5 Tips to Influence Better Blogging

While I will lose a ton of cool blogger points for this post, I would like to tell you, readers, that it is ultimately you that drives the content that you read on a daily basis. Bigger sites may get around this due to their unlimited capital for paying writers and advertising, but if you want to change what you are seeing you are not entirely powerless. The following items are things that I know will help you traverse the waves of information a lot easier and cut out the noise that you don’t really want to read.

Remember that we are not talking about you personally

If I had a nickel for every time that I wrote something about a situation and someone took offence I would have enough change to buy myself a tailored Italian suit. I want to remind you that what you read is normally from a person who doesn’t know you, so unless you are extremely guilty (which you reveal when you react) you have to chalk it up to generalization.

Comment on positives rather than negatives

We get it, we truly do. Seasoned writers know that silent nods in the agreement are the norm for pieces that we put out there, but we also know that more visitation and commentary comes with negative/unpopular articles. If you wonder why so many sites take a political angle for the worse or an unpopular one, you should know that you—the reader—are to blame. If you want to change the climate of the internet you need to celebrate the good and ignore the bad. Lashing out at a writer with an unpopular opinion is feeding the machine of negativity.

Stop clicking through 10-15 pages of the same article

Any blog that forces you to click through pages of content to fulfil a “top 10 list” is playing you. Many of them get paid for page views and while your visit is invaluable, they are tricking you into making your one into 15. It has to be annoying to click and load a lot of pages and I can honestly tell you that it is done on purpose. Take a stand against this nonsense and don’t fall for it.

Not all reviewers are paid, liars

There are a ton of sites with huge money that allow offshore accounts to spam movie and game reviews with positives to trick you (the consumer) into buying. There are also writers who get gifts and money from the people whose item they are reviewing in hopes that they will be kind… most of them are. This is why it is recommended that you support the little guys who do it for the love instead of these mega enterprises. Reviews are very subjective so I suggest that you find a couple with a history of loving/hating things that you agree with and follow them for their opinions. Star ratings are convenient but easily skewed towards the highest bidder.

Boost up new writers that you actually like

If you follow The Hall, you will know that I myself provide roughly 90% of the content; I am a machine. Many sites are like this, but many will hide that fact under a “written by staff” handle instead of revealing themselves. With that said, you should pay attention to featured authors and give them comment love on any blog (not just mine) if you really like their style. This gives them confidence (and the blog owner pressure to invite them back) and you can read more of what they have to say.