Welcome back to our ongoing series, Blogging Basics, where we give you blogging tips to create a successful blog. Click the link to view all of the posts that have been published in this series to date.

If you want to enter the world of blogging (whether as a blogger or as a reader), it is important that you understand blogging etiquette. After all, you want to receive an “Excellent” on your blogging report card, not a “Poor,” which is what you are likely to receive if you don’t follow basic blogging rules.

Today’s post will address a few of the things you should do as part of the blogosphere. This is by no means a comprehensive list. You are invited to share other blog etiquette “do’s” in the comments.

Do the following:

1. Comment -
If you like what you read on a blog, your compliment will no doubt be appreciated by the blogger you are visiting.

If, on the other hand,  you have a problem with something in the post, your criticism may or may not be appreciated but there is no reason not to make a polite criticism. Try to make your criticism constructive not destructive.

Don’t be obnoxious, mean, or launch a personal attack (a “flame”); you are a visitor and you have something to say — just say it as nicely as you can. Some bloggers totally reject any corrections or negative comments regardless of how they are presented but that’s their problem, not yours.

2. Reply to Comments -
When someone comments on your post (even if it’s a negative comment), it is considered polite  to reply to their comment by adding another comment addressed to that person, thanking them for reading and commenting. Beyond that, you may want to make a more lengthy response.

If someone does leave a negative comment, still respond politely. Getting into a flame war will only damage your reputation.

3. Credit Your Sources -
Never take a block of text, a unique phrase, a picture or a graphic from another blog or from any web page and use it in your post as is, without clearly indicating where it came from.

In many cases even crediting the source is not sufficient because copyrighted material is not to be used without explicit permission. Copyrighted material is protected by law, and the copyright is in effect even if there is no notice that the material is copyrighted. Everything you write is also automatically copyrighted to protect you.Required reading on this subject is the article titled: “4 Basic Questions About Copyright and Weblogs” published at About.com.

4. Persevere -
If you post every day you will improve not only your technique but also your readership; don’t give up.

Bloggers are very much like novelists. Novelists write every day and finally reach the end of the novel. Then they submit the novel to publishers, file their rejection notices and resubmit to other publishers. Eventually, every novelist who perseveres gets published . . . eventually every blogger who perseveres gets a loyal readership and his or her own measure of success.

What are other blogging etiquette “do’s” you have learned?

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Category: Blogging