Internet Etiquettes

Do's and Dont's when Blogging


Things a blogger must/can do are the following:

• DO post regularly. You should try to post at least once a day, maybe even more.
• DO tell people you are blogging. If you are a new blogger, a quick way to initially get visitors is to tell people you know that you have a blog. 
• DO comment on your comments. A new blogger often doesn’t think of blogs as social media, but they very much are. If you comment back on your comments, readers will come back more often because they feel like they are in a discourse with you. If you don’t comment, they will feel ignored and may stop visiting.
• DO comment on other blogs. And leave links to your site when you do so. Make sure that these are pertinent, honest comments about the other bloggers content. 
• DO subscribe to your own blog. You need to know what your readers see through their RSS feeds. If something is difficult to read, you will know before your readers start running away.

Things a blogger must/cannot do are the following:

• DON’T put a ton of ads on your blog. If you are a beginning blogger, this might not seem like a good blogging tip because you want to start making money. 
• DON’T have music or video autoplay on your blog. If someone clicks on a link to your site while slacking off at the office and the newest Rihanna hit starts blaring though the speakers, he or she will be embarrassed and won’t come back. Even if the aforementioned scenario doesn’t play out, music and other audio like this is annoying.
• DON’T post just for posting’s sake. If you are trying to build a legitimate blog, this could be the best blogging tip on here if you are struggling to post one or more times a day. If you don’t have anything relevant to post, don’t toss just anything up. Your readers may not appreciate a scattered blog with off-message content and may stop visiting.
• DON’T use spammy methods to get visitors and readers to your site. There are plenty of black hat SEO tricks a beginning blogger may be willing to try to get instant success, but don’t do it. If you do things that are funky, fishy and maybe a bit spammy, you won’t get off to a good start. Your blog could end up with a bad name, and you could even get it blacklisted from search sites. Ouch!
• DON’T forget share and social media buttons. This blogging tip is a big one. These share features let you readers market your blog for you. Without these you are severely limiting your blogs potential and drastically cutting down on the amount of people who will be exposed to your amazing work.

When Writing a Blog Do …

Find your focus.
To do this, you must first ask yourself this question: Who are your target readers? Once that’s settled, you canhome in on a niche category (like this one focuses on writing) and be the expert on it.

Be relatable, be yourself.
What sets bloggers apart from newspaper article feeds is voice. Your content is what draws them in while your personality, or your voice in writing, is what will keep them there. Let your readers get to know you.

Use links within your posts.
Whether you are linking to other blogs or websites that contain great information or linking to past posts on your own site, do it whenever you can. This will help not only increase your clicks but also help with your blog’s search engine rankings.

Include images.
While readers come to your blog for information and personality, they also need to be stimulated visually. Not all posts will lend themselves to an image, but when they do, take advantage of it. Here’s some advice on findingfree online images that you can use.

Respond to blog comments.
This is an opportunity to connect directly with the people who are reading your work. Not all comments need a response, but be sure to respond to ones that do. And sometimes it’s worth just popping on and posting “Thanks for reading my blog.”

Post to Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Anywhere Else You Can.
Don’t be afraid to use social media to tout your posts. Anything that makes it easier for potential readers to find your blog is a must (and friends and family definitely qualify as potential readers).

When Writing a Blog Don’t …

Set Unrealistic Goals.
You know your schedule and abilities better than anyone else, so don’t attempt to post every day if you can’t. Start out by posting weekly and get in a groove. As you streamline your process, increase your positing if you can.

Limit your word count.
If you have something to say, say it. Readers (and search engines) prefer to get meatier pieces (500 words or more) to make clicking through worth their time. This doesn’t mean you can’t feature shorter pieces or that you should ramble on just to meet a word count, but don’t be afraid to break down antiquated perceptions that blogs need to be short. When the time is right, go long.

Make grammar mistakes.
And, if you do, correct them immediately. Folks on the Web tend to be more lenient about typos, so don’t stress about it if you do make a mistake. But correct it as soon as you can. Remember, if you ever want readers to take you seriously, you have to take yourself (and your blog) seriously. Give it the professional quality it deserves.

Be negative.
It’s generally unwise to air personal grievances publicly (unless, of course, that’s the theme of your blog). You’ll go a lot further by being positive, inspirational and supportive to the community that you’re writing to.

Write long paragraphs.
Long blocks of text are hard for readers to digest, especially when reading on computers and tablets. Break up your content into shorter paragraphs, bullet points and lists whenever possible. Also, if you can, work in some subheads.

Avoid trying new things.
It’s important to let your blog evolve over time, and the only way this can happen is if you take risks every once in awhile. Whether it’s adding infographs or personal stories or guest bloggers, never be afraid to try something new. If you feel it can add something special to your blog, try it.

Do's and Dont's in Social Networking

Things you must/can do in social Networking are the following:

• Use a strong password.
• Use privacy settings. Insist your friends use theirs too.
  • NEVER leave anything but the bare minimum as publically available. Make sure only your accepted friends or followers can see what you put up.
  • Even then leaks, hacks, and privacy policy revisions are not unheard of. Don't assume what you do post IS secure, despite the settings.
• Use HTTPS to connect to your social networking sites whenever possible, especially when connecting from a public hotspot. Be wary if your social networking service only uses HTTP for login credentials only.
• Whenever possible, organize contacts into "categories".
  • Most of us do this between friends and family anyway, but from a security standpoint it might also make sense to separate "best friends" from "person I met yesterday afternoon"
• Verify friend/follower requests.
  • Don't accept just anyone. Most scams start by someone bluffing their way onto your friends list. KNOW who you're sharing your information with.
• Verify links, attachments, downloads, emails, anything sent to you.
  • Even your trusted friends could've had their accounts hacked. Don't wire that "emergency money" until you can voice-verify.
• Investigate exactly what information any third-party add-ons, games, extensions, etc. will be privy to.
  • Does that poker game REALLY need access to your contacts list?
• Read up on the security tips and instructions provided by the Social Network itself, as well as what trusted security professionals and sources have to say.

DON'T

• Give away your password or use the same password for any other services.
  • If a leak at Facebook causes your password to become public, you don't want a hacker being able to use that same password to log into your Gmail or Courseworks.
• Put in any more information than you absolutely have to.
  • You should never put in more information about yourself than absolutely necessary. Hackers, scammers, stalkers all use that information to do anything from guess answers to your security-questions, to impersonating you when trying to scam another user.
  • On that same note, be careful how much live information you're putting out there. Don't advertise when you're going on vacation, when your possessions might be left unattended, that super expensive thing you just left the store with, etc.
  • Also be aware of auto-geotagging. Some services will automatically tag your status updates with GPS information. If you don't want everyone to know where you are, make sure your social networking service doesn't turn on this "feature" for your "convinience" automatically.
• Upload anything you wouldn't want everyone to see.
• Assume that anything you put up will be revealed to the internet at large at some point, whether through hack, leak, or privacy policy change.
• Nothing is ever really gone from the internet. Even if you delete a picture from your account, it's still sitting on Facebook's server somewhere. 
• In a professional setting, be mindful of inadvertently letting slip sensitive information that could harm your company or get you fired (new security software, procedures, etc).

Do's and Dont's in Emails

Email Etiquette Do's and Don'ts: 

• Before you get started, ask yourself why you're sending this email. What's the purpose?
• Do remember there's a person on the other end of the email.
• Don't send an email out of anger.
• Do ensure the subject line relates to the email content.
• Don't address the recipient incorrectly (i.e., your personalization should be accurate).
• Do spell check.
• Don't send or launch before you edit and proof.
• Do check the tone - how will it be received?
• Don't write a novel.
• Do communicate clearly and concisely.
• Don't lose your message or point.
• Do use scannable bullet points and short paragraphs.
• Don't write in ALL CAPS.
• Do use images. 
• Don't use too many images.
• Do have a friendly salutation and a sincere good-bye.
• Don't hesitate to say thank you.
• Do make sure you have the correct recipient (i.e., check your mailing list).
• Don't include incorrect or broken links.
• Do provide a signature, contact information and company website.