KidLitCon-badgeThere was a constant theme throughout this year’s Kidlitosphere Conference – being the best blogger you can be.  Embracing our individuality while still focusing on the mechanics and social aspects of blogging was the name of the game and many of the panels and presentations provided real-world examples and suggestions for taking the opportunity to step outside the box and embrace being the type of blogger we’d all set out to be.

What better way to do that starting the day with Mother Reader‘s The Blog Within: An Interview with Your Inner Blogger.  Leading participants through a series of thought provoking questions Pam Coughlan encouraged us to reflect on the 5 W’s of blogging.

* Why do we blog?
* What do we blog about?
* Who do we blog for?
* Where are out blogs positioned in the crowded blogosphere?
* When will we revisit our blog’s mission?

The glory of this reflective exercise is that it allowed each of us to put serious thought into the direction and goals of our blogs.  Even better, it also went to point out how blogging may be an individually based practice but it also happens to encourage a community spirit.  We all touch someone else’s life in some way regardless of personal reasons for putting ourselves and our thoughts out there.

This exercise segued nicely into the second presentation of the morning in which Pam and yours truly spoke about Building a Better Blog: Best Practices, Ideas and Tips.  Taking a more nuts and bolts approach it was all about the P’s — purpose, passion, professionalism, participation and perseverance.

Pam gave insight as to quality and unique content, making posts reflective of your personality, sharing the wealth by crediting sources and disclosing relationships, and take responsibility for actions and behavior online.  She went on further to speak of providing industry professionals and authors with guidance by posting specific and clear review, interview and disclosure policies. She encouraged us all to be part of the larger whole by — (1) participating in community aspects of blogging such as commenting within our own blogs but also on the posts of others and (2) joining in events such as carnivals, memes and features.

Most importantly, though, she wanted participants to walk away from the presentation understanding that blogging is a lot of hard work that requires dedication and perseverance.  Building a larger audience, should that be one of a blogger’s goals,  doesn’t happen over night it takes time and energy and above all else patience.

For my part I touched on a number of technical aspects related to blogging. Aesthetics — contrast of color, placement of graphical elements, working with text and imagery, and how to best incorporate multimedia.  I also took some time to speak to organization – navigation links, chunking content, categorizing and tagging, as well as archiving.   I also spoke briefly about search engine optimization, social media, marketing and branding.  Lastly I talked about involving and engaging your audience – targeting your blog’s audience, creating unique content that differentiates, encouraging interactivity and participation and building relationships through reciprocal linking.

I must admit there are likely some better recaps of our session out there since it’s hard to really get perspective of your own presentation but I’ll finish this post off by thanking both Pam and all the participants of Kidlitcon 09 for welcoming me so graciously and warmly.  I was so happy to have met wonderful people and have walked away with great and exciting ideas to make my blog a better place to visit.

Related posts:
Mother Reader – Kidlitcon Report: Part II
A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy – The Blog Within & Building a Better Blog, Kidlitcon 09

(if you have a link you’d like me to add feel free to point me to it in the comments)