Nov 18
I know everyone writes about this topic sometime in their blogging career and despite me trying to be “different” (FAIL!!), I’m going to take advantage of my writer’s block and hop on the bandwagon. 
Here is what I think makes a successful personal blog:
- Good design. Yes I know it should always be content > design but I’m a designer and one of the things I use to judge whether to stay at a blog or not is the design. Besides, you basically have 3 seconds to capture the user’s attention before they click on the X button. It’s a shame because some people have great entries but I CAN’T READ IT because their font is too tiny for my half-blind-self and there is no absolutely contrast anywhere. And I don’t like the fact that the Hanson brothers are glaring at me while I read your blog (wait, are they still alive?). You don’t have to be an awesome designer and create incredibly sexy graphics but some things you should consider:
- White space - The reader will need somewhere to rest their eyes especially on a blog with a lot of text. Clutter isn’t really attractive and unless you can make it work, don’t.
- Color and contrast - Light text on dark background and/or vice versa. I personally prefer white/black/neutral background colors for blogs because it doesn’t hurt the eyes after staring at it for a long time. Can you imagine reading my incredibly long ramblings on a bright red background? Ah.
- Line height & text size - Tiny 8pt fonts and tight line-spacing is NOT user-friendly and so 2003.
- Refrain use of celebrity blends - Again that is SO 2003. I used those at 14 *hangs head in shame* when I was still mall-ratting with my bestfriend at Metrotown and creating layouts for my xKube page (shameless plug for my good old beloved online community).
- Use a common/friendly writing style and tone.
I’m inclined to sojourn beyond from blogs accompanying superlatively scholarly chirography peculiarity.I tend to stay away from blogs with over-the-top academic writing style. Good, I get that you are smart but I don’t care because I have a billion other blogs to read and I don’t have time to look up every word you write on Dictionary.com. If your blog is conversational in tone, it will draw in more readers because they can relate to you and people don’t get bored by your super long words most of us won’t even use in real life conversations. Also, a little bit of sarcasm, humor and wit goes a long way.
Have some fun, don’t be too serious (life is too short… blah blah blah). Oh and I used Thesaurus.com for every word in the first sentence so obviously I’m not academic at all because it doesn’t even make sense. Muhaha. - Don’t blog about your break ups. Nobody cares.
- Don’t post lyrics. That’s just lame.
- Pictures. Everybody likes pictures! Just make sure to resize and compress them so they don’t slow down the loading time and if you’re going to have a lot, use thumbnails, pretty please.
- Link others! If another blog/website inspired your entry, it’s common courtesy to link and you might get a link back in the future. It’s all about NETWORKING baby!
- Listen to your readers. If they like something you write, write more about it. It doesn’t mean you have to turn your blog into a niche blog (read next point) but if you balance out your topics, you can keep those readers coming.
- Blog about stuff you actually enjoy. Everyone is telling me I should narrow down my blog topics and cater to a specific niche but I can’t because I HAVE BLOGGING A.D.D! I have way too many interests to concentrate on one specific topic and if I do, it’ll probably bring down the quality of my entries because it’s not something I want to do. Besides, I don’t have time to run multiple blogs and making money off my blog isn’t one of my top priorities. You know how to say once a hobby becomes your main stream of income, it sucks the fun out of it? Totally true. So what do I think? Write about whatever you want and if you’re patient, you’ll find people who will enjoy your blog.
- Ignore last point if your priority is to make money from your blog. Because then you’ll probably want to target a specific niche market.
- Write for yourself first. And then write for your readers. Who cares what others think; what makes you different will make you stand out and people will remember you. Be controversial and stir up some drama if needed (as in controversial topics, not shitting on somebody for no reason). Once you start blogging, you’ll start getting haters but they’ll keep on coming back because they’re intrigued by you and they say that once you start getting them, that means your blog is getting popular. Not that that’s entirely a good thing but at least you’re getting somewhere.
- RSS Feeds. I didn’t start using Google Reader until about a year ago because I preferred going to someone’s actual website but as my blogroll grew, that started getting harder and more tedious to do SO THANK GOD FOR RSS. ♥ Make sure you have a visible link to your RSS feed somewhere on your blog so people can subscribe.
To be continued (maybe in a year or so if I ever get to it)…
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Helga
November 18th, 2008 |
OMG YOU JUST DID NOT DIS HANSON *GASP*
LOL
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Katy
November 19th, 2008 |
I was going to use the Moffats as an example but YEAH I JUST DISSED HANSON! *SNAP
Muhahaha,
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Helga
November 20th, 2008 |
HELLO, JONAS BROTHERS?! THEYRE MORE DISABLE, YO! =p
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Katy
November 21st, 2008 |
I was like… what the hell are the Jonas brothers?!?! Hahaha.. but now I know after a google search.
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Glow
November 18th, 2008 |
Handy tips!! Thanks for this! I need mean RSS thingy.
Right now I am going to put upme pink lippy pics for you
x
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Laarni
November 18th, 2008 |
Refrain use of celebrity blends
HAHAHA. i agree!
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Tara
November 18th, 2008 |
I agree with everything you wrote up there.
THANK GOODNESS FOR GOOGLE READER. ^_____^
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Tracy
November 18th, 2008 |
I know I know!!! I hate it when people post lyrics and a youtube video and my current blog post is: lyrics and a youtube video (which, indeed, messes my valid code up!)
No need to point at me and laugh.. haha
*JK*
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Katy
November 19th, 2008 |
Totally agree. It’s okay to post lyrics and videos as long as you have some interesting text to go with it (that’s not break-up related… can’t stand those)!
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Sy
November 18th, 2008 |
Great advice! Now I’m thinking about changing my font size .. hhmm.
And I’m constantly talking about Now Reading! Aahaha, but we both still have lives! :p
Much love!!
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Katy
November 19th, 2008 |
Weeeee I wish more people would use Now Reading so I can see what books their reading and discover more good books to read. I know there are book review sites like http://goodreads.com but having your own WP Now-Reading library is much cooler. LOL.
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J
November 18th, 2008 |
Stumbling this! Definitely great tips, and most are OK in moderation, just not extreme like you said… for instance, mentioning your breakup or including a small excerpt of lyrics would be OK (usually), whereas an entire post on the topic is retarded.
No more 2003 sites!
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Katy
November 19th, 2008 |
Thanks girl! Yeah I guess I don’t mind mild break up entries as long as the writer doesn’t sound like a clingy bitch/asshole whose going to die because he/she got dumped.
Afterall, a blog IS a place to vent. I guess I just gotta suck it up and ignore them!
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Anne
November 18th, 2008 |
lol soo truee, people who blog about break ups are so wierd…..
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Connie
November 18th, 2008 |
I hate it when people use black backgrounds with white text. It may contrast really well, but if you read stuff in those colors for long enough and look up from the computer, you’ll see spots.
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Katy
November 19th, 2008 |
Good point! I prefer blogs with a white/light background too. I actually tried to create a theme with a black BG before this but I quickly went back to white. I do want to try black one day though because I’ve never used one here before.
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TINA
November 18th, 2008 |
I find this very helpful. Thank you!
& I love the Domo picture. LOL
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Minmin
November 18th, 2008 |
Woah, it’s a really useful post for me! Thanks. I will bare things in mind.
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Kiera
November 18th, 2008 |
I actually don’t mind reading about someone’s break up if I’m a regular reader of that blog. In fact, I do care because going through that kind of stuff can be rough and a blog is a good outlet to let it out and get advice from your blog friends. As long as it’s not something along the lines, “OmG, me and Kevin sooooo broke up todai!111!”
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Fei
November 18th, 2008 |
That’s actually a really good idea. Is that something particular to Wordpress? I’m in the middle of moving somewhere else (i.e., I’m just now thinking about it). XP
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MC
November 18th, 2008 |
I struggled with the niche one for a while. I still don’t think I found a niche really, but I do think I know what my focus is and now I happen to be more consistent on my blog about posting it. I’ve always loved blogging and now I’m more focused to do it!
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XPPINKX
November 18th, 2008 |
i hope me being a cunt can relate to everyone else…so far i think it has
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Malin
November 18th, 2008 |
Having a niche is the fastest way to gain popularity and traffic these days. But I have a hard time writing about the same subject all the time. I will never be a successful blogger!
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Katy
November 19th, 2008 |
Me too! I considered starting into a beauty/fashion blog but opted out on it because I enjoy throwing everything on here instead plus it’s funner.
I don’t think that it’s impossible to be successful not running a niche blog. Look at Dooce.com, I would say she’s a personal blogger and her blog is one of the most popular ever. I would say mine is GETTING semi-successful but I’ve had this for 4+ year! I guess you just have to be really patient…
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Malin
November 20th, 2008 |
Yeah I guess so! Patient and dedicated!
I no longer have any of them 
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Becca
November 18th, 2008 |
totally guilty for having used small text with absolutely no spacing between lines. moo ha ha.
and yes, domo-kun disapproves of sappy self-indulging break up rants.
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Katy
November 19th, 2008 |
I think your text is legible and besides your super cute illustrations make up for it!
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jesmakeup
November 18th, 2008 |
my blending skills? gurl.. u must be trippin! its not compared to urs.. or other bloggers… ive kinda been upset.. cuz i havent got to do a nice look.. always comes out wrong! bOoo.. thats why there hasnt been any FOTD or EOTD
n im kinda lazy…. so that just adds uP! but thanks… take cares katy xoxo
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Katy
November 19th, 2008 |
It’s funny, whenever I TRY to do a FOTD for my blog, it always turns out like a muddy piece of shit. I can only seem to do nice make up when I’m doing it for a purpose (eg. going out) and not just for the hell of it.
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Sihanath
November 18th, 2008 |
“Don’t post lyrics. That’s just lame.”
LOL. I love this post with the whole of my being.
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Katy
November 19th, 2008 |
” I love this post with the whole of my being.”
Hahaha I love you too Sihanath.
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Katrina
November 18th, 2008 |
Those are some great tips!! i totally agree w/the bf break up…Booo nobody needs to know that!
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Diana
November 18th, 2008 |
I don’t mind reading about breakups.
But I do agree with everything else! This was a really nice post
The first point is especially important. People don’t really give badly designed sites a chance, unfortunately.
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Felisa
November 18th, 2008 |
Hmm… problem is, I think every single blogger has a different meaning for “successful blogging”. And it seems contradictory to have so many rules for blogging yet tell people that they should blog for themselves first.
But anywho, I love Google Reader. Definitely a boon to mankind! lol
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Katy
November 19th, 2008 |
Good point, I never thought of it that way! Well I guess I mean that I don’t understand why people are afraid of writing about touchy topics like religion and abortion because they think they’ll get a army of haters raining on them… it’s like who cares, it’s your blog! I use to love writing about how I’m against organized religion and I got a lot of hatemail for that but it was fun and one of the reasons why I write that kinda stuff. It’s not like I wasn’t disrespecting it at all though. Geez… some people need to take a chill pill.
So with me saying that, I should suck it up when people blog excessively about their relationship. I still think it’s sooo annoying though but maybe it’s just me because I have a thing against stupid clingy beetches.
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angie519
November 18th, 2008 |
Hahha you’re so funny and cute =P.
I know! I feel like I still can’t even keep up with my feeder!!
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???
November 18th, 2008 |
great blogging tips!??
& good luck on that competition in your last post?
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Tasha
November 18th, 2008 |
Ugh, I totally agree with everything you listed. I tend to judge other blogs subconsciously on all those points. Except for me, rather than white space, I think I just barely prefer black space, haha. I feel like black space is just slightly gentler on the eyes than bright white space. But not by much
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Shen-Shen Wu
November 18th, 2008 |
I think angsty teenager posts are the best, aka the OH NOES HE DUMPED ME CAUSE I’M CLINGY AND LACKING A BRAIN posts, haha.
But that said, I think a little bit of update with one’s life is good!
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cemel
November 19th, 2008 |
I totally agree on using commonly-used words and conversational tone. Once people start using arcane words, their blogs aren’t blogs to me. I might enjoy reading the content at that moment but I don’t think I’ll revisit them again. haha.
too bad my web designing skill is NIL. haha. YOUR blog is lovely, both design and content-wise :]
Go Google Reader.
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Kimberly Tia
November 19th, 2008 |
Thaaaaaaaaaat was friggin GENIUSSSS…
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Michael
November 19th, 2008 |
Very thorough analysis. You forgot background music that loads automatically. I really hate those.
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tiff
November 19th, 2008 |
Well I’m pretty sure you’re right…because you’re in the top 20 of that Wp blog competition thinger!!!!
OMg.
I’m so going to vote for you!
Congratulations, Katy!!! You can dooo it.
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Crystal
November 19th, 2008 |
I agree with all your tips. Ah, Domo! <3
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adobro
November 19th, 2008 |
Google Reader is a god send.
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sami.xx
November 19th, 2008 |
i love that domo-kun photo, i do hate it when people post about every minute of the day they spent with their boyfriend *puke
i sometimes like to post lyrics or poems even, so long as they’re meaningful in some way and RELATED to what you’re talking about
your blog is way cool because i can actually understand what you’re talking about and it’s interesting to read! <3
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November 20th, 2008 |
[...] is a reason I post this here, by the way. So watch it and then keep [...]
Rachel
November 22nd, 2008 |
Such a good post and it really helps
I agree with a lot of what you say, I hate it when I’m on a blog and everything looks good up until you start reading, when they use such long and confusing words that you get fed up and rage quit your browser!
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Kristan
November 28th, 2008 |
Alright, as you said, a lot of people give advice on this exact same topic, but yours is the only post that I think IS ANY GOOD.
Also, I’ve been surfing blogs for the past hour and yours is the first I KNOW I will check back into. Probably the only one. Thanks for being cool.
Kristan
of http://kristanhoffman.com/ and http://jbu.phuzzymath.net/
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