What Makes a Good Blog?

(Or should that be, "What makes a blog good?")

Blogging will be an intermittent enterprise for me today as I have much less dead time in the lab than normal.

I have been blogging for about three weeks now. As I get a better feel for the enterprise, thoughts of improving my blog come to mind. Before I get around to the thoughts of others, I'll start by considering just what it is I want from blogging. In my first post, I mentioned that my goal was to become a syndicated columnist. That's not entirely accurate, though. How do I know I really want to do that? In grad school, I had a regular column in the student newspaper for awhile that I really enjoyed writing and that got me quite a few unsolicited compliments. So I know that I enjoy aspects of being a columnist. But on the other hand, writing for a student newspaper is a lot easier than writing for the general public at large: the audience is broader and the competition fiercer to name but a couple of the big differences. I've researched the matter a bit, including reading You Can Write a Column (You Can Write It!) by Monica McCabe-Cardoza. (The book discusses several things about the nitty-gritty of the "job" of writing a column, like, "What, exactly, is syndication? What are its pros and cons?" I recommend it as a good general intro.) So I have a good general idea about what I'd have to do. The thing I wasn't doing before I read that book that I'm doing now is writing regularly to this blog. It's the thing I'm in the best position to do, given that I can't quit my day job, am not really sure I really want to live in that world, and could stand to do something that reasonably approximates having to churn out a regular column.

It's this last point that brings up my question. Alright, I'll admit that I'd like to see my blog acquire a sizable following as an end in itself, but what good is writing every day going to do me if I don't get some intelligent feedback? And how do I get feedback without readers apart from the few family and close friends who already know about my blog? (Not that I don't value their feedback, but I don't expect them to wait on me hand and foot as editors on a daily basis.) This ends up sounding a little like a Catch-22 in the sense that you need to be at least somewhat good to begin with in order to get readers, but you also need the feedback of a wide variety of readers to become good. Except that feedback isn't the whole picture. What I need right now is advice, which really means access to the experiences of others. So I'll hit the web.

As I start this "annotated blogography," I'll note that my time to actually read these, at this very moment, is very limited. This list is primarily for my own benefit, for a later time when I can delve into these writings in greater depth. But should you happen by in need of advice, I hope you find them helpful. These are my first impressions of the beginning of a list generated by googling the title phrase of this entry.

AndrewBlog: Making a Good Blog for Dummies -- This looks promising and makes remarks about several aspects of blogging: goals, drive, writing, layout, opinion, personal, and community. There seem also to be several intelligent comments after the blog entry.

Gut Rumbles: what makes a good blog? -- Skimpy. I might look at the blogs he links to as examples based on his assessment that, "They may not have the landslide traffic, but they run damn good blogs." I was about to comment that I didn't think this blog was, itself, any good, but maybe I can say that about mine!

TalkLeft: What Makes a Good Blog -- This is valuable primarily because it provides a link to a Glenn Reynolds column about this very subject. InstaPundit, as a success story of the blogosphere, is worth at least a quick read.

OrificeWorld (www.orificeworld.com) :: What makes a good blog? -- The entry itself isn't anything to write home about, but points to an article at another blog that may be good. I'll have to google it, though. The link is stale.

seanbonner: What makes a good blog? -- This has a couple of links that may prove useful.

marmalade: what makes a good blog? -- Nothing here.

E-consultancy.com : What makes a good blog design? -- Advertisement.

MovableBlog: Archives: What Makes a Good Blog -- The entry is, itself, of no use, but the site may have merit. It is dedicated to publishing software that may be useful down the road: "A weblog about the Movable Type Publishing Platform and other geekery".

StreamLine :: What Makes a Good Blog Design -- This quotes from and points to a list of tips on site design for bloggers.

Peaktalk - WHAT'S A GOOD BLOG? -- This entry comments intelligently on the Glenn Reynolds column linked to above.

snaggletooth: what makes a good blog? -- Gives a silly, useless list, and then this more promising link.

Business Word Blog -- Goes to Glenn Reynolds again, then says you need time. His entry teaches by demonstration.

Sisters' Weblog: It Bloggles the Mind! -- The main entry is about "prayer as a weapon" and will afford an entertaining break from the question at hand. Scroll down for the Sisters' thoughts on blogging, which are worth a closer look.

Good Blogging 101 -- This goes back to the entry just above. Some of the comments are worthwhile.

A random blog -- Go there, scroll down, and follow the link to "what makes a good blog." That link has this to say: "Short and sweet, folks: If you can't be at least four of the five things listed above, please don't bother. People have a choice (4.5 million choices, in fact) and nobody is going to read your blog, link to your blog or quote your blog unless there's something in it for them." (Hmmm. Maybe my desire for feedback in this medium is quixotic. Well, at least I'm prepared for the possibility.)

This Blog Sits at the: a conversation with Maria on what makes a ... -- This is a segment of a rambling interview with "Maria" on what makes a good blog. Long on quasi-academic hoo-ha and short on hard-nosed advice.

G4techTV - Feature - Top Five Tips for Webloggers -- Short, but worth a stop.

Why Haven'tI [sic] Been Blogging? -- Skip.

That's it for now. Even the initial skimming-through has been useful to me. The comment about the huge number of blogs is discouraging in one respect, but with obscurity comes the freedom to experiment, so if I ultimately lack in feedback from a wide audience, I'll have more freedom to experiment. In any event, I know myself to the extent that if I keep at this for any length of time, I'll have to reorganize this blog and at least put in some static links on its default page. There is something to be said for the satisfaction to be gained from a job well done.

-- CAV