Monday 2 May 2011

Lesson Two - What's the matter?

Continuing on the 'Starting Your Blog' theme, this lesson will be regarding knowing your stuff.

As a dedicated voyeur of all things blog-related, I can tell you that one of the largest turn-offs when discovering a new blog is when it's a constantly yo yo-ing between being a gossip blog and what I like to call a 'diary' blog (A blog such as Memoires of a Medoll that can simply be about any Stardoll-related stuff)
I have no problem telling you that I was never any good at the gossip side of writing. And that's the reality of owning a blog - you have a strength, and you play to it. There will be a lecture later on in the course from one of the most (if not THE most) successful gossip blogger of both Stardoll generations on how to successfully gossip, so I'll give you a few tips here but I'd really stay tuned if I were you.

Diary Blogging
This is the easiest form of blogging, which in many respects, makes it the hardest. Deep, right? Well, because it's so easy, there will be always be a million other bloggers trying their hardest to get noticed. This means you better be pretty special to stand out. It's lucky you have us to guide you!
The most important thing to remember about Diary blogging is - don't be patronizing. Your readers know that there is a sale in the Starplaza, or that there are new HotBuys. They don't need you to tell them that, what they rely on you for is your hilarious and riveting insight.

Nothing turns off readers more than a two-line post reading 'OMG New HotBuys! What do you think guys?' It's something anyone could write, and it doesn't invoke a propane-fuelled debate in the comments - which is ultimately the fun in blogging, right? Your posts should hit just the right balance of long enough to be engaging and short enough so people don't immediately just skip past it.

If you've hit the solid brick wall known as 'writers block' (it happens to the best of us) then reference pop culture, or current world events. Although I'd use discretion here, because the death of Osama Bin Laden cannot be linked to a new shop in the StarPlaza in anyway that is not a) Offensive b) Unfunny c) Kind of a stretch.
A good example here - finding an 'elite' wearing harem pants and comparing them to McHammer. Or someone acting kind of crazy and inferring that they have been partying with Charlie Sheen. And in the unlikely event of it happening, if someone on here happens to marry Guy Ritchie and adopt several Malawian children then the Madonna comparison is screamingly obvious.

And that's all for todays lesson on Diary blogging. Any questions, queries or furious rants, feel free to send me a mail at Welsh_Witch.


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