Choosing your niche March 26, 2007
Posted by JamesVinzer in Blog networks, Internet, blogging, headlines, structure, style, technique.1 comment so far
One of the most important things you have to do when thinking of a good blog is to figure out what you believe is your blog’s specialty. If you try to hit everything, you will only get nothing but confusion from potential readers.
The question then remains: “What should I blog about?” For many, it’s a particular thing they enjoy. Salon.com has a segment known as “Ask the Pilot,” which is a blog written by an airline pilot. You can find theme blogs all over. I’ve found blogs on pugs, naval ships, even toilets.
It all boils down to what you want to talk about. Think well, and knock yourself out.
How to write a great blurb November 26, 2006
Posted by JamesVinzer in articles, blogging, structure, style, technique.add a comment
A blurb is a mini-article. These articles are often used for describing new technologies, or gizmos, gadgets, etc.
These blurbs usually consists of one, and no more then two paragraphs. This means that you will need to summarize all of the information you desire in those two paragraphs, because anything more will lose the attention of the reader.
The two paragraphs can be broken into two separate areas. The first paragraph is directed at the audience of the blurb, and the second is a description of what is being blurbed. (Is that a word?)
For our example, I link you to a particularly good Gizmodo blurb. Note how Mark presents a reason why you would want to buy this thing: “For only $3, you can own a pocket spy camera that takes stills and movies, and can double as a webcam.” He’s trying to get you on the price of the camera, as well as the fact that it is easily pocketable.
In the second paragraph comes the specs, or the description of the camera. In here, you play the specifications that people will like. Here, people are wanting something that is small and will fit into their pockets. But Mark doesn’t discuss the history of the gadget in question, which if you check the comments of the site, doesn’t seem rather good. Now, I’m not saying you should outright lie about the description (You shouldn’t.) But you can present only the specs people will care about.
Lastly, especially for a cheap P.O.S like this, it’s good to include a little humor about the object. Just a little something to make the reader chuckle.
Blurbs are good for people who do things like reviewing small things such as software, devices, billboards and the like. The only things I’d recommend you stay away from are things like movies and restaurants. Those require a full-scale article for reviewing.
Happy Blurbing, and good Blogging!
Technorati Tags: writing, blogging, blurbs, articles, gadgets, blogs, techniques
How to be a funny blogger while being serious November 24, 2006
Posted by JamesVinzer in articles, blogging, style, technique.1 comment so far
I’ll tell you now, the old adage is true: Dying is easy, Comedy is hard, especially blogging comedy while trying to maintain a professional status.
It’s hard to maintain a balance of seriousness and comedy, but when you hit it, your abilities will only skyrocket! See, this is why blogging is both an art and a science. Only by knowing your audience will you become one with your funny bone.
Nevertheless, there are several things you need to consider.
1. Who is your audience?
This is the most important of these rules.You need to know your audience! Their likes, dislikes, preferences, hobbies, all of it is important! While you may not be able to get it all, the more information you can get your hands on, the better. Look at Lifehacker. Lifehacker specializes in software and techniques to help one get organized. Its audience is mainly tech-savvy people who are quasi-disorganized and in need of help. As such, they can empathize with their audience by using comedy related to what they know about the audience.
2. What comedy is your audience into?
Now that you understand your audience, you can spend time trying to learn what jokes they like. The reason this is important is because if you tell the wrong jokes, you may alienate your audience. You wouldn’t post jokes about blond women on a feminist blog, would you?
Your best bet is to read the comments on your blog. See what types of jokes people who comment on your blog post, and check the reaction to the jokes. Joke styles with more positive reactions suggest that you can use that style with ease. Jokes with more negative responses…avoid at all costs.
That’s the two main questions you should be asking yourself, but there’s also so much you can do:
1. Check the current events relevant to your blog
Every blog has some sort of current event that is significant to it. Imagine if RSS was obliterated. Ol Chris Pirillo and Lockergnome would be reporting immediately on RSS’s replacement, since they’re essentially one of the pioneers of RSS. For a political blog, anything that craps out of the government is fair game for you. Anti-DRM? Boycott RIAA’s got you covered.
Take these examples and poke fun at them. Make a mockery of Barack Obama! Humiliate the next thing to poop out of “Web 2.0!” It’s all fair game!
2. Learn joke styles
As any person with some sort of jokebook knows, there’s more then one joke in the world, no matter how any movie puts it. Furthermore, there’s also plenty of joke styles. For example, inference. The joke above is an inference to a movie called The Aristocrats, which was essentially several comedians telling the same joke. It makes the person think, and for some, it makes it even funnier. A disadvantage is that there are people who don’t want to think, and people who haven’t seen The Aristocrats.
My suggestion to you is to buy a couple of jokebooks, and see how the different jokes work. There’s also lightbulb jokes, racial jokes, stories, and many more.
3. Some things to watch out for
First, avoid overusing humor. If you make an entry too comedic, your seriousness will take a dive. Some humor is good, but know when it is needed. Don’t laugh about a murder or a fire that left many homeless, and especially don’t joke about anything on the caliber of Hurricane Katrina, or anything of a similar disaster.
Also, avoid cliches! Cliches are tired and boring. If you really need to put one in, at least modify it a little bit, so your readers won’t be running like the blog-boring plague.
Humor is a hard tool to master, but once you master it, not only will it improve your blogging, but all your friends will be amazed at your comedic wit!
How to write a great article November 24, 2006
Posted by JamesVinzer in blogging, style, technique.6 comments
A lot of the bloggers I’ve seen so far are passionate about their ideas, but were I as vicious as those who have edited my work, I wouldn’t be reading any of them. I spent a year working for my community college newspaper, and there’s plenty that I’ve learned about the process of writing, through the paper, as well as through the experience I got as a freelancer
Stuart Brown recently posted ways to write good headlines. However, a good headline means nothing if your article is crappy. Remember: The average reader will only take 30 seconds to look at an article, whether online or print, and decide if they want to read further. Basically, they’ll read your first paragraph, and if they don’t like it, they won’t read further.
With that, here are a few tips I’ve learned about writing articles:
- Summarize what happened in the first paragraph
- The more important the information is, the higher up it goes.
- Use active verbs
- Use quotes wherever possible!
- Have a good vocabulary to choose from.
- Get someone else to read your article before you publish it.
I cannot stress this enough. When you write any type of journalistic article, you need to provide an explanation of what happened. It will not be enough to say the event in your headline. You need to summarize what happened!
EXAMPLE: Let’s assume Google has taken over the world in a hostile takeover. (They haven’t…yet) How would we write?
Bad: It seems that Google has gained a new control in life.
Good: Google gained complete control of Earth in a landslide hostile takeover yesterday.
Isn’t the good line more shocking? More “Oh my god, what the hell is going on here?” While the bad lead will simply leave the reader with “Uhh, ok, Google’s powerful, duh.” By summarizing the situation, you shock the reader into wanting to read more, to see how much it affected them.
Articles are not essays. The organization here is completely different. In Journalism, we have format known as the Inverted-Pyramid Style. According to the IPS, Information more important to your article should go higher up, and less important info should go toward the bottom.
Why would you want to do this? Simple: It keeps the reader invigorated. If the average reader only takes a few seconds in deciding whether to read an article or not, it’s not a good idea to keep all the good stuff until the end of the article, especially if your article is huge. Decide what information is most important, and what information is least important, and act accordingly.
Active verbs allow the blogger to convey more passion into the article. Take these two examples from our potential Google Takeover article:
Passive: Sergey Brin had signed the papers which would let him be declared the ruler of the world
Active: Sergey Brin, after signing a treaty, declared himself dictator of the world.
Which of these would you prefer to read? Obviously, the second line, the one that conveys the Active verbs, is more appealing to the reader. Remember, you’re to keep the reader on your article, and you have to keep the suspense!
Nothing is more important in setting the mood of the article then getting direct quotes from the people in the article! It’s the idea that it comes straight from the horse’s blog that makes it so incredible. If you just paraphrase, it doesn’t really give any real sense of what’s going on. Here’s an example:
Bad: Sergey Brin stated that for his first act as dictator, all search engines except Google would be destroyed.
Good: “My first act as ruler is to hereby obliterate all who would dare challenge my sacred search engine!” Said Dictator Sergey Brin after attaining his crown.
Would Sergey say this if he was made Dictator of the World? Who knows. But doing this allows you to convey so much about the person being quoted. Intelligence, passion, style, whether the person is an elitist or humble, etc. Look at George W. Bush. His quotations will portray him as an honest, yet bumbling person who gets along well with anyone…at least, the quotes that don’t involve lowering his credibility will.
A good selection of words is essential to ANY blogger! It’s that choice of words that separates amateurs from the professionals!
Stuart has a good idea on using keywords, and I do suggest starting with keywords in your articles, but also realize some words carry more weight then others.
Consider the difference between the following sentences:
A: Larry Page was made Sergey’s assistant ruler under the treaty
B: Larry Page was selected to attain the position of Second-in-Command after Sergey.
Both of the above sentences are in active tense, but B has a bit more oomph to it thanks to the vocabulary buildup. Feel free to tweak around your article to what best suits your style.
This is entirely optional, in my opinion. However, it doesn’t hurt to have a second set of eyes look at your article. See, most of us are so used to our style, we don’t think about how a sentence can be improved, or made clearer. This is where an editor comes in. They can look at your article and either rewrite it so that it makes better sense, or give you some pointers about revising the problems.
I’ve been on both ends of the spectrum, editing and being edited. As irritating as editors can get, though, I would rather they be there, because what they can do can help you improve your article, as well as your style.
So that’s pretty much it. Those are the tips we use in our papers, and they’ll work just as well for you, O citizen of the Blogosphere. Just remember these simple little tricks for when you’re the next big blogger, and you’ll keep them going on as long as you desire.
Technorati Tags: blogs, blogging, journalism, writing
