Advice from SAP Champions: Blogging

[jerryjanda]

Have you ever submitted a blog post for review on SAP Community and wondered why you keep getting pushback from the moderation team (including me)? Or have you published something successfully, only to find that your post just doesn't seem to get the views, likes, and/or comments you expected?

As part of the moderation process, my colleagues and I do what we can to educate new bloggers about our rules, expectations, and more. And we regularly direct people to the resources we have available -- from this page to our blogging tutorial. Even so, as a new blogger, you may find yourself getting frustrated. And as long-term blogger, you may also be frustrated in your attempts to find an audience.

If you are looking for some pointers to improve your blogging, there's yet another group of experts (in addition to the community team) who are here to help: the SAP Champions!

SAP Champions are among the community's top contributors, serving as leaders and role models who help other members get the most out of their community experience. They're also some of the best bloggers in the community, so if you're looking to learn from true experts, this thread will be a great resource for becoming a better blogger!

If you'd like blogging tips from our SAP Champions, please leave a comment below -- explaining specifically what type of guidance you require. Here are some examples of comments we'll allow in this thread:

• "I'm not getting a lot of likes or comments on my blog. What should I do to make my next post more interesting to members?"
• "Would you mind taking a look at what I published and letting me know what I might have done wrong or could try differently?"
• "How can I sharpen my blogging skills in general?"

As you can see from those examples, you should be asking for some real input and direction. You shouldn't, however, use this thread to try to drive traffic to your post, promote your content, or seek editorial/proofreading services. Examples of comments that we would remove from this thread:

• "I published a new blog. Please read and like it!"
• "Here's all of my copy. Edit it and rewrite it to make it more good."
• "Can you please ask the moderation team to approve my post?"
• "Here are some commercial sites where you can pay for blogging courses."

Make sense? As long as you're genuinely requesting feedback and guidance about your blogging (and not breaking our rules of engagement by promoting non-SAP products, sites, and services), leave a comment below (keeping the instructions above in mind), and I'll do my best to find an SAP Champion who can assist you!

[Serkan_Saglam]

Hi,

Before writing my first blog/article, I would like to have your comments/ideas about the opening part.

Here are my questions:

• Which one is a better greeting? "Hello there!" or "Hello everyone!"
  
• Is this a good opening sentence? "In this blog post, I will try to share my experience on how to ..."
  • Personally, I would not like to use "I will teach" or "you will learn", instead "try to share" seems much more naive and sensible between the author (me) and the audience. What do you think?

So, here is the full text:

Hello everyone!

In this blog post, I will try to share my experience on how to ...

Thank you for your comments!

[TammyPowlas]

Hello - my take only

So far, I like this one the best: 

"Is this a good opening sentence? "In this blog post, I will try to share my experience on how to ...""

But perhaps re-word it to say "I share my experience..."

Remove the word "try".  

Do you always need a greeting or a way to start a blog post?  I would say it depends on the topic and what you are covering.

[Serkan_Saglam]

"I share my experience..." 👍 Thank you, 🙂

[BaerbelWinkler]

@Serkan_Saglam 

Hi Serkan,

like Tammy, I'm also not convinced that each blog post needs a greeting at the beginning. Given that blog posts I write for another website never have one, my guess is that it's not really needed at all. It's different for asking questions, where my feeling is, that it's impolite to not include a greeting.

You could start with something like: "Ever wondered how you could do ...? In this blog post, I'll share how I ...".

Hope this helps and gives you some ideas!

Cheers

Bärbel

P.S.: something which often works for me after writing a blog post is to sleep (at least) one night over it and then read it again to see if everything still fits together neatly.

[Serkan_Saglam]

Thank you for amazing tips! 🙂

[mcrapo]

Oh no!  I'm going to be someone with a different take on this.   My comment is to "go with what you like best."   Read it aloud.   Does it sound like you?   Keep it.   If not, throw it out and start differently.  

I still remember getting my first blog published.   I ran around the house.  Then I called my Mom and Dad, my sister, and even my in-laws!   They all had no idea what the blog was about, but the congratulated me.

You'll develop your own style of writing as you move forward.   It will only happen after many blogs.   And you are already starting!   That's awesome.   Last - put a link to your blog here.

[Serkan_Saglam]

Finally I managed to write the first part. Now it's in moderation and is awaiting review.

Spoiler: A series of articles about one of the very well known and most used function modules

[Serkan_Saglam]

Hi @mcrapo, my first blog post on SAP Community has just been published. https://blogs.sap.com/2022/12/06/anatomy-of-a-function-module-popup_to_confirm-part-1/ 

[kartikdua]

Great blog! It seems candid and natural. I am of those soughts too. I write my mind out, and not try to be over fancy. Simply put and I like the way information flows through the article. Keep up the good work!

[Serkan_Saglam]

Thanks for your kind words @kartikdua 

Third part of this series is the most exciting one, at least for me. Let's see 🙂

[TammyPowlas]

Nice work!  I like the story telling behind it too.