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Frank Viola: 25 Tips for Better Blogging

11. Speak to Your Readers Directly. 

It’s best to use “you” when you are writing your posts. Talk to your readers as if you are having a conversation with them over coffee. This personalizes your posts and makes them more readable.

12. Don’t Talk Too Much About Yourself. 

Most people are naturally self-absorbed. Thus, your readers are more interested in themselves than they are about you. The exception to this is if you’re a celebrity. Then they want to know how many times you floss your teeth! If you’re a Christian blogger, self-absorption is no virtue. So stick to your content and keep self-references to a minimum and in balance. Not too much, but not never at all.

13. Allow Engagement, but Moderate Comments. 

I realize that not everyone is able to allow comments due to time constraints. Fortunately, I’ve been able to allow them up to this point. Allowing engagement is great for several reasons. However, if you receive a lot of comments, you would be wise to moderate them. The Internet is the Wild Wild West. People can anonymously trash someone if they want. This makes blog moderation a necessity.

Unfortunately, I’ve watched some bloggers allow anyone to post anything they like without any kind of moderation. The result: Some Christians get smeared. This is plain wrong. It violates what our Lord taught: “Treat others the same way you want to be treated.” You wouldn’t want a blogger to allow a comment that attacks your character on their blog.

Your blog should be a platform for edifying conversation, not a venue for promoting the sins of evil communication (Eph. 4:29). All readers should feel safe there. Most bloggers I know responsibly moderate their comments, and some have explicit rules for moderation. You can take a look at mine here (I don’t moderate the comments myself). Some bloggers I know don’t even allow comments because of this problem.

14. Participate in the Conversation. 

If you allow comments on your blog, try to respond when necessary. You may not have time to respond to every comment. But do your best to respond to the comments that contain questions directed to you. Strive to be a good, accessible host. Your readers will appreciate it.

15. Don’t Post a Link to Your Own Blog While Commenting on Another Person’s Blog. 

When you visit someone else’s blog and make a comment, don’t add a link to your own blog like: “Check out my post on such and such [with link].” You will be perceived as a spammer. Some bloggers even engage in “drive-by” self-promotion. They aren’t regular commenters to a particular blog, yet they’ll make a quick comment on a post that’s usually generic (“great post!”), then they’ll promote their own blog (“come check out my blog at…”).

Most people who are Internet savvy view this as explicit spam. Therefore, you’d be wise not to engage in it. Of course, if you make a comment (without pointing people to your own blog), and someone specifically asks you a question on a topic, it’s no problem to post a link to your own blog if it contains the answer. In such cases, you’re simply answering a direct question. Even so, most blogs allow you to put your blog URL in the comment box before making a comment. So let that suffice.

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