October Recap: Nothing Scary Here!
I am seeing a common trend on some blogs these days — a post is added that highlights or recaps some of the articles for the past month. I like this idea because there are times when weeks will go by before I return to that blog — why not help your readers find your “best of” articles by putting them all in one place?
7 Articles You May Have Missed
Thanks to Google Analytics, I can tell which articles have received the most traffic and which ones could use a boost. Instead of highlighting the Top 7, I’ll share with you some personal favorites of mine:
Grammar Gremlins — There is nothing more scary than reading a final copy of an article posted for all of the world to see and finding grammar mistakes that should have been caught prior to publishing. A pet peeve of mine is loose v. lose.� Aaack!
PageRank Penalty — Yuck, not another article about PageRank! Actually, I wrote three of them this month, but I’m only highlighting my warning article. Unfortunately, I believe that Google already had the penalties in place so if you took action back when I posted this article on October 9th it probably did you no good for their most recent update.
About.Com — Several readers were intrigued by what I shared regarding About.Com and their writing guide positions. I still haven’t heard back from them and have since learned that this is a long, drawn out process.
Work Smarter — I like to offer words of encouragement without sounding too instructive. I hope that this article helped somebody to begin working smarter.
Thankless Blogging? — Blogging can be tremendously rewarding or absolutely thankless. I think most bloggers have experienced both sentiments over the course of time.
The Blog Police — This one was just for laughs, but I know some people took my words seriously. Then again, do you flout conventional blog rules? Hmmm?
Your Blog: R.I.P. — All right, I confess — this post was written on September 28th, but it got a lot of traffic well into October. Since it is Halloween, it could offer the inspiration you need to boost your blog or at least find a really cool outfit for trick or treating!
The Best of the Rest
There are a handful of other articles I would have mentioned, but time and space is working against me. Feel free to visit my October 2007 section to find the best of the rest!
I agree with you that no writer should make grammar mistakes. I know you where speaking about professional writers, but I want to point this (and I know you will agree): the rule should not apply to bloggers (on personal websites) and visitors, because a signifiant percent of them are not native english speakers and still they should be allowed to share their thoughts without being punished:)
Anyways, good idea this “best of”.
Sintra, I am speaking about professional writers and high visibility bloggers, but not bloggers whose native language isn’t English.
There does come a time when a native English blogger should work on his/her grammar, especially when the blog is considered an “authority” in their area of expertise. Otherwise, their authority is diminished in the eyes of readers if their copy is regularly filled with mistakes.
I admire anyone who blogs or writes online whose native tongue isn’t English. It must be a difficult thing to do; I know it would be for me.
I appreciate the many visitors from around the world who visit this blog and encourage everyone to share their comments without fear that I’ll play the grammar teacher with them. I don’t and I won’t!