I thought that the articles were very interesting and carried some central themes that are great advise for beginning and seasoned bloggers. I enjoyed the article by Chris Brogan. I thought the 27 Blogging Secrets were great and I hope to learn to integrate them into my blogging. I found central themes throughout all of the articles: be consistent in frequency, link and comment on other blogs often, make sure you are writing something useful to your audience, link articles to add interest, use photos, avoid perfectionism, vary the length of posts, and write in a conversational tone.
In the article "Blogging for Small Business Success" by US New and World Report, I learned that it is important not to self-promote. The article also suggested that blog posts should be short, breezy, and conversational. This article, as in the others, stressed the importance and becoming a reader of blogs.
The article "How to Blog" published in Slate, provides advice from Arianna Huffington and Om Malik, recognized as two of the web's best bloggers. This piece provided additional insights into blogging. One suggestion is to set a schedule to blog. I laughed when I read that you shouldn't worry if your blog sucks a little! Again, emphasis was placed on writing casually but clearly. Further the article warned that blogs should not be too wordy because you will lose the reader's attention. It also said not to expect instant fame.
Darrell Zahorsky’s article was interesting as it touched on the value of blogging to a business and explained that maintaining a blog is easier and faster than maintaining a website. A huge benefit to blogs for small business owners is that no developers are required and you can quickly and efficiently share expertise and knowledge to a large audience.
One point that was emphasized in all of the articles is to become a full participant in the blogging community as a means to learn and gain visibility in the blogosphere. I enjoyed all of the articles and found them very insightful.
