Trust me I don’t want to bore you. I know the best part about being a blogger is the practice being very casual whether you are blogging for the intent of making money or not. I do know though that blogging can get carried away and make the practice of blogging look corrupted, tarnished, or the thought of blogging being dead.
Dear current bloggers or bloggers that have already aspired to be one, use your ability, power, and voice to relate to these words and thoughts.
I asked the people liking us on Facebook earlier this week about this post being published to get any input added before so many others would add input.
David Risley has wrote a code of ethics for bloggers, but I’m going to take a different approach.
The approach here will center around the true definition of a blogger and having that definition not be corrupted by “bloggers”. We want anyone aspiring to be a blogger to know a few core values that make blogging fun, sometimes a profession, and respected.
These are going to be to the point as I could elaborate on some all day. The point is to get the point and the message.
- Stay true to your voice and passion. Many can strain away from this, especially when they see other the opportunity to make money. The money might come in the short term, but you’ll be “broke” for the long term.
- Offer transparency / authenticity. Think of blogging as a journal that others will want to read because they know your talents or skills related to whatever you’re blogging about.
- Experiment and have fun. Blogging is not meant to be tiresome even though you might get writer’s block. Just be careful not to get too carried away with your experimentation. No one likes a messy lab.
- Give your community a feel for your voice and style. Are you the one that says it how it is? Are you that calm writer? Or do you write deep, thorough posts?
- Be responsible for your creations. Tim O’Reilly called for a blogger code of conduct where we must be responsible “for your own words and the comments you allow on your blog”. You have the power to accept or decline.
- Connect with the community. If people know you don’t respond to any or some of the comments make them aware of that. But, make an effort to connect with people similar to your content along with people supporting you.
- Always improving and learning. The blogosphere is immense but only the good who improve and learn over time will stand out.
- Get the basics. This will include how to have a good designed blog, quality vs quantity, commenting that’s not spam, and getting a gravatar.
- Know what lies ahead. Many existing bloggers are bloggers no more because they were unaware of what they were getting themselves into. Especially if you plan on being a professional blogger.
- Visit ProBlogger, CopyBlogger, and Blogussion. These are essential places that offer a different focus and perspective for bloggers and content creators. I had to include us!
What Would You Add?
A blog is in many ways a continuing conversation.
I surely did not cover everything. The above “code” is developed overtime by and for bloggers so join the efforts to make blogging awesome in the times to come for any aspiring bloggers.
Photo by Jo Naylor
The Discussion
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Hey Derek,
This is a great code for bloggers. Although, I would say it’s more of a blogging guide moreso than a code of ethics. I would add, so far as ethics go, staying honest. Don’t copy other’s work.
As a blogging tip, I would say, it’s also a good idea to be original as you don’t want to be just another blog. You want to be something different and special.
Hey Richard,
I just updated the post as I completely agree with you. Must have forgot to change the title or just saw them more in an ethical sense.
I know one way I try to stand out is just to be myself and I know that by doing that I will be original. I just need to be true that.
Thanks for coming by.
Derek,
Great post.
“Stay true to your voice and passion.”
This is the key one for me. It’s nice to visit different blogs and get the full frontal opinion and views of each blog owner.
Thanks Rob!
It’s a good thing I put it first
Thanks for coming by!
Great point about being responsible for your creations. I think I’ve let my guest posting slip a bit and i do have the choice to accept or decline :/
I only read blogussion and not problogger or copyblogger, so i don’t know if that’s a good thing
Guest posting is great for community participation but if you aren’t careful it can weaken the strength of your blog. For the next redesign we are playing around with stricter guidelines for guest posts.
If anything you should read CopyBlogger, I’ve learned a lot there but I’m glad you call Blogussion home
hmmm, now i don’t know if i should submit a new guest post before or after you change the rules?
I’m not worried about you.
I’ have also like your all experienced posts. Best of luck to you in future.
Hi there and thanks for the facts! I agree to that Richard. Being honest is the number one rule of a blogger. Indeed, copying or paraphrasing other’s article is a big No-No. When you are writing, it is best to let your inner idea, creativity and being original burst.
Hey! (it’d be nice to know your name).
I quickly adjusted the post as the title did not go with the content. Honest mistake. Go originality!
thanks for the love derek! you rock!
I try.
More to come hopefully! Thanks for stopping by, John!
Must follow code for bloggers. I would rate building community as no.1 priority – because everything else will take care of itself.
I’d argue and say that original and useful content would be the first priority in relation to having everything else take care of itself.
staying true to your voice is very true. i have seen bloggers who preach something else and practice something else. This is one thing that hurts me most.
In their quest of becoming popular and bigger, they are misleading new people which is by no way is right approach.
We will see if they make it any farther than they have.
I think staying true to your voice and passion is very important. Unfortunately a lot of bloggers ‘run dry’ and then start to blog about unrelated topics. For your readers’ sake a blog definitely needs consistency in approach.
I believe that when you’ve come to a point where you don’t know what to blog about and start changing it up in the weakness sense you might have to reevaluate your passion. It might have changed or wasn’t strong enough.
Hi Derek! I agree with you, being honest with his readers is one of the most important thing for a blogger, and copying someone else isn’t useful for anyone. Thanks for sharing this great post with us!
Hey! (I’d be awesome to know your name) Mr. GTA 5…
Surely copying is not good at all and its key to offer your very own approach instead of just using different words.
Derek you are right on about this. For me the code of ethics should always about being authentic to who you are and what your blog is really about. I know who I am and so I always try to gauge whether a post I’m about to publish is really me. If it’s not I figure out why and if there is a need to change it.
The same goes with the blog. If you are no expert on European handbags don’t pretend to be with a blog on them because you think you can make money.
You have to test your own authenticity. If you pass others will give you the pass. If you fail, you have the opportunity to correct that before others give you the fail.
Always like your perspectives.
Bloggers have to stay true to their values, and morals. No matter how much money is at stake, they have to say what they believe is the right thing to say. This involves not saying things too that might hurt others. Words do hurt, and we have to watch what we say. Sometime’s its better to be quiet.
But its also good to say what you want in the sense of showing your true emotion, passion, meaning, and point. If you tend to swear while writing, swear. Don’t hold back. Just warn your community or you’re community will just find out.
Nice,valuable and informatics stuff about good blogging. It is most beneficial for both experienced and newbie bloggers.
Keep it up regularly plz……!
I’m glad you found this valuable! A new post is coming Monday
(2-3 a week as of now… looking to possibly increase the frequency)
I agree with everything here most especially offering transparency / authenticity. It is important to be oneself in the blogging world and not pretend to be someone else. It is easier and you can express your self better. Anyway, who would want to start with a lie? So be who you are, each person is unique and also with a unique talent, build on that.
There is just so many bloggers out trying to make money and they are really trying to hard with all focus on making the money. This shows in poor transparency and quality of the value for the readers. Instead they should just report or blog about what they know and what happens.
If nothing what you are doing is great, make that initial change. It’s a win win situation if you begin looking at it that way.
Thanks for coming by, Andrew!
Really informative..for me ethics mean
1. originality
2. honesty
3. transparency
4. Fearless approach
5. objective unbiased authoring and reporting.
Thanks for the just analysis!!
I like the fearless approach. What do you mean by that? I see it as a way for bloggers to just execute and make mistakes that can be fixed overtime.
I think the point “connect with community” is great one. As we all started the blog so that more and more people visit and later on we can earn as well
before making any earning you need to create your community and for that you have to connect with community.
Shailender, you are right and so many people think that they can make money by simply just creating product or placing advertisements everywhere. Well, that’s no good if you don’t have a community that will also offer you feedback.
Hi Derek,
thanks for sharing this code of honour. I especially embrace the idea of taking responsibility for our creations – and other people’s creations on my own blog – their comment. I just recently started becoming more selective with comments. I am sure that it will pay off in the long run. The same holds true for being and remaining authentic.
Take care
Oliver
Hey Oliver,
First, thanks for coming by and offering your thoughts. I truly believe that many bloggers don’t think they are responsible for what others what read on your blog in the comments. Surely, it would be nice to have a comment policy (famous one I know of is on Tim Ferriss’s blog). But it is your blog and if a person gets offended that their comment was removed they should think to why it would be. That is of course if they will notice.
Best,
Derek
Derek, I love what you’ve included about controlling the comments area. I think we get the wrong impression that people leaving comments have free reign, but ultimately, every comment becomes our content. It’s added to the paragraphs we’ve written and indexed by search engines as belonging to us.
I’ll print disagreements, but I’m never under any obligation to compromise my blog’s character for someone else’s platform or opinion.
Good code!
Brandon,
Oliver above had some of the same thoughts and you should check out what I wrote in response to him.
Ultimately though bloggers are in control of what they want displayed or not. We do love getting comments but if a comment does not fit of good quality or character to the rest of the blog, it has a right to be removed. The commenter, if they notice that it was removed, should have a good understanding why it would be removed. A good comment policy would help this for people, if you feel bad removing comments.
On here, I’ll admit that I’ve spammed or removed comments because they were mostly promoting themselves.
Another thing to look at is why Seth Godin and Leo Babauta have removed comments from their ever popular blogs. It allows the people of their community to spread the content and also moderate the feedback coming from the content.
Wish you the best!
Nice blog post, thanks for sharing this dude
…. keep up the god job
You’re welcome Paw! Look forward to seeing you more
Totally agree with Paw.. oh btw Derek, I like the style of your blog. And your post always has Summary and Key Points section.. do you use any plugin to add that section? thanks..
Thanks!
I believe its a custom function and you should know that this is made with Thesis by Alex, the other partner in crime for Blogussion.
You can find more of his work at Kolakube.com
Despite the nature of blogging being so amorphous, i.e. you really can use a blog in many different ways to do many different things, I am still surprised about how many people blog for a substantial amount of time and then suddenly stop updating their blogs. This is especially common in my industry, i.e. lawyers.
Thus my two cents: stick with it. If you are patient, create quality content, and reach out to the blogging community, your blog can be of substantial benefit to the you and others.
Many of us in the beginning are so optimistic to be consistent and producing quality content. But, the reality of it is that we need to set a good pace for publishing and coming up with content and think for the long haul instead of the short.
I had read it before, but enjoyed it again, Derek. Good post.
Will there be a third?! Haha I’m glad you enjoyed it Akhtar! Keep it for future references has a nice reminder
Nice article. I think the part about having fun and not making blogging tiresome can be the most difficult. It can be difficult to establish that line sometimes and know when you cross it.
Blogging surely needs to be fun. If you aren’t having fun I’d recommend taking a second look the true reason you started blogging.
Wellstructured guideline – A+ – Thanks for sharing!
Best regards
Kim
Thanks Kim! I hope that it guides many bloggers in the right direction and acts as a reminder for existing bloggers.
A great tips. also you reached on correct approach for bloggers how to get more benefits! Thanks for nice informations………..!
You’re welcome!
Staying true to yourself is so important when it comes to blogging. Too many bloggers copy from successful bloggers. Who only got that way because of how they run their blog. Blog as an individual and you more likely to succeed rather than copying someone elses blog down to a tee.
Bloggers will have better success by not listening to bloggers talking about their success. It’s merely just to get your mind going.
Hi Derek,
I think most of the things you mentioned follow from number one: staying true to your passion. The you will always be authentic and transparent, etc. I found blogging is also a great way to find out what your passion really is, so it is also experimental. FYI, I like your minimalist blog and philosophy.
Kai
Hey Kai,
You’re right that everything stems down from staying true to your passion (probably why it’s first) but there are many other specifics we must keep in mind. If you’re talking about “mnmlist.com” that’s actually not mine. I just heavily support that blog about minimalism. It’s actually by Leo Babauta.
Thanks for coming by! Wish you the best with your blogging
Well, not every people taking seriously while blog, and I think that there are just a few who might truly doing what you say
I believe it to be an all blogger responsibility.
Great Guide..
A+.. Rating from me..
Thanks for sharing
Love it! You’re kindly welcome.
Hello Derek, I stumbled upon your blog and I really agree with what you posted. Most blogs these days are nothing more than content farms and don’t necessarily point out useful information. Being honest and knowledgeable about what your posting should be the focus of bloggers today. Thumbs up to you! Keep up the good work!
Hey Sandra,
The blogosphere or interwebs is getting so much noise with nonsense, but the good and few of us can change that. Look forward to seeing you around more!
Take care.
be creative, be original, be unique and be yourself – that has been my own blogging motto till now and actually has worked quite well, as well
Great tips!
Good stuff!
In every thing we do there are rules or codes to follow. Some of these rules are meant to push you up while others confine you in a box. So what am I trying to say, this is Blogging and blogging is supposed to make you speak your mind without anybody controlling you. So do write whatever you want to convey, it makes the content of your blog interesting. But keep in mind that in doing so, you should be responsible enough to justify and support the info or idea your disseminating. This will make your readers see the full spectrum of your perspective. This way you become more authentic, true, experimental and an out-of-the-box blogger. A good blogger conforms to rules without them knowing it and they add more to it in the process.
Very well said Mark! Care to lead these vision for the blogosphere? Many bloggers don’t get this.
As you say in the beginning…….[ Trust me I don’t want to bore you. ] Really I like your site very much and not bored. Thanks for sharing us so nice articles regularly……….!
You’re welcome!
Sure………..! I have also feel that it is a great interesting site for bloggers both for newbies and old ones.
Thanks! We believe this to be true too!
Staying true to yourself and giving the correct information to your readers without trying to cheat them is a very good point.. These days most bloggers have the only intension of making money and they don’t even think before cheating their readers! I loved your post!!
YES!
In every thing we do, there are rules or codes to follow. Some of these rules are meant to push you up while others confine you in a box. What am I trying to say is, this is Blogging is supposed to make you speak your mind without anybody controlling you. So do write whatever you want to convey, it makes the content of your blog interesting. But keep in mind that in doing so, you should be responsible enough to justify and support the info or idea you’re disseminating. This will make your readers see the full spectrum of your perspective. This way you become more authentic, true, experimental and an out-of-the-box blogger. A good blogger conforms to rules without them knowing it and they add more to it in the process.
Hey Derek,
Great post. Being a beginner into blogging such informations are so useful and helps me keep my thinking straight. Very interesting posts you have here. I have added your blog to my favorite list
.
See you soon.
Cheers.
Krish
Hey Krish,
Awesome to hear! Just to let you know we have something special arriving in March
HINT: new design
Definitely agree with the point about moderating the comments on a blog. So many bloggers don’t do this, and it can really detract from the conversation (even if it DOES make the comment count go up).
Yes and I think the reason some don’t is this is a very time consuming task. Just trying to manage the comments here can get exhausting. HAHA
I have a problem on connecting with the community and I am already doing something about it.
Like what?!
everyone needs to concentrate on “Connect with the community” which can be achieved only by Guest post… Commenting doesn’t really help in this
Only?! Social networking and arranging meet ups
…there is more!
Hi Derek, found you through Dragos at BitDoze, (or at least this blog).
I had just started in blogging last Nov and # 1 to me is honesty to readers. I connect with a lot of other bloggers and get their feedback and watch how they act, which sets my bar higher for me.
Thanks for good points and will stop by to say hello once in awhile.
Do the same!…:)
Great post and code! I think first and foremost a blogger should maintain their niche unless it’s a journal-type blog and stay passionate to that. This is a great way to build a strong targetted community around you and gain loyal readers.
Also, make sure you give your readers ample ways to stay connected from the outside. RSS, Email, Facebook, etc…
You have a nice looking blog here!
If they are not maintaining their niche then they should maintain their voice and values.
Hi, Thanks for these kinds of interesting writing as I were able to discover here. I agree with most of what is written right here and I’ll be coming back to this website again.
Good to know!
I was moved with what you said… “Only the good who improve and learn over time will stand out.” It’s very true… Thank you for sharing.
This post is truly relevant to my study of blogging and seo work at this moment, and I am very glad to see such information, which I was searching for a long time. I really appreciated with all the given information, I thankful to you for providing me wonderful information.
Hi Derek,
you’ve mentioned good points in you article which are important for bloggers. Thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome Blocomo!
I just have to tell you how much I really enjoy rediscovering your blog about blogging basic and essential tips. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
Welcome back!
Hello, I positively fancy reading your posts, thank you for the great notify!
Great Blog and very good content in this article. Thanks for sharing this blogs with us.
Thanks for sharing this blogs with us, I positively fancy reading your posts. This is a great blog guys
Wow! This is perfect! Your article title caught my attention. This is just what I needed -the essential code for blogging. I will make this as my guide in blogging and keep all your tips in mind. But as for me, the most important in blogging is your first guide, that is, stay true to your voice and passion. Nothing could ever beat the passion of a blogger, and it’s important to be true in all your blogs. Thank you very much for sharing!
Hi Derek! Thanks so much for this! Although I don’t write articles for blogs myself, I do manage a few. My work with blogs includes finding ways to optimize our content, developing the layout/design of the blog, editing articles from our copywriters, etc. I would be interested in hearing any advice you might have to offer from a more technical point-of-view, i.e. ways to increase traffic to blogs, getting people to comment, etc. All in all, though, definitely some interesting points made in the article! Thanks!
Advantageously, the post is in actuality the sweetest on this creditable topic.
It seems like lots of people have problems writing for blogs. I think sticking to the facts it definitely important. It’s also good to incorporate option. It’s about displaying your personal character. I think it comes to you the more you do it. Anyway great article!
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