The latest episode of The New Mediology is now available. Nathan and I talked about how to be a great blogger. You can listen to it online or via iTunes. Here’s a synopsis of what we talked about on the show:

How To Be A Great Blogger

First, think less about how to do blogging and more about what it takes to actually be a blogger. To get started you want to get some key terms right. These terms include:

• Blog: A single web presence that includes multiple posts. Don’t say you “just posted a blog.” You just wrote a blog post but didn’t “post a blog.”
• Post: Individual entries on a blog.
• Hyperlink: Words or phrases linked to other sites, blogs, etc.
• Blogroll: List of blogs typically found on either the left or right-hand side of a blog. Only link to blogs. Don’t link to non-blog websites on your blogroll.
• Embed: Code found typically for audio or video files that is added to your blog so people can watch and/or listen on your blog without going to the audio or video site to engage the media. Basically, if you’ve ever watched a YouTube video on a site or blog other than YouTube, you just saw the embed stuff at work.

The number one thing to remember for being a great blogger is that great bloggers create great content. Fair bloggers create fair content and bad bloggers create bad content. To start creating great content (content that has value to the people reading your blog) start with the Old McDonald method of creating good content:

• E- Entertain
• I - Inspire
• E - Educate
• I - Inform
• O - Outrage

You also need to determine your weekly post frequency. How many times a week can you consistently create good content? Every blogger needs to determine how many posts they can create each week and keep the blog up at that pace. Bloggers should also consider what their meal to snack ratio is in their weekly blog posts.

A few other things to think about:

• Default to shorter posts…something in 400 words or less.
• Create multiple points of entry. Create subheads, bullet points, numbered lists, etc. that can hook a person scanning the post to begin reading your post.
• Put more emphasis on the post titles. The best titles succinctly summarize your entire post.
• Respond to comments on your blog to show that you’re engaged in the conversation.
• Start commenting on other people’s blogs, particularly if you find someone talking about you, your organization, or something that directly ties back to your particular blog comment.

The bottom line: Focus on creating really, really, really good content.

Later this week I’m leading a session for a client that’s being called “How to Write a Blog.” Actually I believe they’re calling it “Blog Training Writing” but “How to Write a Blog” sounds a little better. As I’ve been preparing for this session over the last two weeks I’ve been struck by the fact that the title is all wrong.

Initially I was all for leading a session called “How to Write a Blog” but now I don’t think it’s sufficient. A more appropriate title is “How to Be a Great Blogger” because the actual writing aspect of a blog is just part of the mechanics but being a great blogger is another thing entirely. Learning how to write a blog means you discover some tips, strategies, and thoughts on what to do…but you can know all of that and still be a really bad blogger with a really bad blog.

If your focus is on what to do, you’ll never learn how to be. If you want to “do” blogging you can start today. Go to Wordpress.com and get yourself a free blog and start blogging. But, if you want to “be” a blogger there are many other things you need to think about… things like tone, voice, attitude, style, and personality. Those aren’t things you really do. They’re things you are. They develop as you “do” blogging.

Sure, there are some things every good blogger should do…but in the end it’s not enough if you never cross the line to be a blogger. If you’ve been blogging for a while (or maybe you’re just getting started) ask yourself if you’re more interested in what to do or how to be. I recommend you keep your eye on how to be. The “doing” will come along the way.