Be what you is, not what you isn’t.
-Uncle Hubby

Character and personality is important. It includes developing your own writing style and how much you want to build your character.

This post is part of the Blogging Tips meme.

Develop your own “voice” don’t “borrow” someone else’s
-Mizmouthy

Everyone has their own writing style. You should have your own writing style or “voice” that you feel comfortable writing with. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try something new!

This post is part of the Blogging Tips meme.

Be, EXCELLENT to each other.
-Bush Mackel

This is one EXCELLENT tip, to stay on everyone’s good side. However, if you want to really build character on the blog-o-sphere, getting on the bad side of a few people won’t hurt.

This post is part of the Blogging Tips meme.

Look, read, and learn.
-http://www.neonscent.com

Since this tip is from me, I’ll naturally know the exact meaning:

Look at others’ blog design.
Read others’ blog posts and emails.
Learn from others from blog posts, emailing, etc.

This post is part of the Blogging Tips meme.

Today, I will be posting blogging tips every 30 minutes from 9AM-9PM (I’ll try) from the Blogging Tips Meme for the Blog-a-thon 2007. They won’t be in an exact order; and are chosen randomly. Sponsor me and help children!

A complete list of the Blogging Tips posts will be added here once the Blogathon is over! Come and support me! (Leave comments, donate, blog about it!)

The Blogging Tips meme that I’ve started is spreading like wildfire (like Brown Baron said).

While adding the links from the pingbacks and trackbacks that I’ve gotten, I noticed that there were quite a few careless bloggers out there that didn’t care to check and double check their links!

I fixed the links for them on my meme post, but when bloggers get tagged, they copy it directly from their blogger friend, and not usually from the starting post (if they even know it).

Here were some of the mistakes I found:

1. Missing the http:// header on the link. This links back to the original blogger’s blog. (e.g. The link “neonscent.com” coming from the URL http://www.neonscent.com will turn into the link http://www.neonscent.com/neonscent.com.)
2. Manually inserting the URL but for getting to actually link. This doesn’t count as an incoming link, and the main point of memes is to increase incoming links! (e.g. Incorrect: http://www.neonscent.com; Correct: http://www.neonscent.com)
3. Including the “-” hyphen in their link. This also doesn’t count as an incoming link; the link would go to “hyphen URL” which would display an error page, unless you linked to the right page but with the wrong anchor text. (e.g. Incorrect: -http://www.neonscent.com; Correct: -http://www.neonscent.com)
4. Linking pattern change. This might or might not be a mistake (I didn’t correct it anyhow), but some bloggers didn’t follow the linking pattern and wrote their blog name for the anchor text instead of the URL. (e.g. NeonScent instead of http://www.neonscent.com) This makes your link stand out, but doesn’t do much good to your blog; who knows what readers might think?
5. Not following instructions. This is basically the most important thing in memes beside getting more incoming links. In my Blogging Tips meme, some people didn’t read the instructions or misunderstood, but anyhow, some bloggers starred their own post or erased other blogger’s stars. A big mistake.

Smart bloggers read here:
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Not everyone has been in the blog-o-sphere forever; some people are new, some people need a review, and it’s always nice to know new things. So I decided to start a web meme. I hope you participate!

-Start Copy-It’s very simple. When this is passed on to you, copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside those that you like. (Check out especially the * starred ones.)Add the next number (1. 2. 3. 4. 5., etc.) and write your own blogging tip for other bloggers. Try to make your tip general.

After that, tag 10 other people. Link love some friends!

Just think– if 10 people start this, the 10 people pass it onto another 10 people, you have 100 links already!

1. Look, read, and learn. *******
-http://www.neonscent.com

2. Be, EXCELLENT to each other. ******
-http://www.bushmackel.com/

3. Don’t let money change ya! *****
-http://www.therandomforest.info

4. Always reply to your comments. ****
-http://chattiekat.com

5. Spell check is your friend. **
- http://thingsbymike.com

6. Be the blog. ***
-http://www.meandmydrum.com/

7. Your readers are your treasure. **
-http://www.brownbaron.com/blog/

8. Link liberally — it keeps you and your friends afloat in the Sea of Technorati. **
-http://www.chipsquips.com/

9. Titles Are Everything *
- http://www.realitywired.com

10. Learn From The Pros. ***
-http://www.shaunlow.com/

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I’ve seen a lot of bloggers and people out there that make common grammar mistakes. (Of course, some of those are typos, but they’re still mistakes.)

1. They’re, There, and Their. They’re is the shortened version of “They are”, for example, “They’re not very smart.”, which means “They are not very smart.”
   There is a place. “There is my blog!” means my blog is in that place.
   Their means something belonging to someone. For example, “Their blog is growing.”
2. I.E. and E.g. They both are latin terms (but I won’t go into that), and mean a similar thing.
   I.E. means “that is” or “in other words”. For example, “I like coffee shops, i.e. Starbucks.” Means, “I like coffee shops, (that is, Starbucks).” (when written out fully)
   E.G. means “for example”. For example, “I like going to lots of places, e.g. coffee shops.” means when written out fully, “I like going to lots of places, for example coffee shops.”

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There was some hype over certain topics such as “The No-Follow Move” and “[Insert Company Name] has Acquired [Insert Company Name]” (There was the Youtube acquirement, the PhotoBucket acquirement, etc.) Those posts are seen around so much that people start to get bored and a 30% chance of reading the whole post appears out of nowhere.
While most bloggers browse around the blog-o-sphere and knows what’s happening to the web, some bloggers/readers only know one or two blogs that are tech related, and rely on those few blogs to give them a report on the web.
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If you have not done so already, read Part 1 of Fake Comments and Insightful Responses to Fake Comments to follow up on this post.

In the last post about Fake Comments, I’ve discussed how to identify fake comments, and what readers will think once they’ve established that you make fake comments. In this post, I will talk about what you should to if you have made fake comments in the past, what you should do in the future, what you should to do gain comments, and various other points.

Fake Comments in the Past (Over last month)
All bloggers have ups and downs. The past is the past. There is no use dwelling on fake comments in the past.
If a reader has contacted you asking about your fake comments, apologize about the comments and say you were trying to see if more people commented on posts with comments. (that is the truth)

Others Doing Fake Comments
This may be a not shock to you, but you are not the only blogger that has thought of doing fake comments. (Learn how to identify fake comments)
The best thing to do is contact them directly and warn them about their fake comments. (Give a link to this article if you want) Do not be conceited; make it clear that you are only trying to help. Most bloggers appreciate help. When others succeed, you succeed. If other bloggers do not move forward, you would not have competition, therefore you would not succeed. They might also warn you the next time you make a mistake. (and there you have a new friend!)

Gaining More Comments
Rather than write fake comments, why not use other ways to gain more comments? Here are some of the ways you can gain more comments:

• Post comments on other blogs. Posting comments on other blogs in the same league as you (around the same status; same number of visitors) helps you make more blogger friends, which may help you in the future stages of your blog.
• Guest blogging. Guest blogging brings more exposure to your blog. You can find a blogger friend and guest blog on each others’ blogs. That is always a good trade. Make sure your post is good quality.
• Posting in forums. Join in a crowd, post regularly (i.e. once a day, etc.) so that people know you; have a unique thing about your posts. (more information about identity)
• Get WordPress plug-ins. The Top Commentators encourages your readers to comment regularly, getting a link-back on your site. The Recent Comments WordPress plug-in is nice to have, but is not necessary.
• Reply to comments. Even if you know that the reader is not going to check back for your comments, reply to them to let your readers know that you care about the comments that they leave.
• Offer give-aways. Some blogs have recently been holding a [Number]th Comment contest. Those have been successful on the most part.
• Ask questions. Asking questions encourages readers to respond. [Short] surveys and polls also work.
• Ask for comments. What can be easier than asking for comments directly? (Ask a question and tell readers to respond by leaving a comment, etc.)

Those are some of the ways you can gain more comments. If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments area so I can add them to this list.