Microblogging is a liberating experience. You narrow down your focus to the essentials and leave out all the extra explanations.

When you post for a microblog you jot down, announce and make note. You don't have to add a lot of context. You can skip an illustration - unless your post is the illustration, in that case you can skip the worlds.

Microblogging should be short, quick, but frequent posts.

My favourite places to microblog are Twitter, Tumblr and the sidebar of my own blog where I keep a Sideblog using a WordPress plugin.

Why I Like MicroBlogging

• It's a great way to jot down a thought without going into detail or overthinkng it.
• I dash down a half baked idea and leave it to finish later.
• I can leave a note for readers of my site.
• I can post a great quotation and just let it stand on it's own.
• I post backlinks to a sites I find but haven't really reviewed yet.
• I announce a change to my site, or other sites I write.
• I stick in a new word that sounded worth looking up.
• I make note of an inspirational book I found.
• I can leave a quick tip and turn it into a full post later.

 MicroWriting for MicroBlogging

Writing a short post can take some getting used to. Don't give up on it or quit. Just get creative, resourceful and take a risk on saying and explaining less leaving your readers to make their own assumptions. If you want clear and concise communication you need few words, no flowery prose.

For example, Twitter limits everyone to 140 characters, including punctuation, spaces and hashtags.

You may get creative with spelling, or run two words together or eliminate some words all together.

Some people will post their thoughts over two or more posts in a row. (I see this now and then with Twitter posts). But multiple posts is not a great option, it's better to stick with the microblogging concept and keep it short and to the point.

If you can't find a shorter way to say what you mean, microblogging can be a challenge to your communication skills.

Think of your posts as announcements. That helps to keep them shorter.

I've decided to gradually pull my content off HubPages. With so many posts being no-indexed (by HubPages) it seems I could make more money hosting them myself running Adsense/ Amazon and keeping 100% of the revenue. I already have the blogs up and in need of content. In trying to write for the networks and have some active presence in their communities I have spread myself thin.

You may think there is no point to ever writing for a network. But, I have liked being part of the writing networks for the community, the networking and the sharing of ideas. Also, for the writing discipline of knowing I'm sticking to a schedule and meeting goals not entirely of my own making. Being our own boss is only good when you have a fairly pushy boss.

At HubPages though, the content scraping was pretty much the last straw.  I found two of my posts stolen and even though I sent a DMCA it is just a joke, a waste of time. It's too easy to ignore an email which the writer can't afford to back up with legal fees.

It would be nice if HubPages gave us some support with content scraping/ theft. At the very least, find a way to prevent it. But, they don't seem to be working on anything like that. In the forum they have said it is our content and our problem. However, the way I see it, it is their network and thus they should be offering some support to the writers who write and bring traffic which HubPages profits from.

Anyway, I've been feeling discouraged and decided it was time for a change.

How will writing networks like HubPages, Suite101, About.com and the others fare over the next few years? There have been many changes in the past ten or so years since writing networks began. Some call them content farms.

I've been reading that blogging is dead. Some of these predictions are just for self promotion, trying to write something that will go viral. However, some of them are based on real perception; watching the trends and having an understanding of the way things work.

The individual publishers of blogging are not dead. Social media gurus, content curators and general blog publishers (notice publishers, not writers) are  still linking to content. So content is still out there. It has been getting harder to find quality content versus content which is carelessly written, very repetitive, unoriginal and usually has nothing to say, like a political speech with a lot of words to fill space but actually say nothing.

The web has become commercial versus creative. Less content (which is both unique and freely given) is being created.

Quality of writing has suffered as people really don't care what they publish. It isn't meant to be fit for human consumption and doesn't really need spelling, grammar, punctuation or comprehension in order to be good for SEO (search engine optimization). Quality of the content itself has also suffered, for years. Writing which has a point of view, writing which actually has something to say rather than regurgitating every other article, post and opinion online has been getting harder to find.

As a writer looking at writing jobs being offered I am seeing a big emphasis on social media and keywords. The quality of the content isn't high on the list of importance. So the people writing this stuff, don't need to know how to write -  if they can sell the stuff they write. They sell themselves as content marketers and those are the people who then write for the site.

It isn't the individual blog but the individual writer which makes the content people want to link to.

The bigger/ popular blogs may have hired writers but even the hired writers are writing the content the publishers want to sell. They are often writing for keywords, better SEO practices and Google (even though Google is a bot, not the reading public).

This is pretty much why people have started claiming blogging is dead. Commercial blogging has caused most blog content to be meaningless, just repetitive drool you could find on a lot of other blogs. Very few blogs still post original, valuable content without turning it into an ebook (or some other format) which they sell rather than distribute freely.

Web publishing can not exist in a vacuum where the creative spark is sucked dry.

The people who do still publish original content are having it scraped/ stolen until they become too discouraged to continue publishing. Some quit, some give in and write the stuff that sells and some continue to write but they stop distributing it freely. Making the content for pay then gives them some control over having it stolen.

Not all content you pay for is worth paying for, of course. The commercial publishers think getting paid for an ebook full of nothing useful is a great idea.  Rewrite the same old stuff, hire writers to bang out something with enough words and you can offer up an ebook. Market it the right way and pull in the sales.

Ironic (and sad) how the Internet is eating itself, like an ouroboros (the snake eating it's own tail).

Here's the entire 30 Day Blog Challenge list.

I'm slowly, very slowly, getting through this list (like it's taking me months!).  If you want to join me, let me know and I'll post a link to your blog.

Day 1: List 10 random facts about yourself.

Day 2: Describe 3 legitimate fears you have and describe how they became fears.

Day 3: What is the greatest amount of physical pain you have ever endured?

Day 4: List 5 things you would tell your 16 year-old self if you could.

Day 5: What are the 5 things that make you happiest right now?

Day 6: What is the hardest thing you have ever experienced?

Day 7: What is your dream job, and why?

Day 8: What are 3 passions you have?

Day 9: What defines you?

Day 10: Describe your most embarrassing moment.

Day 11: Describe a few of your pet peeves.

Day 12: Describe a typical day in your life.

Day 13: Describe 5 weaknesses you have.

Day 14: Describe 5 strengths you have.

Day 15: If you were an animal, what would you be and why?

Day 16: What are your 5 greatest accomplishments?

Day 17: What is the thing you most wish you were great at?

Day 18: What is the most difficult thing you have had to forgive?

Day 19: If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?

Day 20: Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood.

Day 21: If you could have 1 superpower, what would it be and what would be the first thing you did with it?

Day 22: Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?

Day 23: List your top 3 hobbies and why you love them.

Day 24: Describe your first job.

Day 25: If you could have dinner with anyone in history, who would it be and what would you eat?

Day 26: What popular notion do you think the world has wrong?

Day 27: What is your favorite part of your body and why?

Day 28: What is your love language?

Day 29: What were your three favorite toys/games as a child?

Day 30: List 5 things you would hope to be remembered for.

via Can I Get Another Bottle of Whine with my morning quiet time?: 30 Day Blog Challenge.

These are ideas you can use to make your site an asset to yourself, as a writer, and a resource to bring others to your site.

Set up a blog on Blogger/ BlogSpot or WordPress. Pick a theme you can add a background and/ or header graphic to. Your blog should look like something you have done, not a clone from another site. Getting your own domain is a huge asset, if you can afford the cost. This will also give you an email address which will use your domain name.

The best thing about a blog on your website is keeping your site freshly updated and making it interactive without too much fuss on your part. You can update daily, or once a week. Quickly add an inspirational quote, a writing tip, jot down a new publisher/ market, load an image you found or scanned or photographed yourself.

However, a blog doesn't have to be the focus of your site. If you already have a main HTML based web site, make it sidebar blog, a secondary page or a secondary site. Turn a subdomain into the blog if you like. It really does help to keep traffic to your site if they can expect to have something to read when they get there. Avoid link rot, stagnating pages and a bland site in general by adding a blog. Be creative, that's what we do!

If you are not a great graphic artist a few simple text graphics are really all you need. Look for a font you like and make a banner to head your blog. Add some smaller text graphics as navigation links. You don't have to be a great artist to add a little colour and graphics to your blog.

Monitor your traffic, read and respond to comments, keep a guest book, a contact form or some form of message boards available. People are more likely to leave a quick note than send an email. Comments are preferred because they are quick (if you don't go overboard on CAPTCHA and word verification) and people can leave you their links and contact information too.

If you go with the blog plan and turn your site into a resource of some kind (for writers, hobbyists, or a niche topic) you will find it easier to get linkbacks if you are offering original content. If you have a voice of your own and something to say, they will come.

Consider ways of going out to your readers. Post your RSS feed link where it can be easily found. Add your URL to your email signature and your signature links on any forums you join too. Leave comments on other blogs too. Start a newsletter with your best content of the month/ week, depending on how much work you can put into it.

Set yourself up as an expert on your topic/ genre by reaching out to network sites like HubPages, Squidoo, About.com, Suite101 and EzineArticles. Don't copy and paste content right from your blog to the networks. Make some edits, add some new or different information and try a different slant on the topic. Shift things around.

Add surveys, quizzes and personality test type things to your blog now and then. It doesn't have to be rocket science. Keep them fun. Give freebies of some sort. Site awards were popular once. You can update that idea by offering gamification awards for people who visit your site and comment regularly. If you write books offer desktop wallpaper of the cover art from your latest book. Offer a free eBook with tips you've posted in the past.

If you make appearances or attend events keep a schedule available on your site. Of course, keep it updated. You can also keep readers up to date with what you are working on. Let them know you are writing a fresh chapter, proofreading copy, mailing out an article, hearing back from that promising editor, etc. Also, write about professional organizations you are a part of, as they relate to your work. Turn your blog into an information hub for your niche topic or yourself as a writer.

Make sure you also include all your essentials for any freelance business that comes your way: contact information, clips, your writing experience, the services you offer, and so on. Writing is a business, not just an art.

Laura Brown (AKA ThatGrrl) has been a web writer since 1998. She keeps the Word Grrls blog and writes for the HubPages network. In her own time she creates ASCII art and photographs old buildings.

This was originally published (by me) to EzineArticles.