Another Better Blog Tip

Yesterday's post reminded me of another weblog tip. My two previous posts on this subject cover my first eight ideas. This tip is more a matter of proper weblog ettiquette, at least as I see it.

When you are quoting a post from another site, or referring to an article, be sure to quote only the amount necessary to make your point. Of course, it is a given that you will link to the original source either way, but when you post someone else's words in their entirety on your own site, you have now benefited from his or her work, without sharing that same benefit. In other words, the reader was able to read someone's content without visiting the source of that content. The original author not only loses the potential traffic, but also is less likely to gain a reader.

The weblog world is fairly obsessive about sharing the link love. People who generously link to other sites, sharing traffic and readers, are much more likely to be linked to as well. I believe the phrase is do to others what you would have them do to you.

When I settle on one more tip, I'll write gather the ten together in a convenient location.