How can I be a good blogger

[Peachesandpearls]

hello everyone :)
I have recently started blogging and am less than impressed with my efforts but it's all trial and effort right ? Can you please be so kind as to give me some tips and hints to make help me write and design an ingteresting blog ? Thank you so much . Peachesandpearls x

[JoanneMallon]

Could you put a link on here so people could give you some feedback? I'm sure nobody would be mean. I agree with you that it's all trial and error, most people change the design of their blog and tweak it as they go along.

I went to a training event once and the professional web designer said that the less you know about design, the simpler you need to leave it. So no need to get overly fancy.

With regards to the writing, I think you have to start with whatever you find interesting, whatever you enjoy writing about. There are some blogs that I find utterly boring, but other people love, and vice versa. You can't please everybody so you might as well start by pleasing yourself and create a blog that you like.

[CircusQueen]

I agree with Joanne that you need to write posts that interest you. This is not only so your writing can interest others but so that you keep going. It can also help if you decide what the focus of your blog is going to be. That way people vaguely know what to expect when they come to visit you and, again, it helps you to keep blogging. It's really difficult to speak in anything but general terms. Is there anything in particular you're trying to get your head around?

[swanker]

it helps if you have a broad theme (makes it easier for people to pigeonhole you )
You need to hone your writing skills, which you can only do by practise- so write, write, write every day.
Post to your blog fairly frequently, so that people returning have something new to read.
Don't fill up your page around your posts with crappy-looking ads, banners, sparkles, links etc!

[Peachesandpearls]

Thanks for the advice :) here is a link . discombobulatedpeach.blogspot.com/
I know the writing is poor and the layout is a bit rubbish but I'm a totall novice and figured the only way to learn was to dive right in and post the few very rough bits I have written while I learn . I suppose the things the confuse me totally so far is getting the right tone and style . As you will see its very much all over the place and laying everything in a reader friendly way . Thanks so much for you time .

[CircusQueen]

You've definitely got a theme going on: rock chick meets motherhood. I like your blog.

One thing I'd say though is that it's really hard to read large chunks of text on a screen.

It may be a good idea to look at putting spaces between your paragraphs (2 or 3 sentences at most) and putting images between the text rather than aligning them to the left of the text.

[Peachesandpearls]

Thanks I appreciate that . I am going to ask a very stupid question now . How do I do that ? My draft posts are paragraphed and much neater but when I publish it ends up as a block of text ?

[swanker]

Black twitter updates on a black background?

You need to think about accessibility- most visually unimpaired people cannot read that!

You need to seriously look at layout- it is very difficult for people over the age of to read text in huge wodges- you need paragraphs, and some attention to spelling.

[swanker]

Ah- don't know what you're using to mark-up your blog...

Would HTML work?

so would put in a line break (i.e. move all following text to the next line)

[Peachesandpearls]

Thank you for the input Swanker . I am going to take all of that advice and get fixing ! Your are very right about spelling . Clearly some more time and attention is needed . Also I think the colours a bit too dark and un-friendly full stop so i will look at changing that .

[swanker]

Also- one thing that (frequently) confuses me is when the blog title is different to that in the URL! Happens a lot actually...

Sorry- I'm very picky!

[Peachesandpearls]

Picky is good . I want to improve :) Thanks again. I will deffinatly have a much impoved blog in a few days .