On Blogging

As this semester draws to a close, I'm thinking about the future of this blog. Will I continue posting bits and pieces of things that inspire my design spirit? Will I morph it into something fresh and new? Or will I let it die, like so many blogs before it?

I don't know what will become of CMYKunz, but I do know that I've gained a great respect for professional bloggers. It's not easy posting content regularly, much less amazing content. Ideally, a blog is so beautifully curated that readers will flock, but that's not always the case. Making a living from blogging is a tall order, but there are many who are successful.

If you're thinking, now or ever, of blogging as a profession, here is a terrific list of what makes a blog good, via 42 Folders.

1. Good blogs have a voice. Who wrote this? What is their name? What can I figure out about who they are that they have never overtly told me? 
2. Good blogs reflect focused obsessions. People start real blogs because they think about something a lot. Maybe even five things. But, their brain so overflows with curiosity about a family of topics that they can't stop reading and writing about it.
3. Good blogs are the product of "Attention times Interest." A blog shows me where someone's attention tends to go. Then, on some level, they encourage me to follow the evolution of their interest through a day or a year. There's a story here. Ethical "via" links make it easy for me to follow their specific trail of attention, then join them for a walk made out of words.
4. Good blog posts are made of paragraphs. Blog posts are written, not defecated. They show some level of craft, thinking, and continuity beyond the word count mandated by the Owner of Your Plantation.
5. Good "non-post" blogs have style and curation. Some of the best blogs use unusual formats, employ only photos and video, or utilize the list format to artistic effect.
6. Good blogs are weird. Blogs make fart noises and occasionally vex readers with the degree to which the blogger's obsession will inevitably diverge from the reader's. If this isn't happening every few weeks, the blogger is either bored, half-assing, or taking new medication.
7. Good blogs make you want to start your own blog. At some point, everyone wants to kill the Buddha and make their own obsessions the focus. This is good. It means you care.
8. Good blogs try. A good blog is written by a blogger who thinks longer, works harder, and obsesses more. Ultimately, a good blogger tries. That's why "good" is getting rare.
9. Good blogs know when to break their own rules.

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