Datafeed Management by Three Legged Toad

Editor’s Note: Creating an interesting blog can help drive traffic and offers a casual way for publishers to communicate with their users. This week, Jeremy Zawodny, Yahoo?s official Troublemaker and a much read blogger, offers tips on writing a compelling blog. Next week, Jen Slegg of Jensense discusses blogger faux pas.

A while ago Michael Mattis asked me if I could write up a few blogging tips for the Yahoo! Publisher Network blog. That seemed like an easy thing to do. I blog all the time. And since I have more than a few dozen readers, I’m probably doing something right at least some of the time.

But when it came time to do it, I couldn’t. It was like school all over again. I’d stare at the blank window wondering what I should write. The cursor would blink. And blink. I’d stare for a little while before getting distracted or giving up and postponing it until a future date. I was not inspired.

Write when the spirit moves you
It wasn’t until some time later, at a Yahoo-internal blogging event that I started to figure out what I might want to say. The initial inspiration came after I had the chance to stand in front of an audience of my peers and explain what I thought about corporate blogging at Yahoo.

As is so often the case, it was obvious in retrospect.

Forced writing often shows. I threw away my first attempts because they just didn’t feel right. I was doing it to make Michael happy, rather than because I thought I had something to say.

Write what matters
I’ve often joked with people about my complete inability to predict which of my blog posts will resonate with anyone, attract comments, and generally be popular for at least a few minutes. I had never considered that asking for scotch recommendations would generate dozens of responses in less than a day. And dried fruit too?

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that my “surprisingly popular” blog posts had something in common. They all mattered to me and I assumed that they mattered only to me–or a very small group at most.

Sure, it’s fun to add your two cents to whatever this week’s big blogosphere storm happens to be. But ultimately, unless it’s something you really care about, it doesn’t matter.

Write as you think
One of the dumbest things you can say when attempting to photograph people is “okay everyone… act normal!” The act of telling them to do so makes it nearly impossible for them to comply. It’s as if Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle applies to humans and sub-atomic particles equally well.

It’s tempting to write blog posts a few days in advance and hold off on publication so that you can spend some time reviewing. Tweaking words. Editing. Revising. Over-thinking.

That’s all well and good if you’re the kind of person who does that in other parts of life, too. Some people are detail-oriented meticulous planners who can spend a lot of time trying to get things just right. They’re often quiet during long meetings, speaking up only at the very end once they’ve digested and re-digested everything that’s been said.

I’m not one of those people. I tend to speak, think, and write on the fly. I program that way, too. I’d rather start with something imperfect and work out my exact thinking (or the right algorithm) in real time.

The great thing about blogging is that the technology and medium work well for both ends of the spectrum. Don’t let the fact that you’re “publishing to the world” hold you back from potentially making a fool of yourself.

?Jeremy Zawodny, Troublemaker

---