“A blog is like a garden, it should be tended to and one should pay attention to the little details.” Not my words, but Scott Hanselman’s, in this great article about blogging dos and don’ts. While posted in 2007, it still contains a lot of good starting points for any new blogger – and some useful reminders for the rest of us. Here are a couple of things I would like to add.

Dos

Social Media. Everyone’s on it, so an excellent way to bring readers to your blog is to connect it to social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Make it a habit to retweet and share your recent posts on Facebook – that way a lot more people than your devoted subscribers will get a chance to find your blog. (Unless you update it 20 times a day – then tweeting about every single post will more likely scare people away.)

Design. If you just can’t wait to have your opinions published in cyberspace, then blog design might be at the bottom of your list. However, spending a couple of hours on making your blog look pretty will pay off later. Trying to read text off a really ugly blog – however interesting and well-written the content might be – is kind of like trying to read a book you just dropped in the toilet.

Don’ts

Stealing. Here’s the thing. A blog with just text and no pictures can give a boring impression and scare off readers looking for something visual to lighten up the page. However, to just Google an appropriate picture and cut and paste it into your blog could be an even worse idea.

Copyright laws prohibit unauthorized use of images, so if you don’t have the copyright holder’s expressed permission to use a picture – don’t use it! Stock images are a way to go, or get off the computer and go snap a picture yourself.

Clutter. I know it’s tempting to put a cute animated hamster in the sidebar of your blog. Or a countdown to your birthday. Or that really funny YouTube video. Here’s my suggestion – limit yourself to only the widgets and plugins that add something useful to the blog. Too much clutter will affect the readability of your blog, and draw attention from what should be the reader’s main focus – reading.

Have you settled on a blogging platform? Great. This is your ticket to the virtual universe known as the blogosphere. But before you launch, there are some things you might want to consider to make this trip as rewarding as possible.

1. Target Audience

First of all, you need to have at least a basic idea of what you want to accomplish through your blog. Are you writing it for your family or for your business? To get rich, to share ideas, to make friends?

Whichever direction you choose to go in is fine, as long as you’re not afraid to stick with it. Your target audience and your theme, if you will, are both important to have in mind in giving your blog its unique tone and voice.

2. Blog Name

Whether you choose to use your own name, a nickname, a company name or something related to the theme of your blog, pick the name of your blog with caution, because once you have devoted readers it will be hard to change it.

Also, it might be a good idea to pick something timeless rather than relating to a specific time of your life. This might sound obvious, but even if you’re a fun guy now, you do not want your blog to forever be named PartyDude_84 if you can avoid it.

3. Post appearance

A well-written blog is always a pleasure returning to. Have this in mind when you’re writing, even if you’re no Proust.

When you’re actually ready to start posting, your readers will undoubtedly appreciate some basic visual assistance. First of all, make sure to proofread your posts. Put some love into it. Nothing is more annoying than reading a blog post that even the author doesn’t seem to care about.

Another service you can easily provide your readers with is to divide your text into paragraphs. No one likes to read a big chunk of text on a computer screen, no matter how well-written it is. Seriously. Not even Proust would get away with it.

Ok, so you’re online. You have a website, a Twitter account and a Facebook profile. Now what?

Sounds like you’re ready to start blogging. A weblog is an excellent way of reaching an audience, getting new clients and visitors to your website, and – best of all – you are not limited to 140 characters. Frankly, depending on what kind of blogging platform you choose, the limits are few if any.

But where to start?

The first thing you need to do is decide whether you want a hosted blog or host it yourself. Both alternatives have pros and cons to consider.

Generally, a hosted blog (like Blogger or Wordpress.com) is extremely easy to set up and manage, but not very flexible. A self-hosted blog (like Wordpress.org) will give you full control over appearance, plugins, URL and much more, but it requires at least a basic knowledge of XHTML and CSS.

While most hosted blog platforms are free, a self-hosted blog is not. You will need to pay for domain name and the actual hosting of the blog. If you are not very code-savvy you might also want to hire someone to design and maintain the blog for you. However, don’t let this scare you away from the self-hosted option, which has other advantages.

For example, since you have full control of hosting and domain, you can easily make the blog a part of your website and thus making it easier for people to find it – like this: www.mywebsiteURL.com/blog. If you like, you will also be able to manage your blog’s permalinks and search engine optimization.

If you’re not sure blogging is for you, a hosted blog is an easy way to try it out and get a hang of it. But when you’re ready to take the step to becoming a full-blown blogger, a self-hosted blog will make you appear more serious about your blogging – and this will surely impress your (future) readers.