Green blogs are one of those type of blogs that I personally tend to avoid – even though I’m a firm believer in the environment. Why? Because they can get very, very, (wait for it) very preachy. It’s like their proselytizing, and “green” is the new 21st century religion. Perhaps my biggest tip on managing a successful green blog is DON’T DO THAT. Write sensibly and work to inform people, not convert them. Getting on a soapbox or mounting a pulpit is not sensible for a blog you wish to maintain long into the future. It just isn’t a feasible track to keep up for a long period of time. Your readers get exhausted reading your preaching, and you get exhausted being so amped up writing it all the time.
For those of you considering starting a green oriented blog, take a look at these points and see if you agree. If you don’t, then maybe greening up the blogosphere just isn’t for you.
Practice What You “Preach”
I know I just said don’t preach on your blog – but it’s an idiom. Take it with a grain of salt. Anyway – if you are starting a green blog, don’t do it because you think it is the easiest blog to monetize. Do it because it is something that you’re passionate about – and prove it to your readers. Make the blog personal – when you recommend buying low flow shower heads for your home, talk about how you’re doing your best to kick the water hog of your family out of the shower after ten minutes of hot water, too.
Don’t just tell people what to do – show them what to do.
Talk About Action, Not Theory
Unless you’re an environmental scientist, don’t go into the nitty-gritty of chemical effects and blah, blah, blah, blah. See, I’m getting bored already and I’m writing it!
Focus on actionable, salient points when you write an article for your blog. Mention the theory behind whatever you’re advising, but focus on what people can actually do about it. So there is a hole in the ozone, what can I do about it? That article would be focused on the importance of wearing sunscreen – and perhaps not using hairspray so much, rather than the theory behind how the hole in the ozone occurs, and what it actually is.
Plus the theoretical meanings behind much of science is very term-heavy and can lead to a dull and monotonous read. You want to keep your readers engaged – make it interesting, and keep your personality.
Find Your Niche
Much like wedding blogs, green blogs have a lot of topics to cover. Do you want to talk about green cars? Green homes? Green urban life? Find a niche and a focus, because unless you’ve got something ground-breaking and extraordinary (or you’re an amazing writer with a great understanding of SEO, PR and advertising, plus a unique domain) you aren’t going to get found if you have a generalist “go green” blog. It just isn’t going to work, sorry.
As with anything, find what you’re passionate about and do it. If that happens to be making sure the world is around and intact in another 150 years, so be it.
Practice, don't preach. That's what I think we should all do. People seeing us practicing "green" things would be more perceptive of what we do. Of course, it won't do if you have a blog…unless you do video marketing which would be an easier way of interacting with people especially since your tone would be easily understood instead of written words.
Manage green blog is amazing thing, post about some eco friendly electronic gadget
really nice .. learned a lot of things from this article .
Those tips are valuable points about green blog on here. Informative post without any doubts on here 🙂
great article. I completely agree with the avoidance preaching. It is very difficult to find the right tone to adopt when writing about the environment. Green living has become increasingly a matter of personal ethics and institutional responsibility. I think the sense of urgency around making a change to save the planet (and ultimately ourselves) can often result in moralising. It's always worth being compassionate about green issues. The world is slowly waking to the realisation that way of life we have inherited from our ancestors is unsustainable and daily life must radically change. The process of change will be challenging and those leading the way on the green movement need to encourage people towards a greener future, avoiding judgement where possible. This is what I aim to do in my blog.
Thanks for the advice!
While Green doesn't only recommends to be not making environment polluted, but also represents the above one..
In fact, green blog is one of the easiest blog to monetize on here 🙂 From here, alot of points will be more helpful to all the people in the wide. Great tasks on here Jackie 🙂
I think that this goes for all blogs – don't try to convert, but offer practical information. Also, you can't know it all, so get a segment, and be best at what you do. Mine is developing app in .net – this is what i know and like.
Nice one,
You mentioned in right ways which one should i choose for better result.
Practicing what you preach is definitely a must for green bloggers. Advocates should see to it that they are serious about what they are preaching by making themselves the models of their cause.
I wonder how serious the world is about "green". Sure there's a big noise now and again, but it really hasn't sunk in and as you've mentioned, it may be just a passionate few who would dare venture into green blogging. Unless of course it becomes a fad and then you'll find people coming back to read more about green blogging.
Really nice article,these are some really useful tips that you gave.
Bravo.. learned something today and have to keep it in mind while writing my upcoming article. Should not Preach hereafter 😛
Robin.
nice article…well said its hard to find green blog topics..
"Talk About Action, Not Theory" is definitely the takeaway from this article. Definitely it is one of the great phrases 🙂
well said.. perfect point..