The first time I taught a special topics social media class (shout out to the WOMmers who still read this blog), I asked them all to start a blog on the topic of their choice. Midway through the semester, I realized that they need a lot more guidance than just that, and since then I've noticed lots of other student bloggers making many of the same mistakes that group made. Here are some suggestions to help keep student bloggers out of trouble.
- Don't discuss multiple topics in one post. First, it makes your posts too long. Second, it messes with a search engine's ability to find your post. And third, it's confusing for the readers.
- Don't delete posts or change the content of posts. If you need to make a small change, like correct a typo or grammatical error, go ahead. But if you're changing the meaning or correcting a major error, make addition to your post (marking it as an update), strikethrough words or phrases that were incorrect (so readers can see what was changed), or write a new post and add the link to the old one (so that readers who come across the first post can go to the second).
- Don't post when you're angry or upset. It's great to be passionate about your topic, but if you're really mad you might say something you regret... and I just told you you're not supposed to delete posts later. Save it as a draft and look at it again the next day.
- Don't start promoting your blog too early. You want to make sure you've settled on a niche and found your voice before you start inviting the world to stop in.
- Don't resort to the sweeping generalization just to attract attention. I used to just roll my eyes, but now I call it out in the comments when I see bloggers doing this -- "all PR programs suck," "all women do this," "no one does that," etc. Please. The world is not that simple. Either you think it is, or you're just trying to get everyone to visit your blog: is that really how you want people to see you?
- Don't quit. Don't worry, I'm not saying you have to blog for the rest of your life. But you do need to have an exit strategy, rather than just letting your blog die a slow death by neglect.


