Blogging 101 – 10 Tips when Blogging – Part 2

 Blogging 101 – 10 Tips when Blogging – Part 2

By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting (Pty) Ltd 

Following on from the previous article where we looked at Being yourself, People are just People, Say what you mean and mean what you say and Keeping it tidy, here are some more tips around the content of your blogging.

1. Interpretation and Perception

I always say that the 3 most dangerous words in the dictionary are perception, assumption and expectation, as they never meet reality.  Well, I have added the 4th word and that is “Interpretation.”

Remember when you communicate face to face with someone they not only “hear” the words, but they also “hear” you through your body language as well as the tone and inflection in your voice. If all of those “voices” are congruent with one another, the listener’s interpretation is usually in alignment with what your intended message was.

The written word, however, is a completely different beast altogether and more often than not your words will be misinterpreted.

So be very careful about the words that you use and where possible try and stay away from contentious topics or be prepared to deal with the volatile fall-out.

2. Success or Failure

Well in truth that is completely up to you.  From my experience, however, it is extremely difficult to fail on social media, unless of course you just give up!

Consistency is the name of the game and if you keep trying, you will of course get better as you go along.  You will also get to understand your readers a lot better and then you are able to tweak your posts to ensure that you supply the information that is both wanted and needed by your followers.

The secret is just to keep going and never give up.

3. Everyone has their own Journey

Comparing where you are in the journey of life with someone else, is just crazy! The reality is, you are all exactly where you are meant to be.  Sure there are social media guru’s out there who you may follow, who always appear to be at the head of the pack, who will always be saying something clever and who are always up to date on what is trending or trendy.  I say “So what”!

The reality is that social media is a huge animal and there will always be someone who is being witty and entertaining.  Instead of concentrating on comparing your “lack of” to their abundance, rather concentrate on doing what you love to do best.

Here’s a thought!  In all probability, there is someone out there who is looking to you for guidance and who holds you in high esteem and who would like to be as witty and as knowledgeable as you and the person who you are comparing yourself to also has someone who they hold in high esteem and who they would like to be as knowledgeable as too.

It’s called the Circle of Life and we all have our own little place in it.

On that note, check out next week’s post to look at the final 3 tips.

Till then, happy blogging!

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za