Once upon a time, charm schools were established in hopes of cultivating formidable members of society who followed the commonly accepted rules of etiquette. Charm schools aren’t as popular as they used to be, but the principles they espoused are just as relevant today in our day-to-day lives as they are in our digital worlds. What, then, are those principles and how can they be applied to blogs? Here are a few to keep in mind whether you’re fresh on the scene or a seasoned blogger.

 

Present a positive image. Always be truthful; you don’t have to augment your personality or what you write to be appealing. Make sure you explain the purpose of your blog; your “about” page should be authentic and reflect the blog topics to be discussed so that potential visitors stumbling by know what they’re getting into. Also, avoid annoying fonts or the use of caps and/or alternating-caps. A positive image breeds blog attractiveness.

 

Follow a personal grooming routine. Do your best to delete spam as no one wants to wade through it to find real and relevant comments. Do not ignore this as something irrelevant; spam is a definite reader turnoff. Readers will be less inclined to comment if they think the only feedback you get are from Turkish spam bots. Also keep in mind that the structure of your blog should be user-friendly and try to minimize the use of affiliate marketing as you don’t want your blog to look overrun with distracting ads. A clean blog is a healthy blog is a happy blog.

 

Treat others with respect. Be courteous and mindful when engaging with others. Approach everyone with a pleasant demeanor and try not to be inciting or otherwise rude. People can be nasty, but hopefully you can make it common practice to reply either sincerely and without malice, or not at all.

 

Never speak or act in anger. Period.

 

Cultivate a pleasant voice. Push out relevant content that you and others will find interesting. If you’re trying to generate leads for a product or service you offer, you should always aim to share it, not sell it. Think “friendly conversation” not “talking banner ad.” When responding, try to keep a positive tone. Say “I see your point, though I may not agree with it” not “I think you’re stupid.”

 

Write thank-you notes. This will let those engaging with your blog know that what they do is appreciated and will inspire further engagement. This doesn’t have to be in the conventional form of a handwritten letter but can be done by:

 

  • Linking back to a their blog or website
  • Sharing their content on your social media channels and tagging them
  • Mentioning them in later posts
  • Adding them to your blog roll

 

This isn’t an exhaustive list but just a few important points to remember. Make sure to check yourself to see that you are not committing any offending behaviors. At the end of the day, blogging is about having fun and being social. The above isn’t meant to stifle what you do with rigid guidelines but to help guide blogging in a respectful direction. Everyone deserves a little respect; if you really feel they don’t, block them—simple as that.