Unless your blog primarily cites and links other sources on and off the Internet, with no content of your own, or you play the blogging game so completely safely that you don’t publish an opinion on anything, then you are an observational blogger.

Be it observation on your own life, on the people and situations around you, or on the wider world: media, politics, human rights, global issues, you are publishing your own observations and ideas on everything you write about.

Giving your personal opinion on topical issues, sharing the experiences of those around you, and publisihing interesting sources of information that mainstream media may well have missed (or not be able to use) can make your writing interesting and readable.

Whatever you are observing, and however professional you think you are, there are some practical things you can do to ensure that you are always ‘on the ball’.

Keep these items with you:

Notebook (good old-fashioned paper and pencil)

Sometimes, nothing beats the traditional methods. You won’t always have your computer or PDA with you, or be able to load it up and type something in. Carry a small notepad and pencil with you to write down:

• ideas for blog posts
• situations you find yourself in
• bits of conversations you hear
• descriptions of people you meet
• good words to add colour to your post
• media headlines, articles and content you see, with a reference to look it up later if its online
• poetry and lyrics
• what you are feeling about a particular issue/ situation/ person

You can transfer these ideas to electronic storage later on.

Dictaphone

For capturing “soundscape” and dialogue:

• sounds of events, to bring back memories when you are writing your posts
• interviews and quotes
• musical ideas

Any good sounds could be digitised and included on your blog.

Camera

For web images, the camera on your mobile phone or cheaper digital camera will be perfectly adequate.

Use it to capture

• textures, colours, objects, newspaper headlines, nature: to use as inset graphics to make your posts more interesting
• photos of people you have met/ interviewed (seek permission to publish these)
• photos of events and incidents

Dictionary/Thesaurus

Every writer needs to know the correct meaning of words, and often needs inspiration to find alternative / better words to say the same thing. A computerised one is ideal, given that most of your blog writing will be done using your computer, though you may prefer a print version as well.

Having good ideas and capturiing inspiration for blog posts is essential, and these tools can help you to capture what you have learnt and observed, and to write interesting prose.

Don’t rely on your memory alone to recall everything your senses observe around you.

As a blogger, you are a journalist, a photographer, an editor and a publisher, all at the same time.

I’m sure we’d all love to improve our content, publishing articles that people love to read.