For those new to the blogging world and it seems even those who have been around a while, I thought it might be a good time to go over what I think are the top 5 unwritten rules of blogging etiquette. These are rules that most but not all bloggers seem to follow and if you don't realize you are breaking the rules, you should because if you break the rules, you might lose followers.
5.) Write original content. Do not copy and paste or plagiarize anyone else's content or blog posts. Adding a link to someone else's post is fine and mentioning that you got an idea for a post from someone and linking to their post is fine. But if you can't come up with your own content...don't post anything until you can write a post in your own words.
4.) Don't steal other people's pictures and post them as your own. Because of the new rules and laws for bloggers you can now be sued by people if you use a picture without permission. If you would like to use a picture someone has posted...the best thing you can do is just ask..formally in an email that way you have proof that you got permission if the question ever comes up.
The other thing you can do is to make your own pictures. That's what I've started doing. If you have "paint" on your computer and most computers do have this on them. You can make picture of solid color and write things on them like I did for the picture in this blog post.
3.) Spammy links in comments. It's not ok to leave links to porn sites, or sites that have nothing to do with blogging. I will sometimes leave a clickable link back to my blog in my comment but only sometimes and I only do that for people who also leave clickable links back to their blogs in comments they leave on my blog.
2.) Negative comments- It's ok to disagree with a blogger but it's not ok to name call or post vulgar language on another blog.
1.) And the #one rule in my opinion is if someone takes the time to leave a comment on your blog, reciprocate and leave a comment on a blog post of theirs. It doesn't have to be the most recent one if you can't relate to it, just scroll through some of their posts and find one you can relate to and leave a meaningful comment. *This does not count if the only blog post of yours a person leaves a comment on is a giveaway post. I reciprocate when comments are left on everyday posts not just giveaway posts*
This is to me anyway, the biggest pet peeve I have when it comes to blog posts. Not having people reciprocate in kind when I take time to leave a comment on their post.
