One of the things I love most about blogging is that it is a forum where you will get feedback from your readers, regularly. Sometimes more than you'd like. In nearly two years of blogging, I believe I have improved myself as a writer, through what I have written and through what I have read. While readers may take issue with my politics, they rarely take issue with my writing. And so, in the interest of helping other bloggers as I've been helped, I'd like to share some of the most important tips in writing, in my opinion. Most of these apply specifically to blogging, although they can be adapted to any form of writing. 

The first rule of writing, in any format, is to READ. If you are developing a new blog site, read what other bloggers write. Take time, as well, to read their comments; you certainly do not want to emulate the habits of someone that readers find unreadable.

Second, know your audience. Bloggers tend to gravitate around their preferred subject matter: political bloggers like political blogs, technical bloggers like technical blogs, mommy bloggers like mommy blogs (while the rest of us groan about them...err, sorry. I don't want a bunch of angry mommy bloggers chasing me down over this). If you have many different areas of interest, it might be a good idea to set up multiple blogs to accomodate the different topics; you'll be less likely to alienate your readers

Third, pay close attention to grammar, punctuation and other rules of standard writing. Run on sentences (and, in the blogging world, lack of paragraphs) make for tedious reading, and while funky writing styles may look cute to you and your friends, they quickly get tiring, and many serious readers move on.

Fourth, be brief. This is a short attention span medium, and many readers are looking for a quick read before they move on elsewhere. Unless your work is a more academic piece, complete with footnotes, it is a good idea to keep your word count down below the 2-3,000 mark. You will have plenty of time to elaborate further on your opinions in response to your comments, and sometimes, by NOT elaborating, you can elicit more comments from readers wanting to find more.

Fifth, check your sources. I cannot count the times I have had someone pass on a link to an article posted as serious material, only to find out the link led to a site like the Landover Baptist Church or the Onion (both of which are satire sites, for the uninitiated...and EXCELLENT satire sites at that, but notn a source for "hard news"). Because the internet is so vast, anyone can post anything, and you can save yourself a lot of embarrassment by verifying your information.

Sixth and finally, DON'T PLAGIARIZE! We know hos to use search engines, and we can catch you in the act rather quickly. Sometimes an article is so great it needs to be passed on in its entirety, but do us a favor and link us back to the original. The original writer worked hard on the piece and deserves the credit, and believe me, we DO appreciate the research skills of the people who find these things as much as we do the work of the writer, so linking back does NOT diminish your site; in fact, it gives it even greater credibility.

I hope these rules are of some help to you. I may write more on the subject later, but for now, have fun!