Depending on the particular source of information, blogs now saturate the blog-sphere to the tune of 1 out of every 6 persons world-wide who have started a personal or professional blog! With such a formidable figure, it is no doubt that an eventual “blog etiquette” or protocol had to evolve. The following brief article overview will cover some of the most basic yet prominent points of blog etiquette which every aspiring or veteran blogger would be wise to bear in mind when they post their content.
Topic and Content
– While bloggers need to stick to their topic and expound on it, Technorati reports that 43% of bloggers actually desire to write on other topics as well as their main choice topic. Be certain to be sufficiently good at the topic or else it will show. This is primordial in generating enough return blog visitors.
– Be certain to use your own ideas and your own content. Be unique and original or it will show. Today, with modern Internet plagiarism software such as Copyscape available, an embarrassing situation may be avoided. Should you need to quote someone else — give them the credit for it.
Visitor/Blogger Interaction — Building Relationships
– At the very minimum, one method of having visitors come back is really very simple: have a “comments” section for visitors and then have the courtesy to respond respectfully when they do leave their comment.
– If you as a blogger leave a comment on another blog, be certain to leave a comment that is meaningful, not simply “good article.” Should you receive an email response from the blogger, respond promptly. Let that writer know that their view or comment is valuable to you. Also, if time permits, go to the visitor’s website/blog and leave a comment.
Links
– Before publishing the blog posts, be certain to check for any dead links which lead nowhere but to “404 error” pages. And if a certain feature or page is “under construction”, why bother telling someone to go to an unfinished page? Simply leaving it out will be the better choice for those surfing to your site.
– If you need to give proper credit to some one’s work, and if they have given you permission to use the work, it is best to do so with a complementary link back to their site. Be certain to have the attribution and back link given a large enough font to be legible.
Legal Digital Responsibilities
– Copyright infringement, plagiarism and the newly created Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) all have made copy or content writing a little more complicated. Essentially, these are laws and regulations which help tell which are your words; moreover, they also protect you as a writer and the works of other writers as well.
– Original content, giving due credit and ascribing a quote when needed have all been covered above; however, there are other aspects which have not. One such segment deals with resisting the urge to quickly “right-click” and snatch away images on which others may have a copyright or not. This can be easily done by using photos from a “free photo site” or from the Creative Commons selection of photos. At any rate, attribution should be honored.
CONCLUSION
The Internet is growing and evolving exponentially — more than ever imagined. The blog-sphere has become much more demanding than it was at its inception and so have its rules. By following just some of the above stated points of etiquette, the blog-sphere can be made into a more secure, pleasant and rewarding experience for all.
