I’ve been doing what I think of as “spelunking” (isn’t that a great word?) — digging around in the caves of this blog. With the wisdom of my seven years of blogging, I can look back and clearly see ways I could have done a better blogging job (and I’m chipping away at fixing them):
1. I didn’t always split up the text into short bites of content, using bullets and bold type for emphasis, as I do now.
2. I rarely used photos, illustrations or graphics of any kind, either. The posts look so plain! You could argue that plain is okay, especially if you follow #1, but an effective photo certainly helps draw attention.
3. The headlines didn’t necessarily do a good job of conveying the content.
4. I didn’t see the value of letting people know when I had posted something; it felt like bragging. Of course, sitting back and waiting for people to discover you means a lot of tumbleweeds blowing through a blog. I now recognize that people are busy, and it’s actually helpful to share what you’re doing. (Don’t go overboard on this, though!) I joined Twitter in 2009, and eventually began tweeting when I had posted something new. Twitter has since become one of the most effective ways to share posts.
It’s not all bad; I did make sure to link to any sources when quoting other people. I also (mostly) responded to the people who took the time to comment.
Are you a long-time blogger? How has your style changed over the years?
Image: Ray of sun in a Thai cave by “wiangya” and FreeDigitalPhotos.net.