Blogging Resources: November 2008 Archives

As someone who works with computers and software on a daily basis, I think I'm qualified to write software reviews for products I've worked with a while.  In fact, I've done that several times.  Lately I've wanted to not just review a product, but to actually do a semi-professional job of it.  I spent tonight reading and analyzing dozens of software reviews by professional writers, from respectable sources like CNet, PC World, and the like.  I also went through a few amateur reviews in case I missed something valuable.


I used a mind mapping tool to help me organize my thoughts and observations.  In the end, I decided that my software reviews from this point on will follow the basic structure outlined below:

All of these parts aren't necessary for every software review you do.  For example, if you're looking at a program that has no competitors and you're not familiar with its earlier versions, you wouldn't bother to include a comparison to other products or to earlier versions.  Your goal will be to include as many sections as you can authoritatively speak to.


For each of the points in the basic structure, I've developed a list of questions to ask yourself (and details you may want to include) to make sure you cover that particular point thoroughly.  Again, not all of these will apply to every review you will do.  Think of them as a guideline where you can include what you think is relevant and useful given the package you're looking at, and leave out the stuff that's not applicable, useful, or worth the time to research.

Below is the "fully expanded upon" list of points in the basic review structure:

If you manage to follow this basic structure, you'll write a review that's thorough, detailed, and useful.  Your readers should find pretty much whatever they're looking for in that review.

The above structure probably would not work well for video games or hardware.  It's oriented more toward application software and utilities.  I'm planning to develop a separate structure for game reviews which I'll share at a later time.

No matter how strong our command of language might be, there are times when we're searching for the right way to say something, questioning our use of a word or phrase, or finding ourselves in need of advice.  Below are some resources I've used in the past:

Becoming an Idea Magnet
As the author puts it 'Ideas really are everywhere. The art is in training your mind to see the ideas and pull them in before your thoughts pass by them to make your mind into an idea magnet of sorts.'

Blogging Basics
This article from Technorati provides a sort of FAQ to the whole blogging concept for new and practicing bloggers alike.

EFF's Guide to Safe Blogging
This article from the Electronic Frontier Foundation provides some suggestions for keeping your blogging safe, avoiding getting fired for blogging, etc.

Finding and Writing Fresh Blog Content
This article from Performancing.com talks about how to find and write fresh content for your blog.

How to Write a Better Weblog
Writing suggestions to make for successful blogging.

Top 7 tips to write an effective business blog
This article provides the top 7 tips for writing an effective business blog from the folks at BlogWrite for CEOs.

What to write about (from Performancing.com)
This article talks about finding ideas to blog about.

You probably don't write your blog just for the sake of writing. You're hoping that readers will come to your blog, read what you have to say, and appreciate it.  One way to come up with ideas to blog about is to put yourself in the reader's shoes.

Most blog posts do one of the following (if not more than one):

• Share information about a subject
• Share a viewpoint
  
• Challenge an assumption
• Provide entertainment
• Empower readers to do something
• Compare and contrast two things
• Speculate about something that might happen
  

If you're looking for ideas for articles to post on your blog, the "grid method" may help you.  Start by making a grid on a piece of paper, or in a spreadsheet, or using whatever medium you're comfortable with.  Down the left side of the grid, write the individual items in the bulleted list above.  Across the top of the grid from left to right, write in the subject areas of your blog, or subject areas you might like to write about.  Let's say that on your blog, you tend to talk about your pet cat, your computer, and food:

	Cats	Computers	Food
Share information
Share a viewpoint
Challenge an assumption
Entertain
Empower readers to do something

To complete the exercise, you just need to fill in the blocks with something that combines a topic from your blog with one of the common post types. The result might be something like this:

	Cats	Computers	Food
Share information	Things every new cat owner should know	How to select a good motherboard	How to make a delicious, tender pot roast
Share a viewpoint	Why cats make better pets than dogs	Why I prefer AMD CPUs to Intel CPUs	A review of "Good Eats" on the Food Network
Challenge an assumption	Some cats actually like water and getting wet	Generic memory is just as good as name-brand memory	More expensive cuts of steak aren't necessarily better
Entertain	How I drive my cats nuts with a laser pointer	101 things to do with useless old floppy disks	The humiliating night I sent back my gazpacho soup because it was cold
Empower readers to do something	How to teach your cat to use a toilet instead of a litter box	How to choose the right components and build a powerful PC for less	A step-by-step guide to making the perfect pumpkin pie

Just about that quickly, you've managed to come up with ideas for 15 blog posts.  If you cover more topics on your blog or come up with more categories for blog posts than I did, you'll have a lot more ideas on your grid.

The "Bounce Method" is a very simple trick I've used to great effect in my blogging.  After I've written a post about a particular subject, or even while I'm trying to flesh out that post in my mind, I'll bounce the idea off a friend, family member, or co-worker (maybe even several friends or co-workers).  In the course of discussing that particular topic, the other person will help me find flaws in my logic, remind me of things I missed, give me additional talking points, or (once in a great while) convince me it's not such a great idea after all.  The next time you're having trouble figuring out what to say or how to say it, talk it out with someone else.  They might give you the perspective you're looking for.

One reason I'm rarely at a loss for something to blog about is that I'm always scouting for ideas.  Sometimes I'll be asked a question that I've answered for someone else in the past, like "What do you think about X?"  When I get home that night, it might just inspire me to write down everything I know about that subject in a blog post.  Not only does this give me some interesting (hopefully) material, it can also help me to flesh out my thoughts on a particular subject and respond even more authoritatively the next time someone asks (or I can just refer them to the blog and be done with it).

If you typically blog about a particular subject, regardless of what it is, this method may help you to come up with articles to help show readers your command of that subject, establishing yourself as an authority.

Begin with the main topic of your blog.  For example, let's say your blog is about cats.  You start by writing down the word "cats" on a sheet of paper.  Below that, create a list of things you know about cats: what they like to eat, how they keep clean, how they like to be petted, where they like to sleep, what scares them, what arouses their curiosity, how to deal with shedding, etc.

For each of the listed topics, list what you'd like your readers to know about that particular thing.  For instance, building on our example, under "what they like to eat" you might list things like tuna, canned cat food, dry cat food, whipped cream, melons, or whatever your cat happens to enjoy eating. 

You can use this method to drill down as deeply into your subject matter as you like.  Once you have what feels like a pretty solid list, go back over your existing blog posts and see what areas you've already covered, and what you haven't.  You might find, after checking, that you never actually talked about the time your cat jumped up on the kitchen counter and ran off with a piece of fresh melon.  That might make for an interesting or humorous post.

The "list of lists" may jog your memory for things you've always wanted to write about but have never gotten around to.

Here's a simple brainstorming tip that can help you to have a more authoritative and complete blog...

Bring up a web browser and point it to your blog.  Make a list of your last 5-10 entries, either the titles or the "gist" of the entry.  For each entry in your list, ask yourself how you could expand on that point?  Is there something you brushed on in the post that isn't explained as well as you would have liked?  Does it make you think of some other topic area you haven't covered on your blog?  Have commenters to the article asked intriguing questions you should answer with a follow-up post?

This "extension" method of brainstorming can help you recognize content areas that might be lacking from your blog, and opportunities to cover earlier points in greater detail.

Conversion Rate Experts, an organization devoted to helping businesses turn web visitors into customers, published an interesting guide to free tools that can help you analyze the traffic to your blog or web site.  The list of tools includes Google Analytics, Crazy Egg, ClickTale, Google Talk Chatback, SurveyMonkey, 4Q, and others. 

Based on my past experience, I would encourage you not to use all those tools at once.  For a while, I ran a web-based cartoon site.  To analyze my traffic, I used a handful of tools like the ones listed on the linked article.  When I went to promote my cartoons on various web forums, my announcements were often followed by (inaccurate) remarks by other forum visitors who had gone there and had gotten browser security warnings about various JavaScripts being in use there.  They (incorrectly) assumed that these warnings implied that my site was infected by some sort of virus or malware, and warned others not to visit it... even though there were no viruses or malware on my site.  So my advice would be if you choose to use some of the listed tools, use them sparingly for a short time to analyze your traffic, and don't use more than 1-2 at a time.  Otherwise you run the risk of misinformed or novice users thinking there is something "weird" happening with your site.