I’ve been blogging on almost daily basis for nearly a year now, and there have been times when I had some good posts that just weren’t ready, some good ideas that were still gestating, and I was stuck.  This must happen to all bloggers at times: so I have created a list of types of posts that you can add when you’re next post is still not finished.

1. Find a clip on YouTube or one of the other video sites that is somehow relevant. Add some of your own comments!

2. Find a quotation that you like and that is appropriate to your blog. I’ve used this on some occasions.

3. You can post a photograph or two that you took recently, to inspire or entertain your readers!

4.  Post a question for discussion, esp. a controversial one, and elicit a chain of responses.

5.  Write a 50 word post on one of the following: a plugin you use, a news story you just read, or something similar.

I hope this little post inspires you all!

Engadget is a site that I visit on and off for a quick ‘taste’ of the latest tech news. And to that end, it suffices for that. But I refuse to visit that site on a regular basis for one simple reason.

Let’s take a typical story on Engadget (no links to them from here! After you read this, you’ll understand). This story is about Cybook Gen3 e-book reader.

I read the story on the first page, and was looking for a link to the website (didn’t think to check the image!) so I checked the other links in the article: 2 were for links to other pages on Engadget, and one was for the reader who submitted the article.

So I clicked on the most likely one. That took me to another page with two links on it, each of them was for more pages in Engadget. In other words, I got further and further away from what I was looking for and that was a link to Cybook.

In frustration, I write clicked after highlighting the term, then selected Google search. Boom I was there quickly. So I found the answer to my search, but not the answer to a more basic question: Why does Engagdet make linking to other sites less than obvious?

Engagdet does not include links to websites in the body of the story at all. Links to other sites are either image links, or after the end of the story.

This is most definitely one of my pet hates, and something that Google didn’t intend. I wonder why Engadget does this. Any suggestions? It’s definitely not reader friendly.

For many bloggers, their blog is their first public venture into cyberspace on a regular basis. Many bloggers have never had a proper website before. Therefore, getting your first piece of hate mail can be quite a shocking experience! Recently, I read the posting here and was quite surprised that anyone would do such a thing… but hey, it takes all sorts, I guess.

For my part, receiving hate mail is a sign that someone is actually reading your blog; and that in hating your blog, you’ve actually already won! Whether or not they like your blog, they’ve already read it. They’ve already spent valuable time clicking around your blog! Hey, that’s fine by me! It enhances my value in some advertisers’ eyes!

But I’d just like to echo the blog owner’s response: “This is my blog and I’ll do what I want with it!” In a very broad sense, all blog owners do this. We seek our own space in the cyberworld, whether we are top #100 bloggers or bottom #100 bloggers. Naturally, we would like visitors to visit, enjoy our blog, and take away something of value (new ideas, thoughts, products, new websites, whatever…) but still it is OUR blog. I’ll be very responsive to suggestions and ideas on how to make the blog better, but… And in some cases, it’s a pretty big BUT… if you don’t like it, why are you wasting your time…? Go and write your own blog! Then you’ll see how difficult it is to write a quality posting day after day!

So, if you recently got hate mail for your blog, why not share your story! I’d be happy to know how you handled it.