Name your flaws

This is a very good way to become aware of the mistakes you’re making and train yourself to change them. I used to write some of the mistakes I was making into my posts to tell people I was making them. Then I realized it would be better to write them down telling people not to do those things. The outcome is great. You learn from your mistakes and you dish out some valuable advice to your readers.

Set daily goals

A lot of other blogs will tell you to do this. It just makes good sense. Theres is always a reason for you wanting to blog, so you have a goal that your blog is trying to accomplish. In order to get there you must set daily goals.

Set amounts of blogs to read and comment on per day, dedicate time to writing good content, respond to a certain number of emails, they are all pretty simple. But what you may not have considered is that you should also be applying these techniques to your outside life. You have to manage ALL of your time, which brings us to our next tip.

Apply some of that discipline to your other tasks

Get things organized. If your life isn’t on track, your blog wont be on track. In order to train yourself to be a better blogger you must also train yourself to take care of your other responsibilities. I’m not going to list them here, because they depend on your priorities. Showering regularly should be up there on the list, though . Building a better blog takes a long time, but organize your daily tasks well and they will begin to adapt to your blogging schedule.

Reward the commenter, not the writer

I have seen a few blogs with an entire sidebar widget dedicated to the authors of the blog. It is almost like a Top Commenter’s lis for the writers. The writer shouldn’t need any extra incentive for writing. Its the writer’s job to write.

Blogs that don’t allow people to post a URL wont get as many comments. Thats a fact. Its’ snaky, but many people wont take the time to think of a comment if they don’t see a backlink coming out of it.

And the number five training tip for a better blog is…. (I just wanted to feel like Dave Letterman)

Get off of your computer!

In order to have something decent to talk about you have to interact with people. Go out and experience and you’ll probably find new topics that you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. There is also the chance that somebody else will inadvertantly give you an idea for a better spin on something you were already working on. Be it a crazy analogy or metaphor, a new trend or idea that you can compare your idea to, or even just a silly saying that you might want to use. Now go outside and see what I’m talking about.

The funny thing about blogging is its’ such hard work, requires discipline and focus, but you have to use one of the most distracting machines known to man to do it. If you really have to crack down there are some things you can do.

• Turn of MSN/AIM/Google Talk; Don’t go to busy or away or invisible. Just turn it the heck off.
• Turn off your feed readers. This stuff is an essential part of the blogging routine, but it can wait for now.
• Give yourself chores. I’m being serious. No TV or going out with friends till you finish your post, young man! That sort of thing.