Four Words that Make Your Blog Sound Dull

So why do you blog? It's probably because you think you're interesting. Maybe you want to keep your friends and family up-to-date without filling their e-mail boxes. But I know many bloggers want to meet knew people, and to attract readers from all corners of the globe.

Really, if your goal isn't to expand your readership, you could just jot down your life story in a bunch of Word documents - or kick it Old School with a fancy diary.

That's why it's important to make your blog sound interesting, and it all starts with the title. And boy, have I noticed an avalanche of boring blog titles. If a blog title is boring, it's a safe bet the content will also be boring. So don't make a bad first impression - avoid these four awful, turgid words in your title and you may avoid driving valuable readers away to someone else's blog:

1. Musings - Musing is passive and soft. It's inactive. If you watch a movie, would you be interested in watching the characters "muse" for 90 minutes? Nope. So who wants to read "musing"? Use this word in your title, and it's a sign that you put no thought into your blog's title, and that your prose is going to be weak.

2. Random - Make your blog a lightsaber, not a blaster: Focused, cutting, elegant. Not clumsy and random. When I see "random" in a blog title, I know that I'm not reading someone who has a passion for a particular topic. There probably won't be much of a "story arc," a valuable thread of continuity that binds the blog together. It's fine to occassionally deviate from your focus. But stick to a core that gets your fired up.

3. Ruminations - I am also not interested in slow mental cud-chewing. Fresh ideas, something I haven't considered before? Sure. But if you use "ruminations" as part of your blog title, I doubt you're a very original thinker. Put some work into it.

4. Ramblings - Rambling is disorganized. It's repetitive. It's what that crazy guy at the bus station does. A writer must do better. And if you can't think of a better word for your blog title, you're probably not a writer: You're just a person who writes. Big difference.

If I see any of these, I won't even read a sentence. I'm off to the next blogger, who I'm hoping recognizes the power of words and wants to hit hard and often.

Look, this writing thing is hard. It requires some heavy lifting if you're doing it right. If your writing always comes to you effortlessly, you probably have a long way to go.