Best Blog Practices

I tend to try and stay away from read too many blogs. If they are at all political, I stay away completely, or I will get nothing done! But, I do read daily blogs on different topics that I believe will make a mark on my day. I have a friend who blogs, she started as an atheist blogger, and now is a devoted Roman Catholic writing about all of her experiences in a world that could use a little more religion. I read a blog from a mentor of mine, who writes on news stories, but twists them into a psychological perspective. Blogs, to me, are nothing more than a persons opinion, but sometimes, every once in a while, I come across a critical analysis of a situation through a blogger, and I immediately hooked.

I chose to review a blog by author and speaker, Therese Borchard. I began reading a column of hers back when I was in high school. Not for the topic of her column, but rather the way she wrote. She was funny. She was honest. And as a teenager, that is all I wanted in the writers I read.

Therese works full-time, she is a wife and mother to two children, and she lives in my great state of Maryland. I search every morning for a blog post, as I find them to be knowledgeable, reader friendly, and have a real purpose in what the reader is supposed to take away from that day's post. Therese, despite the many roles she plays in life, writes blogs on mental illness. She writes them for people who have a mental illness, who knows and loves someone that does, or for anyone who has ever been touched by any type of condition. She is compassionate, and above all a real hero in the mental health community. My first job out of college was working in the mental health arena, and I folded after a few short months. It is a long road to walk with someone on, or a lonely place to be if someone suffers from any type of diagnosis. But Therese writes to inform and to inspire, and her words do not tread lightly with me.

After analyzing her blogs this week, I believe she practices the rules behind being a good blogger. In the Daily Blog Post site, Borchard follows the twelve steps in being a blogger.

1) Therese has a blog to write about: the latest in mental health, medicines, her own personal struggles, etc.
2) Her blog does have a name- her former one was called Beyond Blue and now she just titles her personal blog Therese J. Borchard
3) She has a professional theme, on her own personal site, as well as her writings having been posted on other top mental health sites like PsychCentral.com or on news sites like The Huffington Post.
4) She has always had a logo.
5) She has a reliable web host- currently it is WordPress.
6) She has plugins all over her site
7) She has Google Analytics
8) Therese has often mentioned in her blogs that she develops future topics and writes them down after receiving e-mails from readers.
9) There are social media widgets and buttons linking readers to her Facebook page, LinkedIn, and Twitter feed.
10) Posts are relevant for search engines to catch on to.
11) She posts three times a week, sometimes more- and she has a full-time career!
12) She has a system for new ideas, besides from readers, she takes stories from the news, or from her own life and develops it into a blog topic.

Therese Borchard blogs touch people, and make them feel less alone in their struggles. But aside from that, she is an incredible writer, not just of blogs, but of books as well. Aside from taking life advice from this dynamic woman, I would take writing advice from her anytime.

References:

Chelidonis, I. (2011, September 05). 12 steps to launch a successful blog. Retrieved from http://www.dailyblogtips.com/steps-to-successful-blog/