Better Blogging: Be Specific?

On November 18, 2009 · 6 Comments

The more time you spend on the information superhighway, the more you start to recognize the rules of the road – those that are carved in stone (few and far between) and those that are up for debate (the other 99.999%).  The world is an ever-changing place, but as a blogger (sigh), I’ve become familiar with a number of “rules” which are as close to conventional wisdom as you can get online these days.

So, to finish out this week, I thought I’d reach out for some help from my readers (both of you) on how I should proceed with this site.  Starting today and running through the end of the week, I’m going to address 3 Very Important Rules for Successful Blogging (and How I Break Them).

FAILRule No. 1:  Be specific!
One of the first things you do when you’re smart about starting a blog is decide what you’re going to focus on – being specific.  In the broad strokes, pick a topic and write about it.  Narrow it down over time and develop a sharp edge.  I had bought a 91 Galant VR4 and this site was originally about me building it into a rally car.  Then I got a second Galant VR4 and decided I wanted to write about cars (in general) or social media or something, so I moved the Galants to their own site.  Tarmac & Gravel was born.

Today, I still want to talk about cars or social media (or something), but  I don’t want to be the four-hundred-and-fifty-eighth blog “reporting” on how the Ford Fusion was Motor Trend’s Car of the Year or the eleventy-billionth person to paraphrase Jalopnik’s coverage of that Veryon in a Texas lake (begging for attention).  I’m also getting a little tired of all the social media talk.  I want to sort of fill in the gap between cars and community.  That’s about as specific as I can get right now, which is sad, because it’s been something like five years and I still don’t have a rally car either.

Help me out, here.  Any ideas on how I might be able to hone this exceedingly dull blade?  How might I combine cars and community here?

In the glovebox:

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  • http://www.carenvy.ca/ PeterD

    Sharing with your loyal readers the other two “rules” might be a good start.

  • http://dr1665.com DR1665

    Thanks for the tip, Peter. The other two “rules” are coming tomorrow and Friday. Probably should have mentioned that, huh. :/

    (I tend to be wordy, so I was trying to be brief with these.)

    Thanks for the comment, sir. Appreciate it!

  • http://www.carenvy.ca/ PeterD

    Sharing with your loyal readers the other two “rules” might be a good start.

  • http://dr1665.com Brian Driggs

    Thanks for the tip, Peter. The other two “rules” are coming tomorrow and Friday. Probably should have mentioned that, huh. :/

    (I tend to be wordy, so I was trying to be brief with these.)

    Thanks for the comment, sir. Appreciate it!

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