Comments on: The Paint By Numbers Guide To Artful Blogging

By: Tyson Gauteus

Tyson Gauteus — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:14:25 +0000

Now I know why so many people love this site

By: Peter Burton

Peter Burton — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 15:59:03 +0000

Thank you for the great post!

By: Article Submission

Article Submission — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:27:47 +0000

Hello, just wanted you to know I have added you to my Google bookmarks because of your fantastic blog layout (LOL). With that said, honestly, I believe your site has one of the cleanest theme I’ve came across. It really makes your blog post easier to read.

By: Dean

Dean — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:16:14 +0000

“What value would the works of Van Gogh or da Vinci bring to the world if they were secreted away, never to be seen again?”

This is my problem. I’ve had a blog for 2 years but I’ve treated it more as a game than anything. In those two years I’ve always found something more important to do than post to the blog.

But that changes today. Well, yesterday really. I posted to it yesterday.

Today I posted to it and created a Squidoo lens for it.

Tomorrow I post to it and set up a Hubpage for it.

The next day I post to it and Digg it.

And on and on. I’ve taken a very short term view of it up to this point but I’m going to change that.

All that I’ve got is spammers showing up and I’m still at the adsense stage, so I’ve got a lot of work to do ;)

Godspeed all!

Dean

By: Hear Mum Roar

Hear Mum Roar — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:00:37 +0000

Great, thought provoking post! I agree with all of it. We all know it’s important to get the traffic, the comments, and everything. The trouble is, I find there are so many blogs out there trying to hard to ‘play the game’, trying to crunch the numbers in their favour, that they forget to write with heart. To provide their readers with a visual feast. To enjoy the experience of connecting with other bloggers.

If your heart’s not in it, why bother?

By: Justin

Justin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:31:51 +0000

There’s also definitely an aspect of curation in blogging. Like museum curators, bloggers need to decide what is worthy of exhibition. Bloggers choose from an infinite number of potential post topics and decide on one each time they post. A museum curator sorts through thousands of artworks and chooses only a few to display.

Thanks,
Justin
http://thewebexperiment.com

By: ZK @ Web Marketing Blog

ZK @ Web Marketing Blog — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:08:59 +0000

Like this sentence from this article –

“What value would the works of Van Gogh or da Vinci bring to the world if they were secreted away, never to be seen again?”

By: scheng1

scheng1 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:22:10 +0000

I doubt I have this “art” of blogging, I think I can write better when I’m angry or complaining about something

By: Dana @ Online Knowledge

Dana @ Online Knowledge — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:27:24 +0000

Agree, blogging is an art to produce painting. It need many art tool to make perfect painting.

By: James Chartrand - Men with Pens

James Chartrand - Men with Pens — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:50:25 +0000

Kimmo wrote:

I think Men with Pens should be .ca, not .com. :-)

I AGREE!!!

By: James Chartrand - Men with Pens

James Chartrand - Men with Pens — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:05:02 +0000

Aw, hey, thanks for the shout-out and compliments, Greg. That’s always cool to hear.

Being creative doesn’t come easy, though – at least, not in blogging, when you have to be creative all the time, every single day. It’s not something that you can work on only when you’re inspired, or only when the muse strikes.

You need to make that muse happen. If you think she’s fickle and coming and going at her whim, then you haven’t sat her down and told her that you both have a job to do.

She shows up for hers – but you show up for yours, every single day. And you’ll do it, because you believe in your job.

So find ways to be creative all the time. Get out. Talk to people. Play with different styles. Be off the wall from time to time. Be serious. Rant! Think. Spread some love, spread some smiles.

There are so many ways to find creativity that I believe anyone can do it – even when blogging is a hard taskmaster and when the muse is gone off drinking with Mona Lisa.

@ Michael – I had to grin at that one. ;)

By: Eric C

Eric C — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:16:07 +0000

I’m not sure I consider blogging an art but I also don’t consider opinion writing, reporting or other non-fiction writing like that art. Like other non-fiction, some of it is art, but the majority isn’t, in my humble opinion.

By: Ms. Freeman

Ms. Freeman — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:44:18 +0000

Very true blogging seems to follow a particular formula of sorts. Just add water, wash, rinse and repeat seems to be the thought these days.

Originality is something that is in short supply of late.

By: Kimmo

Kimmo — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:15:21 +0000

I think Men with Pens should be .ca, not .com. :-)

By: David Walker

David Walker — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:56:48 +0000

I agree wholeheartedly. Blogging is an art form, and that’s why despite the thousands of blogs being created daily, crowded niches and content duplication, your voice can still rise to be heard above it all because it’s uniquely yours. I wonder what the blogosphere would be like if everyone was passionate about what they blogged about, crafted meaningful high-value content and created sites that were dedicated to their readers’ needs…

By: Top Blogging Tips

Top Blogging Tips — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:09:31 +0000

Definitely there’s no question about it that blog is an art by itself.

By: Jeffry Pilcher

Jeffry Pilcher — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:21:58 +0000

Darren,

This post was written by Greg Hayes, but in the RSS feed it says “Darren Rowse.” You’re the Admin who posted it, but it’s authored by Greg. It’s a little confusing.

Is your current solution the ideal, “best practice?” How do you feel about attributing authorship in guest posts? What thoughts have you had about this? It’s something I’ve struggled with.

By: Michael Hampton

Michael Hampton — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:23:43 +0000

I hate to say it, but I think the men at Men With Pens need to talk to the men at Zen Habits.

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:37:20 +0000

Thanks guys! I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed writing this post.

It’s funny. When I showed this to my wife, she chuckled about her husband “the scientist” writing about unconventional art.

Its easy to forget the creativity goes into so much of what we do.

By: Basant Singh

Basant Singh — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:35:59 +0000

Definitely it’s an art. You’ve covered almost all the aspects. If one is not passionate about this art he is not going to be successful in long run.