As I prepare to write again on this blog, I am seeing just how horrible I used to be at writing.

Blogging for me has been a huge learning experience and whenever I see old posts of mine, I cringe. Tags are horrible, links are missing, categories don’t make sense, and photos are not placed well, if they show at all. Some posts have bad links and some writing is so bad it should be deleted.

I was learning. Like anything in life that is new to us, doing it over and over usually makes us better at it. I’d like to think I have advanced in my writing and blogging skills over my years of posting at my various websites and blogs.

What I didn’t know, but do now is that links are good. Outside links and links to pages and posts within a blog are good for SEO. Bringing readers is what we want after all, right?

I suppose some people have plenty of family and friends who read their blogs and that is fine. Some photography blogs I follow have little text yet they have loads of likes and comments. Supposedly you must write good content to place well in the searches for subjects. And that content should be at least 300 words.

I’ve never been much on keywords, since I believe in simply writing about my subject matter in the best way I know how. But tagging is important and many of my posts here have horrible tags. Almost none of my posts link to each other, and I can’t even find subjects to read about when searching my own blog! That is not good.

So I’m organizing this blog just like I organized my Seashell blog not long ago. Categories can be removed, but first the posts have to be directed to other categories… but they are almost all bad. This will take time.

No one I actually know reads my blogs. I have come across some very nice fellow bloggers who run sites I truly enjoy visiting. Mostly they are photographers, artists and gardeners. And they visit me and leave comments (thank you!). I don’t have family or friends who keep up with my blogs, and that is fine. Blogging can take you around the world, where you will find nice people who show you great things. It’s partly why I do it.

Don’t just write… visit others who write about subjects that interest you. Leave comments and maybe they will become a dear online friend.

(Photo at the top is of the Anchorage restaurant on Lake Sunapee.)