From headlines of “Seth Godin is dead wrong” to “My deepest secret with Andersen Cooper and Jello” to “Lara Logan Has Two Small Children At Home. Is She Brave Or Irresponsible For Putting Herself In This Kind Of Danger?“, these headlines are designed to grab eyeballs.

The first two headlines? Think of them as a compilation, similar to memoir writing where a character is based on several actual friends. The last headline is “ripped” from HollywoodLife, a site described as “Your Celebrity News, Gossip & Style BFF.”

I somehow stumbled upon this blog while reading articles about the attacks to Lara Logan. Essentially, a mother of four questioned whether Lara Logan should be covering war scenes when she has two young children at home.

Leaving aside the feminist issues (would this question be asked of a male reporter with two small children?), these are the kind of debates that make me cringe in the blogging world. We’re delving into her personal life that should not be relevant to her professional experience. We’re taking our personal experiences and applying them to her circumstances.

Everyone is an expert. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone shares it, whether well-researched or not.

I can’t help, but think that this is the ugly side of blogging (unsolicited opinions on someone’s personal nightmare). Now the next question is whether by hopping into the fray and sharing my opinion and I just providing fuel to the fire? Probably.

There are constant debates about the ethics of blogging stemming from as early as 2001, whether bloggers are held to journalist standards, how to stop cyber bullying, creating a code of conduct. But it doesn’t seem to change the fact that people feel no barriers when discussing headlines, whether it involves a celebrity or a hapless passer-by.

Doesn’t the old axiom of “don’t blog about something you wouldn’t discuss to that person’s face” hold true? Perhaps this idea is small-minded and not indicative of where our society is heading? Perhaps this initial post spurned a host of conversations about the role of a professional mother in the public eye and this conversation was fruitful?

Clearly, I’m torn. Where do you weigh in?

As an intern at Fast Horse, I spend a lot of time researching and compiling lists of blogs so we can make pitches on behalf of our clients. When doing so, I’m most concerned with a blog’s content, the frequency of its updates and what it’s doing to create a buzz. Bloggers who are most conscious of these three areas continually put forth the best product, and that’s where we want our clients to be seen.

I’m an unabashed fan of rap music, but I also read about 20-25 blogs per day. That’s no coincidence, because rappers and bloggers have a lot in common – chiefly, a perceived narcissism, but also the desire to innovate, the struggle for mainstream relevance and tons of competition. Rap music and blogging, as media, have endured through years of doubt and dismissal, but remain viable, both commercially and creatively.

If a blogger is looking for inspiration, they shouldn’t look to an Arianna Huffington or a Matt Drudge, but to someone like Drake, the 23-year-old rapper from Canada and arguably the brightest pop star of 2010. (That’s him above.) Drake’s young career is based on a series of brilliant calculations that could provide a blueprint to aspiring bloggers and seasoned hacks alike.

Show swagger. So many blogs seem apologetic over their very existence. Too often, I see taglines like “A few musings and random thoughts from a suburban housewife.” That inferior, bashful tone does nothing but undermine a blogger’s authority. (Even before Drake released his first album, he rapped, “Last name: Ever/ First name: Greatest.”) Focus less on what inspired a blog’s existence and focus more on convincing your audience you belong on their bookmark bar.

Stay fresh. In fairness to your audience, you have to stick to a posting schedule that’s both regular and realistic. You can’t drop a full-length album every day, but maybe a single here or mixtape there is manageable. Consider guest appearances, too. If there’s a blogger you follow who might benefit from being exposed to your audience, offer the opportunity to post as a guest. Create a clear expectation of how frequently your readers can expect new material.

Come correct. It’s easy to get caught up in templates and promotion, but the most important part of any blog is the content. Make sure social media, widgets, and plug-ins all take a backseat to sitting down and writing something worth reading. Think of your content as rapping a cappella – can it stand alone? What happens when you turn off the lights and music? Would your audience still read?

We update the Idea Peepshow five days a week. You’d be surprised at how uncommon this is among marketing and advertising agencies. Many Twin Cities agencies don’t blog, and of those that do, infrequent posting is the rule – certainly not daily, or even weekly in many cases.

But we believe we should be fully immersed in new media, so for nearly two years, we’ve kept to our Monday through Friday posting schedule. During that time, we’ve slowly grown our regular traffic to more than 400 visitors a day– not dazzling, but respectable. And it’s quality traffic, with a low bounce rate (people who leave the site immediately) and a long average time spent per visit.

Last week, our office assistant mentioned that she had a bunch of photos of Target Field, the new Twins stadium, on her Facebook page. Her aunt works in the team’s front office and had recently taken some family members on a tour of the nearly completed ballpark.

We put up a blog post with Lindsey’s stadium photos, tweeted about it and put a link on our Facebook page. Soon, the hits started rolling in. People were interested in seeing the inside of the ballpark. Before long, we heard from SportingNews.com, which had somehow found out about it and wanted to use the photos on one of its blogs.

The day we put up the original post, we had our biggest traffic day ever, with nearly 600 visitors. And that traffic has held up in succeeding days, as more people pass along the links to our Target Field photos, both on our blog and on the Sporting News site.

It’s not exactly a viral Internet sensation, but it’s boosted our traffic by almost 50 percent, and I think it will have legs– it will continue to draw people to our site for some time to come.

Plus, it’s pertinent to our business. We do sports marketing for several clients, and giving fans a sneak peek at the new ballpark is the kind of thing we’ve done on other occasions as part of an outreach program.

Building Web traffic is challenging, as anyone who’s created a blog or a Website knows. You can always grab eyeballs with something freakish or disturbing– there’s a great appetite on the Internet for bloopers, tirades and the bizarre.

But while posting an obscenity-laden rant or a motorcycle crash on a business Website might garner viewers, it wouldn’t do anything to further the business goals of the organization. Earning viewers with meaningful, pertinent content takes more time and patience.

Why? She lists these reasons:

• Sounder Slumber: Blogging about your feelings can bring on relaxation, which helps usher in sleep
• Improved Immunity: Expressive writing may encourage growth of white blood cells, which fight off infection
• A Hardy Heart: Writing about emotional topics may lower blood pressue and heart rate, keeping your ticker in better shape

There…I feel more relaxed already!