TOP 5 BLOGGING TIPS

Five simple steps to start off along the right blogging path...

If you would like to share your experiences of blogging, or want to pose a question then why not start blogging right now by making a post on the 'Why Blog?' blog?. Email knowledge at warwick dot ac dot uk to be added to the permissions for the blog.

1.Work out why you want to blog

If you have a general idea then why not take a look at a relevant case study for more information. We have separated our case study bloggers into four broad types:

1. Social
   
2. Educational - Teacher or Student
   
3. Research/Collaborating with fellow professionals- Academic or Non-Academic
   
4. Is it none of the above? If so, would it be helpful to build your online profile?

...Then Start Blogging

The Library will be running a 23 Things programme in the Autumn for PhD students and, following that in the Spring, for staff. This is an online programme designed to introduce library staff to Web 2.0 technologies, but is a great model for anyone to follow interested in learning about the practice of blogging.

Alternatively, follow an equivalent online course such as 30 days to a better blog.

2. Identify a blog that you can model yourself on

There are so many blogs online; it can be overwhelming to try to find one that is in a style you would like to emulate. We have recorded a series of short videos with some Warwick bloggers to help!

3. Identify your ideal audience

Think of three ways in which you will tell your audience about your posts. These ways may be quite traditional, like emailing people or adding the url to your business card..

4. Explain the blog to your audience

5. Reflect on whether your blog has achieved what you wanted to achieve

Make any adjustments you think necessary whether that be deleting posts, adding introductions, organising the posts in a different way, rebranding the blog, spend more time blogging, spend less time blogging....You probably need to start blogging to properly understand how to make the most of blogging platforms.

FACING THE FIVE BIGGEST CHALLENGES

And how to overcome them...

1.Don't Know How?

Use Warwick Blogs if in any doubt as it is easy to use (and therefore quick). It is supported by ITS (73737). They also have some great FAQ pages.

Find a kind blogger to help you. Lots of people blog these days, so chances are you will know someone who has set up their own blog.

The best person to ask will often be....Google. The issue then becomes how much time you have to invest in training yourself in this way.

The Library provide a range of training sessions and opportunities which include:

• Information Management on the Research Student Skills Programme covers how to find non-traditional information as part of lit review research, including finding blogs, as well as a session on disseminating information about your research which finishes with a consideration of blogs as a place to write about research

• They also run the 23 Things programme, which is an online programme designed to introduce people to Web 2.0 technologies.

2. Time

Decide on how much time you want to invest and design your blogging strategy accordingly. Some time saving tips include:

• Work on content for your blog just once a month. This might involve writing several posts and scheduling them to publish over the month ahead. In between these blogging sessions note down ideas for posts and collect resources/links that you want to share.
• If you do not want to upkeep a whole blog by yourself, start by contributing posts to other established blogs.
• You can set up Twitter and Facebook to automatically tweet when you make a new post.

3. Copyright Issues

When using images in your blog posts, it is good to be aware of copyright and image ownership. It is unlikely that you will get caught for using copyrighted images, but it is best to check who owns the image before you add it to your blog.

Images are a great way to liven up your blog so other options to avoid copyright issues include:

• using your own photographs
• use images from Flickr that are available under a Creative Commons license

If you are blogging about academic research, then it is important to be aware of intellectual copyright: 'Journal author agreements have sections which authors have to sign to say that the work has not been previously published anywhere and some publishers would consider a blog posting to be a publication. If in doubt, authors should ask the publisher they wish to approach what their policy is. Likewise when it comes to publicizing their own journal articles through blogs: different publishers have different policies.' Jenny Delasalle, Library Support for Research

For some academics this means that it is tricky to blog about their research but there are other things to blog about, such as comment pieces that relate to the news agenda.

4. Being Ignored

Remember...

• You don't need the world as an audience. One person reading a post and having a meaningful conversation about it can be enough to make it worthwhile.
  
• Think of all the ways in which you communicate with people, use the same methods to tell them about your blog.
  
• Note: you will have to tell people about your blog if you want an audience!! It does not happen by accident. Plan to spend some time on 'marketing' your blog.
  
• Don't worry if no one comments. Anecdotal evidence suggests people prefer now to comment/chat about blog posts on Twitter and Facebook or face-to-face and not just in the comments section.
  

5. Handling Negative Feedback

It is unlikely that you will encounter any negative feedback, but if you do, there is technology available to prevent it having a negative impact on your blog.

• Remember that you are in control. You do not have to deal with comments if you don't want. Just switch them off.
• If you don't want to world to see your blog, restrict the audience to those that you feel comfortable sharing with. Warwick Blogs makes it easy to do.
  
• Trust your audience to differentiate what you write from what commentors write.
  
• Use anti-spam software to protect your blog from meaningless comments.
• Be aware of topics that may provoke a strong reaction from commenters. Some communities/groups are particularly active online and may be looking to respond to any post that references their subject of interest.