I briefly mentioned yesterday that there are certain “bloggy” behaviors that drive me nuts.  I thought I’d make a little list for those of you who are up and coming “famous” bloggers, and for those of you who are climbing the virtual ladder.  Also on the off-chance that some of the bloggers who irritate me read this, perhaps you’ll think about tweaking your attitude.  What’s funniest about this list is that in my previous life as a marketing consultant, this very same advice was given time and time again (with some substituted words) to many lawyers and accountants.  I guess the same “Do Unto Others” cliche really works in all walks of life

1.  Don’t Forget Who Reads You.  Those same people who started reading you 2 years ago, when you started (in the blogging world, 1 year is equal to about 25) are probably still reading you.  Only now they are being encouraged to comment (because comments are blogger crack), and the writers know that the more comments they have, the more advertising dollars they can leverage.  No one likes to feel used.  If you expect your readers to comment, you might want to spend some time around the world wide interwebs commenting on other blogs besides your best bloggy friends. 

2.  Newsflash - This Just In!  Just because you finally got your blog leveraged where you want it to be, or your book deal is finally being inked, doesn’t mean that the quality of writers has magically dried up just because you got paid (or noticed).  The same core group of mom bloggers still talk mostly to each other.  In the meantime, thousands of blogs that put theirs to shame have popped up - it’s unfortunate that it seems many of them are missing out on the larger blogging community because it’s easier to stay in the safe zone.  Matt Logelin’s a perfect example of this.  Aside from having his life ripped apart when his wife died after the birth of their first child, he’s managed to attract a lot of attention with his blog and get a book deal.  He travels a lot and always makes time to reach out to the people who read him.  He is always linking to new blogs.  And this guy gets as many comments as Dooce, so don’t tell me you’re too famous to deal with it.

3.  Ignoring comments.  If comments are blogger crack, then I really don’t get why more bloggers don’t occasionally respond.  Avitable is completely awesome at interacting with his commenters - he responds, he jokes, he engages.  I get that not every blogger wishes to engage, but I don’t really understand that.  If you are writing publicly, and putting it out there, paying attention to your crack supplier might be a good idea. 

4.  On that same note . . . one blogger in particular ONLY responds to negative comments.  She could have 3,000 positive comments offering support or humor or kind words, but she’ll only respond to the one a-hole who tells her she sucks as a mother and is a drunk.  Most of the time it’s not even that blatant.  It appears that if she even senses the person doesn’t 100% agree with her, she responds.  Or deletes the comments.  The bloggers I respect allow dissenting opinion.  Now if it gets personal, or crass, then I get why comment are deleted.  This goes way beyond this. 

5. Most bloggers twitter.  Nothing annoys me more than my twitter feed being barfed on by the same 5 bloggers in a sycophantic frenzy.  It goes something like this:

@totallyfamousblogger:  OMG!  Your latest post made me LOL!!!  Call me so we can talk!
@almostasfamousblogger:  Awww, shucks, I love you too.  Can’t wait to drink at (insert upcoming female blogging event here) with you!
@totallyfamousblogger:  What do you think about my boob job?
@almostasfamousblogger:  I love it! But you couldn’t be any hotter!
@totallyfamousblogger:  My kid just barfed. 
@almostasfamousblogger:  Tell your agent to clean it up. That’s what you pay that whore for!

It might not be quite that bad, but some days, it’s all I can do to swallow it.  Why not just delete them from my follow list??  Because I like their writing enough to want to know when new stuff is coming out, but I’m beginning to dislike them intensely as a person.  I’m not alone in that feeling. 

Speaking of Twitter,  it’s called a “micro-blogging” site.  I agree with Avitable. It’s not really a blogging site.  It’s a condensed narcissistic discussion about yourself, unless you engage.  So bloggers who constantly tweet about themselves and only to certain special people look like complete buttholes in my opinion.  I might care more about your car troubles or the fact that your carpet smells like cat pee if you actually responded to anyone other than yourself.  Queen of Spain is well-known and very busy - but if you respond to her, she will respond to you.  It makes me a lot more willing to take the time to read those who take time with me. 

6.  If you want to make money from blogging, treat it like a business.  Seriously.  Duh.  This is marketing 101.  Want a big following?  Want rabid fans who will bail you out of jail, or believe you were actually pregnant with a terminally ill baby even after it’s been proven you freaking lied?  Interact.  Become involved with your customers - aka your readers.  Take some time to check out their blogs.  You might even bring yourself to comment outside the popular clique.  Trust me, it won’t kill you.

7.  Recommend other blogs you like, but not the same 5 over and over again.  Help your readers discover new and great bloggers.  Just yesterday, The Checkout Girl recommended some blogs (including mine, which was totally super of her).  I added all of them to my RSS feed.  This might be a problem if you don’t actually read blogs anymore, but maybe you could fake it?

So there you have it. Homeslice’s 7 Rules on How to Blog Without Annoying the Universe (aka your customers).