"Blog blog blog blog blog..."

Sometimes Jenni parodies my conversational stream thusly. So it's nice to have someone asking me, gee, Jeremiah, how do you feel about blogging? Instead of me assuming that everyone simply must know.

Angie Wynne at Baby Cheapskate has a great new blog of blog tips for beginning bloggers called Blogcoach. Angie knows how to launch a blog properly and has lined up a bunch of great interviews with interesting bloggers to get off to a running start, and today she decided to break form and publish an interview with me. Here's an excerpt:

When I think of Z Recommends, I think about how you're always trying out new widgets and tools. I wonder if you'd be up for identifying a few that you'd say every new blogger should know about.

Well, if you aren't using Feedburner, start there. Also, Google Spreadsheets. They recently created a killer form generator that can collect data into a spreadsheet using a form. It's a simple way to collect some information from your readers - giveaway entries, mailing list sign-ups, survey data, etc. Very few bloggers are getting as much from their readers as they should.

How so?

They know more than you do, about almost anything. Collectively, I mean. And they want to share their knowledge. They also want to tell you, and each other, about themselves. These are very useful things for bloggers to learn from and about their readers - for post ideas, for feedback, for blog monetization, and for getting a feel for your voice as a blogger and identifying what it is you really want to focus on.

How do you encourage readers to dish?

Ask questions that aren't leading questions. Ask questions you really want to know the answer to. Communicate that you're really curious. Express a need. Asking for asking's sake will prompt the occasional reader but you won't get much, and it won't be as good.

I read somewhere recently that you shouldn't tell your readers everything you know so that you leave them something to say.

Well, that is probably sometimes true. But what I'm talking about is not the kind of knowledge you look up on the internet. I'm talking about personal experiences, the stuff you learn in your bones that parenting, for example, is all about. If it's facts, you shouldn't ask - you should look it up, and if it's relevant to your readers, you should be telling them, no question. Of course, you have to do all this with the firm knowledge that you may not have all the facts, and make it clear that you're not closing the door to amendments, additions, corrections, enhancements....

All blogging is provisional.

So maybe it's not our telling people everything we know, but telling them that we know everything, that shuts down responses, because what reader really has the time to set us straight? A few trolls, maybe, but it isn't anyone's job to tell you that you're undereducated. You generally have to figure that out for yourself. And telling a blogger that is intrinsically combative, which most readers of most blogs, who are really quite polite, don't want to be. Some blogs thrive on that, but it doesn't work for me.

More on why we love our readers so much, plus thoughts on other blogging topics, at the link.