I don't like when bloggers say "I'm sorry I haven't written in a while." Just write already! 🙂 I do think people get stuck for ideas. That's fine. Just blog when you have an idea.

I'll check out your blog. 🙂

I'm only relatively new to blogging but have been writing all my life. I have searched the net for blogs that entertain me, that deal with writing, blogging and real life events. Yours is one on my list of blogs to regularly read.

Why? for all the reasons that others have commented on. It's easy to read, its informative and I agree with a lot of your comments.

Blogs have got to be interesting to me, not whining and I like regular postings not constant apologies for why people haven't written when they said they would.

The blogs I follow are those where people have something to say, its honest and its not full, and I mean really full, of ads and rubbish which has no relevance to what the person is saying.

Personally, my blog is my life, my opinion. If people want to read it thats great and if they don't thats fine to. I don't have a blog to fill with ads and rubbish. I don't like it on others blogs so why put it on mine.

Keep up the good work

Fiona

That, to me, makes a mockery of the readership. If you can't be straight with people on a personal blog, you can't be trusted to do so at all. Who wants to hire that kind of writer?

Wendy, I don't find AdSense offensive. I have it here. Most of the time I have no idea what ads are up. I have no choice in what appears. And I don't think my posts have ever referred to an advertiser or product at the same time it showed up on my AdSense.

One blog drove me so crazy I wanted to write to the blogger and say "Really? You think no one gets that you're paid to write about that? What's that have to do with your writing?" I didn't. I just stopped following. It was crazy – the posts talked about office product one day, healthcare prodcuts the next. It was so schizonphrenic. Bad reading!

On an occasion, I will see a blog that will have them and point them out about every other post. You'll see things like, "For more information on this check out the sidebar on the right." (where you'll see ads for the post topic)They're not specifically pointing an ad out, but they're getting you to look in that direction. I don't care for that, because it tells me that the posts were specifically written for that purpose and not just to give you some good information.

Hugh, I'm the same. I used Entrecard to find a number of my current favorites. They did the rest by providing content that was real.

I don't even know what my Google ranking is. Probably pathetic!

Agree with that completely. I have no objections whatsoever to bloggers promoting affiliate programs or even accepting private sponsors.

But I DO object to those affiliate relationships or sponsorships influencing the editorial side of a blog (given, I don't consider any of my blogs to be "personal blogs" either — they're all a part of my business model and not just for promotion and networking).

If a sponsor insists that all mentions of them be positive, or if they require you to write about them (as opposed to purchasing banner ad space in your sidebar or something), it's a completely different game imo. And the bloggers who allow that to happen are the ones that will continually come under fire and lose credibility. And as you said Lori, they do it to themselves.

My own policy is pretty simple. I only endorse affiliate programs if I've either purchased or used the product / service or if I know the person behind it well enough to be comfortable recommending their stuff (usually the former). On top of that, I put a banner at the top disclosing the affiliate relationship. That banner also links to my affiliate policy page (for the writing blog at least — I haven't added one to all of my sites yet). All reviews include both the good and the bad — generally in the form of suggestions for improving it.

I want my readers to know what they're getting before they purchase based on my recommendation, or sign up for something. And that policy's served me well over the years. It builds more trust, which in turn leads to more sales anyway. I wish more bloggers would understand that sales aren't about sleazy marketing and their quick buck for the sponsorships. In the end it's all about trust. You might fool readers once with a BS, biased review. But it's highly unlikely you'll get away with it again.

I realize that SEO, keywords, Google-friendliness & the like are important (some would say essential) concerns — but when these matters cease being a means of promoting great content & instead become the purpose of the site, then that site quickly drops off my proverbial radar screen.

Your Google rank and/or link strategy may get me to your blog once — but the content & community I find there will determine whether or not I return on a regular basis (or ever again).

What drives me crazy is promises to write regularly, than nothing happens for weeks, followed by an apology… like Devon… no whiners please, unless it's the classy way Lori and I do it.

Automatic sound! But I've whined about that already 😉

let's see… enough from me I think.

Worse is when the blogger's interaction is limited to a select group – every time. Hey, if you don't want to respond to every poster every time, fine. But to limit your attentions to only those posters whom you think will benefit you in some way – that's lame.

It surprises me that those who are guilty don't see it. Or maybe they do and don't care? I'm not sure which would be worse.

When blogging first became popular, a couple of online friends of mine quit posting to our shared groups and cut back on e-mails saying, "Just read my blog." Guess what? I didn't. (Okay, so I checked one of them a couple times, but not to read the posts. I checked the comments. The two main responders? The other blogger who'd ceased all non-blog communications and the guy whose blog it was.)

That "me me me me me" attitude seems to have shifted more to Facebook. "Oh, you didn't know about my great new job/baby/spouse? I posted on Facebook." Sorry. I'm not on Facebook. I'm just not that interested in one-sided communication with people who aren't nearly as interesting as they think they are.

There's only one personal blog I read, and it's by a long-time online friend whose posts aren't all about her. She uses small examples from her life and spins them into thought-provoking lessons applicable to us all. I have no clue how she does that on a near-daily basis.

As for honesty and taking responsibility…loved the scene on Mad Men last night where Joan chastised (and fired) Lane's secretary for blaming someone else for her screw-up.