My godson Nicodemus has started blogging and asked me if I had any words of advice. On this subject (as with so many others), there are others that would have much more wisdom to offer, but since they are humble enough to stay quiet on the subject, I’ll go ahead and give my idea of the tips I think are worth considering for new bloggers or those who are thinking about starting up. I’m coming up on my third year, which makes me Methuslah in blog-years, apparently. So Methuslah says:

• Just do it. I’ve talked to people that want to blog but think somehow there’s some rocket science involved. (I’d have thought a brief visit to this blog would be enough to disabuse them of that, but oh well.) If you want to start, go to Blogspot - link HERE. It doesn’t cost anything, and you can be blogging in ten minutes. If you find that you’re loving it, you may want to look into getting yourself a customized Weblog (which is what this one is) to equip you with some different bells and whistles. But Blogspot will give you everything you need to begin.
• You’re bigger than you think. One of the weird things about the blogosphere is that it gives you a megaphone that can potentially reach across oceans and continents. How do they find you? Well, I’ll get to that at the end. But suffice it to say, you’ll want to remember that however small you may consider yourself, your words may go anywhere the internet reaches. That’s enough to keep me fact-checking (as I should’ve done back here when I confused the Danish and the Dutch and was corrected by a Danish commenter. Oops.). It takes two seconds to go to Wikipedia and though they’re not perfect, they have listings for almost everything. (And by the way, don’t forget resources like OrthodoxWiki for Ortho-specific issues.)
• Want some numbers? Bloggers seem a little shy to share their numbers, but I don’t know who I’m trying to impress. It’s easy to track your traffic — I think Blogspot has a way, and Wordpress (which I use) does too. In the past week this blog got 765 pageviews by 310 visitors, about half of which are new and half returning viewers. I wasn’t looking at my numbers when I started back in August 2004, but I know that I used to average about 700-800 visitors a month, and I’ve trended up in the last year to around 1000/month, so hooray. But lest I get too cocky, Instapundit (to pick one of the most popular blogs) has been getting about 177,000 hits per DAY these days. Sooo … room to grow.
• Let’s be careful out there. Related to having that big megaphone, you have to be careful what you say about a person, group or church that you know. You may not think it could ever get back to them, but it could very well. Not to say that you need to de-personalize everything, but you may want to avoid the temptation to use the blog to vent if it could embarrass someone.
• When it comes to content, small can be big. As far as subject matter goes, don’t think that every post has to be epic in scope. Personally, I love newsy little items, recipes, quick exchanges, a line from a joke. It’s all good.
• How often do you want to post? It’s worth considering that if you only post once every couple weeks, you’ll have trouble building traffic. On the other hand, if you promise yourself you’ll post every day, some other responsibilities will suffer. I think my average is about twice a week, but I’m not sure.
• Think about craft a little bit. The better you can communicate, the more you’ll be able to put into the blog and the more people will get out of it. So be a little professional with it. Check your spelling at dictionary.com. Look for interesting synonyms in thesaurus.com rather than using the same words over and over. And — here’s the biggie — be a tough editor! Do you have to include that whole anecdote about your Aunt Eulalie just to get to the point, or does it get in the way? Or is the anecdote the only good part, in which case you can yank the rest? Chances are people are looking at your blog when there’s something else they should be doing. Be kind. Get to the point. Try to be brief. (Yes, this is one I work on. You should imagine how long I’d go on if I weren’t working at it.)
• The blogosphere is about sharing — part 1: Link to others – The blogosphere is at its most amazing when information and opinions are being shared in the way that the internet has made possible. So though it’s tempting to want to be self-referential, think about linking to other stories and other blogs. It’s not invasive and it’s not plagiarism; it’s what it’s all about. But do remember to give the originator the credit.
• The blogosphere is about sharing — part 2: Build your blogroll – There are two approaches to the blogroll. Some people are very exclusive and only include a handful of the blogs they consider worth noting. Personally, I’m of the “one big happy family” school. For a while, I was trying to include every Ortho-blog I could find, but our numbers have been growing, and I’m constantly coming across ones I knew nothing about. But whether you want to be exclusive or all-inclusive, spend some time finessing your blogroll. It’s how you find others and how they find you.
• The blogosphere is about sharing — part 3: Comment! — The best way to start getting more traffic to your blog is also the most friendly: visit other blogs and don’t be stingy with your encouraging and conversational comments. It’s all very well to be a “lurker” if you really have nothing to say, but once you’ve got a blog of your own, you realize how even a short “Amen” or “Good job!” warms your little heart. And yes, it makes you curious to find out who’s reading. (In case it needs to be said, critical commenting should be done carefully and respectfully or not at all.)
• The blogosphere is about sharing — part 4: Go on readabout — Try to get out there and read other blogs. Some people like RSS feed that notifies you if there are new posts. My system is that I’ve set up folders in my bookmarks so I can open up groups of blogs in tabs. Some are friends that I check in with, some are professional, and I try to get some new ones in there. And look to see what other people are doing. There’s lots to learn.
• Get onto search engines — You’ll also increase traffic if you get your blog listed in search engines like Google and Yahoo. I’m not very savvy about all this, so I asked Greg for his advice. These last three points are his:

• The basics: You can insert your site to Google, Yahoo, and DMOZ (an open directory) at these links. Check with other major search engines (handy list here) as well.
• Write as if search engines mattered. “A beginner’s guide to Orthodoxy” is a much better headline (in terms of matching what someone might actually search for online) than “Back when I was 12, this is what Fr. Goodenough from St. Bibbityboo told me about Orthodoxy.”
• Look into some basic search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. This isn’t so much blogging 101 as it is blogging 201, but it can make a big difference in your search engine rankings. Using Blogger? Great four-part article starts here. Using Wordpress?, Some free plugins here. If you’re on another blogging platform, there are probably free add-ons as well - check Google.

I think that’s all I can think of. If there are any more seasoned bloggers with more, please chime in.