Finding the Forest for the Trees
Perhaps I should rename this post to Bloke’s Bloopers. I love to write about my blogging experiences, especially the bloopers so my readers can learn from my dumb mistakes. Believe me when I say after more than a decade online I’ve made my fair share of goofups.
Today I want to talk about some of those mistakes and hopefully you will find something that you can relate to. Or perhaps you might be willing to share your own experiences with us so that we can all benefit as bloggers.
Tweaking Our Templates:
Lets start with our templates. Sometimes when we are busy tweaking our theme we can’t see the forest for the trees. What I mean by that is we can get so wrapped up in the little details that we might miss the bigger picture.
For example, I was playing around with the images and borders to get everything looking pixel perfect. Or so I thought. I was so intent on making it the way I wanted that I hadn’t noticed some of the elements no longer lined up.
It had thrown off the symmetry of the theme and I didn’t even notice it at the time. It wasn’t until days later that I saw the problem.
Why? Because I was so focused on fixing the finer details that I lost sight of the big picture. It was also looking real bad in IE because I had forgotten to test it on all of the browsers at the time.
How embarrassing. DOH!
Walk Away…
I’m sure you’ve done this yourself (at least I hope I’m not the only dope in the blogosphere). So the point I’m trying to make is when you are tweaking your blog theme .. walk away for awhile. Leave it alone and take a look at it again later with fresh eyes.
Instead of only just focusing on the minor details, don’t forget to look at your blog design as a whole (or should I say the sum of all its parts).
Hit the F-11 key and get rid of the browser’s top menus so there’s less clutter on your screen. Change the resolution size of your desktop to see how other readers who are using the bigger monitors see your blog. You will be amazed at how different your blog will look.
Sometimes our ideas which we initially thought were brilliant don’t work all that well in the real world. So while it’s good to sweat the small stuff, don’t forget the bigger picture either.
Because after all that’s what your viewers are going to notice at first glance.
Writing Good Blog Posts:
The same thing goes for writing your blog articles. It’s just as important for your posts to be visually appealing as well as the quality of the content.
Crikey! What am I saying? Well ok then, it’s almost as important as the content. 
What I mean by that is visitors will only give you a few seconds of their time before deciding whether or not to stay awhile and read more. So while it’s important to check for bad grammar or spelling before publishing, there’s something else for you to consider.
If your posts have long paragraphs, no pictures, small unreadable print, no headings to break up the monotony of the document, or run-on sentences (like this one) then chances are they won’t be sticking around for very long.
In today’s multi-media world people want to be entertained as well as informed. Just look at the news today. If that’s not entertainment then I don’t know what is.
For example, although this isn’t about blogging it’s still a good comparison. When I was a litigator I always said I won my my case before I even entered the court room. (Considering that I won 97% of my cases I guess I was right).
Why? Well there’s a lot of reasons for that besides doing my homework. The document gave just enough information to be convincing to the judge while leaving out some information for the closing arguments. It’s also a good idea to save something for surprising the hostile witnesses if you know what I mean.
Most importantly, every word in the document was carefully chosen, my facts were well researched and accurate, my thoughts were reasoned and organized. I anticipated every obstacle or objection from the other side, so when I was in the courtroom everything went off like a rehearsed drill without a hitch.
The document was beautiful to behold as well. Showing a pride in workmanship gives a good impression and speaks volumes about the author.
Walking away from your Post is just as important.
I almost never sit down and write a post completely through from beginning to end. Each time I proofread the draft something else might come to mind.
It’s not until I can read the document all the way through without adding something more that I think it’s finished. Even then it’s still a good idea to let it simmer like a good pot-roast on the stove to make sure. It can only improve with time.
One More Thing. Before you publish don’t forget to hit the “Preview” button either because it can look totally different once it’s up on your blog.
Oh yeah, I just remembered the sub-title for this post is called “Bloke’s Bloopers”. Which reminds me I couldn’t count the number of times I’ve published a post and forgot to spell-check or preview first, or I didn’t think it through, or the grammar sucked, or…
Double DOH!
You see I still make mistakes too and I don’t always remember my own advice. For more information about how you can make your posts more interesting you can also read “10 Blog Tips for Writing a Better Post” or check out similar posts under the “Writing” category.
So the moral of this story is don’t forget to see the forest as well as the trees. Both are important.
Do you have any more blog tips you can share?
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I completely understand, sometimes it is important to take a step back and look at everything. Sometimes we get so caught up in the day to day details we lose sight of what it is really important.
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I would add that also goes for life in general don’t you think.
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Blog Bloke (@blogbloketips) reply on January 21st, 2009 3:59 pm:
Great Post!
I also like the stepping away. Sometimes I get so into the post I forget where I was going. Stepping away either puts me back on track or I come up with the direction I should have been going.
I share proof reading with another blogger. She reads my posts and I read hers. I have a hard time picking up my own mistakes.
I have never thought of saving a little for the closing arguments!
Yes!
Thank You,
Sheila
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You’re fortunate to have someone else proofread your posts. I wish I could say the same. What I find helps is using software that reads text. Or, I will just read it out loud to myself. The drawback with that is if anyone is listening they will think you are loony. Just ask my wife.
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Blog Bloke (@blogbloketips) reply on January 21st, 2009 4:03 pm:
Great post BB,
I have to relate something that happened to me today. I was searching around for a coder to do something for one of my sites and ran across an advertisement from one. Although the gist of his ad related to what I needed, the ad itself scared me away.
Why?
He had as many misspelled words as he did correct ones. I arrived at the conclusion, that he would probably have a host of them in my finished project.
Our websites could scare off people also if we don’t take the time to step back and look at the finished project and correct our bloopers. I may have bloopers on one of my sites, but they are there on purpose.
DONs last blog post…Obama Video-Charisma and Humor at the Top
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Bad spelling or grammar on a blog or website is a death warrant. But don’t forget English is not a first language for many which puts them at a disadvantage. Then again maybe they should outsource it.
RE: Coding .. it’s the universal language. Don’t rely on others and do it yourself. You’ll thank me later.
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Blog Bloke (@blogbloketips) reply on January 22nd, 2009 12:50 am:
Thankyou for the information. This post is right now a major game changer for me and I will try to fix somethings tonight.
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You are welcome Joe and thanks for the comment.
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Blog Bloke (@blogbloketips) reply on January 22nd, 2009 6:37 am:
I love the idea of a proofreading buddy; I have several if they are not already busy on their own stuff.
I’m usually OK, more often then not, I take more rime proofing then i did writing it in the first place.
Dennis Edells last blog post…Do You Use Google Alerts?
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The same goes for me. I can easily spend twice as much time putting the final touches on a post than writing the initial draft.
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Now if only I did that with my comments. LOL
Dennis Edells last blog post…FINAL CALL: $100 Blog Review Contest Ends The 31st!
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Dennis Edell (@blogbloketips) reply on January 23rd, 2009 8:04 pm:
Blog Bloke (@blogbloketips) reply on January 23rd, 2009 5:57 pm:
its a good article you write.i’ve learn many thing for make blog to become good again.thank you very much
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Thanks Joe
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Blog Bloke (@blogbloketips) reply on January 30th, 2009 3:44 pm:
Great Post !
I found my own similarities here.
Once I was so die - hard trying to make a pillar article, was writing it for like 3 hours straight. At last, when I finished it, I published it and went to bed. Oh man… I woke up next morning to check my blog, and I saw that I forgot to write the title of the article - DOH !!!! Oh my god, so embarrassing.
Well - sh1t happens
Cheers,
The Moneyac
The Moneyacs last blog post…16 Interesting Internet Facts You Should Know About
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Ha! Now that is funny. Thanks for sharing it with us.
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Blog Bloke (@blogbloketips) reply on January 30th, 2009 3:37 pm:
We have recently gone for a minimalistic look. I think the added bonus is load times.
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Hi almanssori.
Load time isn’t as critical as it once was. It was a concern of course when users still had modems, but broadband is everywhere now. I would say too many widgets, ads or scripts are a bigger problem than images. Optimizing your images for the web also helps.
There was a time when minimal was fashionable. But thanks to broadband, multimedia is now possible. With video, podcasting and the new media, today’s web users are becoming viewers rather than just readers. They want to be entertained and minimal is a thing of the past.
One more thing. Back in the good old days a more complicated design like mine would have required tables, which admittedly could slow down the page load time. But now that we have CSS that is also no longer an issue either. The benefit of a design like mine is thanks to the flexibility of Wordpress I am able to showcase more of my content on the home page than I could with just a minimalist design.
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Blog Bloke (@blogbloketips) reply on May 13th, 2009 10:33 pm:
I find myself making those mistakes a well. I get so focused on something and then my blinders slowly narrow. Can’t see the full picture and miss lots of the scenery.
I really hate it when the search engines get to it before I can fix it. However, I am not perfect and these things will happen form time to time.
I just have to keep a list of things to double check as a fail safe.
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Another lovely tip : When you are working on your template, make sure you take a break for a few days and then revisit the design. If you’re working on the thing non stop you tend to get blind to it
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