Yahoo Blogging Policy and Tips for New Bloggers

Yahoo! has recently developed Personal Blog Guidelines. The pdf document is definitely worth a look. Of particular note are the Best Practices Guidelines on page two of the document. While geared toward Yahoo! bloggers, the main points are valuable to other bloggers as well. Yahoo! recommends:

1. Be Respectful of Your Colleagues
2. Get Your Facts Straight
3. Provide Context to Your Argument
4. Engage in Private Feedback

In response to the Guidelines, Russel Beatie gives some advice for new bloggers. I have quoted most of his post below as well as link to it, because this is great motivation for keeping a blog going. I for one, definitely need a kick in the pants to keep writing. Russel advice for starting out, and for keeping going for that matter:

Just write!
When you first start writing a blog, you may be able to pump out the first few posts pretty easily, but then there’s inevitably a moment when you feel you have nothing else to say. Lots of weblogs start strong and then taper off really quickly as the original incentive for writing wears off. Stick with it! No one likes a dead blog! The secret to writing a blog is consistency, which is a lot easier to attain than it sounds.

Write to your weblog like you’d write an email – don’t get caught up in how great the writing is or how correct the sentences are or what so-and-so is going to think. The most important thing is that you just write! Get your thoughts out there! If you feel like you have nothing to write about, write about how you have nothing to write about! You need to build those blog muscles at first and develop that habit of writing your ideas down quickly and without much internal censorship.

Again, blogging is just like writing a quick email to a friend, but instead of your great insight or feelings trapped inside someone else’s inbox, you’ve set it free for the whole world to see. This a powerful thing. Putting your thoughts out on blog is great for you (writing really helps clarify thinking) and its great for others who might learn from what you have to say, or who see that you’re wondering about something and either have the answers, or often a different perspective on the topic. It’s a great experience both for you the writer and for your readers as well, really! But you have to get your thoughts out there in order for that to happen! So just write!

Okay, all that said, try not to be dumb about being a Yahoo! Blogger , hey? Write about what you do, not about what you’re doing, and don’t write about anything you would normally lower your voice to talk about in a public place. This stuff is fun, and not being a bonehead will keep it that way. 🙂

[Link via Media Guerrilla]