MSNBC has a story today warning job seekers of the 5 most common ways to ruin a resume.  It got me to thinking about how we a bloggers can potentially do the same harm to our blog and credibility. So, in my opinion, are the 5 ways to ruin your blogging credentials.

1. Post without researching – nothing pegs you as an idiot faster than false statements that could have been checked quickly.
2. Speak in condescending tones – I’ve read a few blogs where the person was very knowledgeable in their chosen subject matter, but they spoke in a way that they thought they were a god.
3. Lack of focus – you don’t need a blog that only discusses one topic.  This blog, for example, is a mixture of topics even though the overall theme is blogging itself. While it’s important to have fun, if you don’t focus your attention in a general direction, your the cyber equivalent of a kid with ADD.
4. Commenting on other posts with questionable language – some people will debate this as a First Amendment issue, but the internet is such a large community, and since we are looking to have intelligent discussions, let’s clean up the language and leave the juvenile name calling out of it. I don’t care what kind of language you use with your friends, if you plan to leave comment somewhere, you can get your point across without that area of language.
5. Bad grammar – If someone does not take the time to construct their ideas in a way that is coherent, logical and spelled correctly, you don’t project yourself as someone who puts much care or time into your toughts.

This is not fantasy. This is a belt buckle with an LCD screen capable of showing pictures and movies. The company that make it is called Egokast and they are already coming out with a newer version with a slightly bigger screen and improved funcionality. So, you know what this means. Guys, you now have a surefire way of getting a girl to look, and then you can say, “Hey, I’M up here!”

This is probably a repeat in terms of blogging advice, but it bears repeating.  Keep your blog design simple. Make sure people can find your content as well as your archives.  If you look at this blog, you’ll notice that everything is pretty clearly labeled.  You know where my content is as well as any advertisements or recent posts.  I’ve gone to quite a few blogs recently and not only is the content hard to find, there are Google ads right in the middle of the post. For me, that is distracting and takes away from the aesthetic of the blog layout.  Let people do their own Google search for computer service orange county, don’t force them read your post like it has a commercial break.

Did anyone try to keep a running diary of the Academy Awards last night? I didn’t have my computer on during the ceremony, but there are a few things I noticed that I want to get some of your opinions on.

1. There are 3 men who were born to host the Oscars: Johnny Carson, Billy Crystal and Steve Martin.
2. What was with T-Bone Burnett and the men’s sunglasses? I thought Jack was the only person cool enough to pull that off.
3. Would Ben Stiller have been funny if, like he said, Avatar had actually been nominated for best makeup?
4. Why does John Hughes get his own memorial and the likes of Paul Newman and Billy Wilder from years past had to make due with being in the memorial montage?
5. Is Kanye is rubbing off on others?  Will we have to endure more microphone bandits?

Fox news ran a fun little slideshow today on male celebrities and the facial hair they have sported in the past. Specifically beards. The premise is what would these beards say about their appearance and the celebrity to which they are attached. It got me to thinking: what would other accoutrements say about their functions of the stars. What would the polarized sunglasses of Jack Nicholson have to say? What would Leno’s chin say? It makes life more fun to think about these things every once in a while.

Speaking of blogging live events, Sarah Palin was on the “Tonight Show” last night and while the interview/stand-up monologue is not the easiest live event to blog, there was definitely enough there to comment on. Watching the whole segment, she got a couple of good jabs at Leno’s expense during the sit down portion, and her confidence in her actions is noteworthy. The monologue she did as a response Leno inquiring whether she would like to do a talk show someday also had its moments. The material she came out with, whether she wrote it or someone else did, is that typical monologue jokes you hear from Leno all the time. Obviously, with her inexperience at timing and delivery, if she does want to do a talk show, she’ll need to hone those skills a bit.

I’ve seen other people do this, and if I had the patience, I might try it myself. Do a live blog on an upcoming event. This weekend is the Academy Awards; so, if you’re a big fan of movies or Hollywood, blog as you watch the ceremony. Have your computer nearby; when a category has a memorable winner or the production takes a turn for the worse, throw a quick update onto your blog. If given the choice, I would have to blog on the deciding game of the World Series. That would be fun.

If you’re looking to get a blog going and have no clue where to start, check out Paul Bradshaw’s article. One thing that Paul suggests that I really like is to have a guest blogger write an article on some area of expertise. I like this idea because it helps others get their voice out as well as provide you with a momentary break from creating content. Coming up with content is not that hard, but coming up with good content that keeps people coming back take a little more time and practice.