PureBlogging

Having a good title for a post is probably something that we all know we should do consistently, but might not always give the thought we should. I know I’m guilty of it. I’ve even written about the subject before, but let’s face it. When you’re blogging, you don’t always consider every detail of every post, even if you know you should.

The title really is an important aspect to a blog post, particularly for your readers who use RSS Feeds. It is one thing if readers just visit your blog on a regular basis to see what you have to say, but for readers who digest your content through feed readers, your post might just be a headline to them, similar to the subject line of an email. In fact, I’ve written about this at SmallBusinessNewz in the past.

If you don’t hook readers in with a title that grabs their attention, there’s a good chance your post will just get lost in the shuffle. I know I personally have so many feeds syndicated through my reader that I couldn’t possibly read them all on a daily basis, but I read the ones that stand out to me, and others will do the same.

Some good titles ask questions that readers hope to find the answers to in the post, use hot keywords that are sure to attract attention, use humor, or inspire curiosity in other ways. In fact, I think “curiosity” is truly the key to getting your content read, so if you can capture that, you should be golden.

PuttingBlogsFirst has a detailed and thought-provoking post about writing good headlines here.

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If you blog, you have reached (or will reach) some point where you just can’t think of anything to write about. You have an audience, and they are expecting a new post from you, but you just don’t really have anything to say.

Of course, there is always the option to not say anything, and it is definitely better to skip posting if you don’t feel like there is any value to what you would say. Another option, though, is to look for something to write about. Luckily with so many tools on the Internet at our disposal, there are a ton of ways to find topics to write about, even ones that are relevant to the niche you are known for. You just need to know where to find those ideas.

My favorite tools for finding topics to write about are:

1. StumbleUpon – I really can’t stress enough how useful I find StumbleUpon to be as a blogger, particularly its search feature. Frankly, I was a little surprised to see that eBay’s trying to get rid of it already. When you stumble through pages for any given keyword or phrase, you know you are going to get good results, because the way StumbleUpon works will allow you to see other pages that others have already given a “thumbs up” to.  So when I search for “blogging” for example, I know I’ll get all kinds of quality articles and other things related to blogging. I can then look at those and be inspired to add my own take on any subject that I might “stumble upon” related to blogging.

2. Google News – Often times, I will also use Google News for this purpose, but in this case, you’re only searching through relatively new items, and can find some news articles on issues relevant to you niche. Again, you can use these articles as inspiration to get your own thoughts rolling on said issues.

3. Google Reader – With Google Reader (or other feed readers…Google just happens to be the one I use), you can not only scroll through posts from all of your favorite blogs, but again, use the search tool to see what people on those blogs might be saying about any given subject that you wish to tackle or your niche in general. The reader (Google at least) will sort search results by date, so you can be sure you have the most current posts possible.

4. Audience Participation – When all else fails, you can always ask your readers if there are things they would like you to write about. That’s good for one post itself. Or you can do something like I did (or am currently in the process of doing technically) with the “Blogs on…” series, where I have specifically asked for audience participation.

5. Human Beings – Sometimes just speaking with other people in person will spark an idea for something to write about. Particularly if you work with people within your niche regularly. A live conversation you have with somebody can easily be translated into words on a blog.

There are definitely more tools available to you to help with writer’s block. What are some that you use?

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Here’s the second in the series of “Blogs on…” I talked about here. I got some good responses on the one about blogging, with some good suggestions.  Now as promised, I will switch it up to a different category.

Also, just so this post doesn’t seem totally off topic, I should mention that blogs in all industries can often provide insight into good blogging strategies, whether it be in the are of design, marketing, or writing. Even if you have a blog about making money online, you can learn things from blogs about movies, football, or pottery. I think you get my point.

Since it’s Friday and the weekend is approaching, let’s talk about movies. I know many of you are probably going to the theater tonight or sometime before Monday, and if you are like me, you like to know about movies before they come out. Not necessarily anything to spoil the movies, but you just want to get a general sense about them. Anyhow, today, I’ll share three of my favorite movie-related blogs.

1. Bloody-Disgusting.com – First off, you should know that I am a huge horror movie buff first and foremost. Though there haven’t been many good entries in this genre to hit mainstream theatrical rotation this year, I still read Bloody-Disgusting, because they always have the latest news on just about everything horror-movie related. I don’t always agree with their opinions and reviews, but when it comes to reporting the news, they are second to none. If you are not a fan of horror films, don’t bother with this one. If you are a fan, there’s a good chance you’re already familiar with it. I don’t know if you would technically call it a blog, but for all intents and purposes, I read it like one (through RSS feeds) and the news section is laid out pretty much like one.

2. The MTV Movies Blog – It is safe to say that I find a lot of MTV’s online content much more useful than the content on their television stations. When it comes to getting news on bands and in this case movies, they do pretty well, and it is not limited to one genre, so if you don’t like horror, you might still dig this one.

3. Roger Ebert – I’m talking about what is technically his movie review site at the Chicago Sun Times, although it does provide a section where the posts from Roger Ebert’s Journal – his actual blog, are displayed. Again, I do not always agree with Ebert’s reviews, but he’s been doing it a long time, and there is no question he knows what he’s doing. His reviews are often thought provoking and sometimes humorous, and I respect his opinion, although I sometimes disagree. He really won me over by defending “Predator” when Siskel was tearing it apart.

So what blogs do you like to read when it comes to movie news? Are you even interested in movies? Tell me what you like.

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I’m on a half-day today, so I’m going to do the quick links thing.

- BlogWorld: Becoming a Professional Blogger (Video)

- BlogWorld: Social Media And Steve Rubel (Video)

- Five Ways to Handle Negative Comments

- North X East – Weekly Articles for Bloggers

- Which is More Important: Comments or Traffic?

Hope you enjoy them! I’ll be back tomorrow.

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Google has yet another tool in the works that could potentially benefit bloggers greatly. Currently in Google Labs (aka: the experimental stage), Google In Quotes is a feature that lets you search for quotes taken from stories that are linked to in Google News.

Currently, there is only a limited number of people whose quotes you can peruse, and they’re all politicians. In fact, the site at this point defaults to an Obama vs. McCain format, allowing you to compare quotes from both guys on the same issues. You choose the topic, and Google In Quotes finds quotes from both.

What the tool does is separates actual quotes from articles, removing opinions and bias from the articles. While it is in such an early development stage, there are plenty of flaws so far, such as misquotes and paraphrased quotes, but maybe these problems will get worked out at least to some extent as the project moves further along.

What I’m thinking though, as this tool eventually (hopefully) turns into a regular Google News feature, is that you will be able to search for both the quote and the person, which will be great for those blogging (particularly on newsy items) and want to quotes from people they are writing about.

Combine a feature like this with Google’s proposed indexing of newspaper archives, and Google News will be an even more important tool for bloggers than it already is.

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So Technorati has released its annual “State of the Blogosphere” report, and I have to say, the “state” isn’t too bad. I’m not going to get into all the stats here. You can just look at the report.

One thing that I find interesting though, is that according to the report, nearly half of active blogs have some authority. This is really a testament to how blogs have become news sources, despite the old argument of journalism vs “citizen journalism.”

To quote my colleague Jason Miller: “An industry that once scoffed at and discounted blogs has noticeably changed its tune at the direction of lost subscribers. Ninety-five percent of US newspapers have reporter blogs…The Revolution’s fun, huh?”

Much like popular bloggers Robert Scoble and Doc Searls maintained at BlogWorld, citizen journalism should get the credit it deserves, when compared to “journalism”, because journalists misrepresent interviews anyway. For example, they might represent a two-hour interview with a 10 second clip.

Personally, what I like about blogs (for news-related content) is that you’re not just getting relevant info, but your’e getting a human element that is often lacked in hard news articles. Of course this leaves plenty of room for spin, but spin is always present in journalism anyway, and at least with blogs, the spin is not hidden. You know you’re getting “some guy’s (or gal’s)” take on a matter, and not just “the facts” like we would often like to believe we are getting from “the news.”

The blogosphere is bigger than any news network, and it is representative of all sides of the story. That is another thing that I think is appealing about blogs as news sources. Blogs are constantly linking to each other, giving the reader plenty of different takes on any given subject. When you get down to it, you’re simply apt to obtain more information.

The blogosphere is a network of “reporters” working together. Granted, they don’t all like each other, and in some cases may not even approve of the idea of working together, but the ‘sphere is connected for better or worse. And the readers get to reap the benefits…and decide for themselves what info to deem credible.

The line between “journalism” and “citizen journalism” has become somewhat blurry when it comes to online news content, but I don’t think this a bad thing. It does emphasize the concept that you should not always believe what you read, but perhaps that is good too. You SHOULDN’T always believe what you read, but with more and more people blogging and covering stories, it is easier to determine the fact from fiction because you just have that many more sources.

Thoughts?

Ok, here are a few stats on global bloggers in graphical form:

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