A lot of people who write blogs dispensing advice advocate picking a side on a topic in order to provoke reaction and discussion. And to that end I agree. the whole idea of a blog is to present your ideas and reactions to the world, and if you water down your opinion in the hopes of gaining more readers and not offending anyone, you’ll end up with no one following you. In addition to this, you have to be true to yourself. You can just as easily try to offer an opinion on an issue opposite from what you truly believe. Don’t do that. Be who you are and don’t apologize for it if you happen to have an opinion on something. Now, with that being said, here’s my disclaimer. This attitude can be used by people to discuss, passionately yet calmly, topics like politics, religion or others. If you blog and promote hate of minority groups or religious groups, you are not helping anyone with your blog.

Here’s another mad-lib type of story for you to enjoy on your day before the weekend. I took this story from MSNBC, removed the names to protect the innocent, and left blanks for various words. As funny as this story can be with your help, the real story was much weirder.

Well, it depends on where you live and who lives near you. Some have asked me where they can get a blog design similar to mine, and what I’ve said is this. When it came time to develop this blog, I went to my wife who designs websites for a living. I asked her if she would be willing to help me out with this and she came up with a wonderful design. Now, if you’re not lucky to have a spouse that already does this, don’t worry. There are people who design blogs as well as web sites. I have a friend who did a search for “orange county web designer” because he wanted to find someone nearby in California and found someone to meet his needs. That’s really all you have to do. Do a search for web design or blog design in your geographical location and you should receive a few names for consideration. Even then, some of the best people are living next door. So, don’t be afraid to talk to people in the real world. You might find your diamond designer in the rough talking to the grocery checkout girl.

When you first go to blog, establish your credibility with your chosen subject. After a while, it helps to break the monotony of daily posts on one subject if you vary it up a little bit. for instance, I desginate my Friday posts for lighthearted, comical posts that usually have nothing to do with blogging. If you’ve seen some of those posts, you know what I’m talking about. You may not enjoy the humor but it provides a nice relief for all of us. you can do the same thing. If your focus is on physics, take one posts and write about someone got their lab coat zipper stuck. Have fun. Spread some humor.

Unless you’re a professional writer, you initial forays into the blogosphere are going to be sub-par. Guess what? It’s ok. Even a baby stumbles and falls while learning to walk. Be bold and take the first few steps, but know that those first few steps are going to be a little wobbly. When you first start out, your skills are raw and unrefined, much like a baby’s sense of balance and coordination. Given time and effort, blogging becomes easier just as the baby is able to take that first step, then the second step. If you are new, realize you are a newborn stretching new muscles that will ultimately help you navigate and interact with this wonderful world around us.

You get an extra treat this week. Two bits of fun for this week (lucky you). Ok, this comes from the cult TV show “Mystery Science Theater 3000″ and the movie they lampooned has a hero who looks like a stereotypical jock body builder with blonde hair and a sleeveless T-shirt. The character’s name is David Ryder, but the trio watching the film give him comical names, which are all condensed into a minute and a half. Enjoy.

While content is vital to the life of your blog, if your blog’s design is too confusing, you’ll end up losing readers. The folks over at hongkiat.com compiled 100 blog designs that are not only simple but beautiful as well. If you use one of these designs as the basis for your blog, you should only have to worry about creating good content.