What are the rules of engagement when it comes to blogging? Are there certain standards we have to obey by and if so, what are they? For new bloggers, the Internet can be one massive maze of confusing messages.
 
A blur of images, content, sales messages, networking sites and blogs.
It’s enough to drive the most sane person mad. Unless of course you know the rules of engagement. Alright, I admit, blogging isn’t a battle, although sometimes it ends up being one. Some bloggers battle their own subconscious because they struggle to come up with a working concept.


If that is you, then don’t worry, as looking around this blog and reading Alex’s great tips will certainly help you with that.
As for standards, let’s look at common aspects of blogging and how we can tie them together into some sort of behavior.

Linking out

The whole purpose of linking to another blog is to pass on some Google juice to that person. Now, if you stop a moment and think about how you can do this best, here is how. Do’s and don’t’s of linking out:

• It is best to link to others without having the link open in another tab. An exception to the rule are links to affiliate networks or advertisers. Other than that, there exists an unspoken rule to link without any additional attributes.
• If you consider linking to another person, use THEIR main keyword, blog name or post title to link and NOT their name. It doesn’t do them any justice to link to Tom. I know you mean well, but you can also do well.
• Posts in blogs should usually be dofollow links due to respect of the other person. However, having said this, I think when we consistently link to big networks like Google, Wikipedia, Yahoo or others we can sometimes attribute a rel nofollow to the link in order not to diffuse our PR. (I understand some of you might disagree with me here, and if so please let me know why)

Blog posting frequency

There really is no rule about the frequency in which we ought to write a new post. Quite frankly, the blogging community is pretty much divided. One half says: “you have to post every day”, the other says: “no way, you do as you please”.
What you have to consider is what your intentions are with your blog. If you target a huge flow of traffic, then you might be better of to post more frequently.
In the end, you ARE your own boss and do as you please on your domain.

Commenting

One thing that really annoys me (excuse the pun) is when blog commenter’s use a keyword to leave their comments. It’s not considered net-etiquette if you ask me. Unless the blog owner clearly states he/she accepts these types of comments, you should use your name, or at least your name followed by your blog name if you leave blog comments.
It’s really hard to have a conversation with atlanta automobile club.
Blog comments have one purpose and that is to encourage discussions. Remember, real people read your blog, so behave like one too when you read other blogs.

The ultimate rule of engagement

Ultimately, these rules are really not rules at all, but simple guidelines you can choose to follow or not. I consider them common courtesy, others might disagree.
Blogging should be foremost about having fun, meeting new people and fostering a friendly community while helping to spread knowledge.
What do you think about rules in general? Are they meant to be broken, or do you see a sense of having some order in blogging? Please let us know. I welcome discussions.