Death provides lively copy for bloggers

Death doesn't faze newsrooms. For editors, the order of the day, every day, is gallows humor -- whistling past the old graveyard.

Newspapers, in fact, love death. Funeral notices -- aka "fun notices" in the biz -- are a profit center for papers small and mighty. Craig's List won't be taking that niche away soon.

Death also keeps readers coming back. Obituaries are among the most-read features for older readers, many of whom begin their day by viewing the parade to the grave of their age's leading personalities.

I've made a habit of reading all of the New York Times' obituaries and recommend them to you. The Times obits editors are notoriously picky about whom they include -- basically, the subjects must have changed the world in some way. The Times' obituaries are little history lessons, famously accurate and routinely compelling. You can learn about a lot about the world.

I bring this up because the truism that death makes good copy applies to blogs as well. There is nothing morbid about this, unless you make it so. A well-written appreciation of someone's life can be a shared experience for you and your readers.

On my DVD blog, I'd been looking for a good reason to weigh in on the Stanley Kubrick DVDs that were released as a pack late last fall. The Kubrick films made their Blu-ray debut at a busy time for DVD releases, and I only got around to "Eyes Wide Shut."

The news of Arthur C. Clarke's death sent me straight to the keyboard. I know little about the man or his writings aside from "2001: A Space Odyssey." Still, my DVD blog was able to connect with a story that had people talking -- and I provided something of value by quoting the man several times in a review of his most famous work.

So did you hear the one about the dying futurist and the sexy alien ... ?

Just started blogging? Be a rock 'n' roller

Unless you're famous or incredibly well connected, it's lonely work starting a blog. Especially before the search engines know you're there. The traffic comes in single digits, no one comments and there are only a couple of posts to show for all your efforts.

The temptation is to slide and wait for the action. It could be a long wait.

I think in the early stages it's important that new bloggers write as if they had a large enthusiastic audience.

We've all seen blog entries with something like, "What does it matter, no one reads this blog anyway." Ugh.

Story time: I remember seeing the rock band Dash Rip Rock long ago in a downtown L.A. club. They had to play after the headliner. Everyone in the audience left but five or six of us. Felt sorry for the boys. But that band played as if they were rocking Madison Square Garden.

Be like Dash Rip Rock.

Second opinion. Here is some advice from another angle, written by Maki of the blog Dosh Dosh: "The most important thing to do is to blog as if no one else was reading you." I highly recommend this blog for bloggers, which was incredibly useful to me in the early days and remains a favorite read.

It's time to do some work on your blog

When it comes to blogging, what a difference a day makes -- especially if it's the first one of the month.

I've adopted the policy of updating all of my blogs come the start of each new month. The previous post may be only a day old -- maybe even a few hours old -- but that item sinks into fish-wrap waters the second the month rolls over.

Maybe readers don't care. I'm betting they do. At the very least, it's good motivation to update -- and lord knows we all need that.

Don't have an idea? You'll think of something. I just did.