that update infrequently will only be looked at infrequently and interest (both from bloggers and the readers) will fade.  Make sure you and whatever other contributors you have are committed to producing content.

 

Comments - A couple of things to do with comments.  Interaction is the goal of blogging and you'll need to decide ahead of time how you're going to handle comments.  Blog service providers will give you various options for handling comments - no comments allowed, only registered members can comment, moderated comments, anyone can comment (few use this last option because of spam issues)."

 

Don'ts

 

Be afraid to give a bad review; but do be prepared to defend your point of view.

Explain frequently the purpose of your blog.

Be overwhelmingly personal just because you can.

Waste posts on low-traffic times: also known as the weekends.

Forget to proofread.

Turn off Spellchecker.

Plagiarize others' posts or writings.

Think you have to understand all the technology before you start.

Be afraid to take a step back and take a day off when you're overwhelmed.

 

Toolkit

 

Free Software:

Blogger: https://www.blogger.com/start

WordPress: http://wordpress.com/

LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/ 

 

RSS Aggregators:

Bloglines: http://www.bloglines.com/

Google Reader: https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?hl=en&nui=1&service=reader&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Freader%2F

Newsgator: http://www.newsgator.com/ngs/default.aspx

 

Library Book Blog Examples:

Ann Arbor District Library, Michigan: http://www.aadl.org/catalog/books

Madison Public Library, Wisconsin: http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/madreads/

Blogging for a Good Book, Williamsburg, VA: http://bfgb.wordpress.com

Plainfield Public Library District, Illinois: http://ppldreads.blogspot.com/

Plainfield Public Library Teen Blog: http://pplibraryreviews.wordpress.com/

Waterboro Public Library Blog: http://www.waterborolibrary.org/blog.htm

 

A master list of library blogs, from the Blogging Libraries wiki: http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/links/index.php?title=Public_libraries

 

Search for blogs by subject; Technorati: http://www.technorati.com/

 

Literary Blogs:

Bookshelves of Doom (YA): http://bookshelvesofdoom.blogs.com/

Bookslut: http://www.bookslut.com/blog/

Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind: http://www.sarahweinman.com/

The Elegant Variation: http://marksarvas.blogs.com/elegvar/

Maud Newton (and a really comprehensive blogroll): http://maudnewton.com/blog/

National Book Critics Circle, Critical Mass: http://bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com/

Nonfiction Readers Anonymous: http://nonanon.com/

Reading the Past: http://readingthepast.blogspot.com/

Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Novels: http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/

 

RA Blogs:

RA for All: http://raforall.blogspot.com/

Readers Advisor Online RA Blog: http://www.readersadvisoronline.com/blog/

RickLibrarian: http://ricklibrarian.blogspot.com/

 

Resources

 

Byron, DL.  Publish & Prosper: Blogging for Your Business.  New Riders Press, 2006.

Gardner, Susannah.  Buzz Marketing with Blogs for Dummies.  Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2005. 

Rough Guides.  The Rough Guide to Blogging.  Rough Guides, 2006.

Sauers, Michael P.  Blogging and RSS: A Librarian's Guide.  New Jersey: Information Today, Inc., 2006.