If you are serious about blogging or are planning to be soon, you may want to consider exactly what type of blog you want. Will it be a collaborative blog? Want to try your hand at a cultural or lifestyle blog? Perhaps even join the biggest blog pool around: the personal blog.
However, a somewhat intimidating element of managing personal blogs is that readers expect some type of interaction. If not with the author or authors themselves, than hopefully with at least some kind of representative or administrator, and always with other blog fans, friends, and followers. Unfortunately, even this innocent interaction can be overshadowed by the dreaded lurkers, hecklers, or even worse, spammers, of the Internet.
Learning how to manage those unpleasant aspects, along with a few tips on how to interact with the genuine human beings who are interested in what you have to say, will make your blogging experience one that you, and your readers, can truly enjoy and hopefully benefit from. However, you are unlikely to achieve that without putting some time into blog maintenance.
Can the Spam
If you are a new blogger, you made it here just in time. If you are an old hand who has conveniently ignored the mass loads of spam, perhaps even abandoned the good fight in tamping it down, than you are in for a bit of a mess—but it will be worth it. Regardless of the blog platform you use—WordPress, Blogger, Joomla or other blogging services—you must have a comment spam application installed.
Search around your blog platform’s website, plug-in or add-on options, or even independent developers with the program you need. You shouldn’t have to pay for any of this type of spam protection, but even a small fee of less than twenty dollars per year would be very worth it, even for a small-scale blog.
Get Thick Skin
The blogging world is a harsh one. Everyone has an opinion and most don’t mind sharing it. Be prepared for those who may outright let you know that they think your content is droll, low-quality, or otherwise not up to their mysterious and lofty standards. You also have a serious decision to make with those who make comments that may raise your blood pressure. Do you leave those comments? Respond? Yes to both.
Open Up with Honesty
Take an unbiased approach. Don’t be afraid to admit to an oversight or mistake. Laugh at yourself when possible, but moderating with wildly inappropriate postings or spam will likely shed an unfavorable light on your blog. There is a happy medium between standing behind a belief and being agreeable to readers.
Assert Some Guidelines
Be honest with yourself. Even great, loyal readers who understand the social aspect of your commenting community may still desire to leave a healthy link behind for their own purposes. Other aspects may need a line drawn in the sand as well. Do you want your commenter’s to refrain from using foul language? Is one tidy link all you will allow on your blog comments? Lay out these guidelines in a side page and refer back to them if you need to remove or moderate any post.
Above all, stick to what you know, and what you are. A great element about blogging is the ability to bring any stalwart standpoint to the table and enjoy the interactivity and educational point of views you may receive as a comments. Allowing readers and commenters to stretch their wings can bring a friendly and social aspect to your blog’s community.
Joy L. is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments. WriterAccess is powered by ideaLaunch.
