As evangelical as this sounds, it is true. The Evangelical Alliance in London has come up with ten commandments that should be followed by faithful (read Christian) bloggers.

The Evangelical Alliance is an umbrella group founded in 1846 that represents thousands of churches of most denominations in the United Kingdom.

So here are the “Ten Commandments” that bloggers must follow:

#1. You shall not put your blog before your integrity

#2. You shall not make an idol of your blog

#3. You shall not misuse your screen name by using your anonymity to sin

#4. Remember the Sabbath day by taking one day off a week from your blog

#5. Honour your fellow-bloggers above yourselves and do not give undue significance to their mistakes

#6. You shall not murder someone else’s honour, reputation or feelings

#7. You shall not use the web to commit or permit adultery in your mind

#8. You shall not steal another person’s content

#9. You shall not give false testimony against your fellow-blogger

#10. You shall not covet your neighbour’s blog ranking. Be content with your own content

I know that #4 is a bit difficult to follow, considering that most bread and butter bloggers cannot take a day off. But all other commandments are useful, and well thought out.

A few days back, I was involved in a discussion on blogging guidelines. This set of commandments, in my opinion, is a very good guideline set that every blogger must absolutely follow.

Krish Kandiah, executive director of Churches in Mission, said: “These commandments are virtual rather than set in stone, but are offered to the blogging community as a way to link the Ten Commandments with the art of blogging.

“In the ever-changing information age, what we need is wisdom for life, and God communicates wisdom to our culture through the Bible on every issue from social justice to social networking.”

 

I sincerely hope these guidelines are followed not only by Christians, but also by bloggers of other faiths as these will really lead to a more cultured and civilized online interaction amongst bloggers and internet users.

NOTE:

1. Quotes taken from The Telegraph

The Indian Blog & New Media Society (www.ibnms.com) is pleased to invite you to a 3-day Blogging workshop at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi later this month. Following up on last month’s BlogCamp, this is another effort by IBNMS to enable blogging enthusiasts - both rookie and experienced - leverage this medium for both personal and professional reasons.

All sessions will be highly interactive, allowing participants to raise specific queries and also to try their hand at what is being discussed (you will need to carry a laptop and datacard for this).

Schedule: The sessions will take place in the Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi from 6.30 - 8.30 pm on the dates given along with sessions below:

Session I, Saturday, June 28
Blogging Technology: How To Set Up And Manage A Blog

What is a blog? How to set it up on platforms like Blogger, Wordpress etc? How do you get your own domain like www.myname.com? Hosting on your own severs. Custom options. Adding photos and videos. Adding subscriber sign up boxes. Using tools like LiveWriter. And more…

Session II, Sunday, June 29
Marketing Your Blog

How do you make your blog more visible? How do you generate greater traffic? How do you get comments on your blog? What is SEO? How do you generate advertising for your blog?

Session III, Monday, June 30
Benefits Of Blogging For Executives, Businesses And Professionals; How To Make Money As A Blogger

Using blogs for personal and corporate branding. Engaging with stakeholders through blogs. Using blogs as a PR and communication tool.

HOW TO REGISTER
There is no attendance or registration fee. You can register on the spot, or in advance by sending a mail to ibnms.in@gmail.com. You may attend one or more sessions.

WANT TO VOLUNTEER / SPEAK?
If you would like to speak at any of the sessions above, do let us know and we will be happy to consider you for the same. And we are always looking for volunteers - call us if you can spare some time.

And do help us by spreading the word around.

CONTACT US
You may contact the following for any queries, clarifications etc:

Ajay Jain, President, +91.99100 44476, ajay@ajayjain.com
Abhishek Kant, General Secretary, +91.9899115375, abhishek@abhishekkant.net
Ashish Chopra, Director (Communication & PR), +91.9891977333, theemptyhead@gmail.com
Amit Gupta, Director (Technology), +91.9868445814, m@amitgupta.in

It has happened several times that people come up to me and ask, so how do we start our blog? Is it easy? Well, it is easy. And if an empty head like me can do it, so can you! So here are three simple steps that will get your blog going:

Step #1: Know what you are going to write about

This is an important step most people miss when they are starting up their blogs. The result? Lack of interest in the blog after a few posts, the typical i-don’t-know-what-to-write syndrome etc etc. It is better you know beforehand why you want to start a blog. And if the reason is because you are fresh out of one of those presentations that talk about making money from your blog, wake up! You can only make money if what you write is read. And for that, you need to keep writing regularly. So sit down, think what you are going to write about on your blog before moving to step #2.

Step #2: Get yourself a blog

OK. Now that you know what you are going to write, lets get you a place to write it down. There are several free blog hosts on the internet (a blog host is a site that will host your blog, taking away your worries of hosting etc). The most famous blog hosts worldwide are Blogger.com & Wordpress.com. Most portals like Yahoo, Indiatimes, Rediff, MSN etc also provide blog hosting abilities. Then there are social networking sites like myspace.com, and some prominent Indian social networking sites like BigAdda.com & Instablogs.com who will also let you create your own blog.

Most of these sites have easy to use, step by step guides that will help you to create your blog. For absolute beginners, my advise would be to go to Blogger.com or Wordpress.com. These have really easy to use interfaces and loads of help & support so you wouldn’t get lost easily.

Step #3: Write your first post

Cool. Now you have your own blog! Put up your first post now. And remember, keep writing. That is what having your blog is all about.

This concludes the beginner’s guide to start a blog. Yes, it really is this easy. Let me know if you need further help.

Happy Blogging

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Update<16-Jan-09> : Some readers have posted the question: How to make your blog famous and ensure it gets a lot of hits? Well, here are a few quick tips that can help you with this:

1. Spread word about your blog. Let your friends know you are writing online and ask them to read and comment. Use your yahoo/gtalk IM/facebook/orkut status to let people know when you have put up a new post.
2. Use twitter to publish updates when you update your blog. Also connect to as many people as you can, gain followers and then let them know when you update your blog.
3. Social networking sites (facebook/orkut etc) have plugins that allow you to publish your blog’s RSS feed on your profile.
4. If you need really serious readership on your blog (esp if you want to make money out of it), look at proper marketing options. These include online marketing like google adwords etc, doing Search Engine Optimization(SEO) for you blog and maybe even some offline marketing.
5. Attend blogger meets. Join blogger groups like IBNMS, the Delhi Bloggers etc and attend their meetups. Actively participating in such activities spreads word about your blog.
6. Join local blog aggregators. A good Indian blog aggregators are IndiBlogger. In case you write in hindi or another regional language, you may want to join in some regional blog aggregator. A list of Hindi blog aggregators is available here

I hope these will help you to spread word about your blog. Always remember the bottomline, good content is a must! Without good content, retaining readers may prove to be a tough task.