In July, I celebrated my 1,000th blog post at Planning Startups Stories. I started in 2006, but did only a dozen posts in the first year. I really started in April 2007, with a post called “Reflections on Family in Business,” a personal note about passing the torch to a second generation. I changed jobs then—my choice—from owner-entrepreneur-president to blogger president of Palo Alto Software.

My favorites posts are the ones in which I say something I believe in, and that I think matters; especially when it’s something I think will help other people.

Here are 10 blogging lessons I’ve learned over the years:

1. Imitation isn’t just flattery; it’s learning.

When I said I wasn’t a blogger, Sabrina Parsons, CEO of Palto Alto Software and a blogger herself, said, “You will be. Just start reading blogs.” So I did. And I imitate a lot of other bloggers I like to read. Good blog posts inspire me. I love a blog post that makes me think, and that makes me want to write one that will make others think.

2. Titles make a huge difference.

That’s not just true for blogging. It’s been true for a long time. People decide in seconds whether they want to read something. It’s yes or no at a glance.

My more successful titles tend to offer lists, like “5 Business Fundamentals I Learned the Hard Way, “10 Lessons Learned in 22 Years of Bootstrapping” and “5 Entrepreneurship Basics Business Schools Don’t Teach.”

One title I liked a lot from recent posts was taken from a bullet point in somebody else’s post: “Too Many Bullets and Not Enough Zen.” I like irony and paradox when I can manage it, like “In Praise of Not Knowing.” I like to surprise people and lure them into reading the post.

3. Keep it short and simple.

Short sentences, short posts. I like one-word sentences, and one-sentence paragraphs.

I like short posts, but I don’t always manage to keep them short. Shorter is actually harder. I frequently find myself taking a portion of a draft post and saving it for later as a separate post.

4. Break grammar rules. Carefully. Rarely.

Like right here. There’s no verb in either of the previous two sentences, so this post would have gotten me an F in Brother Salvatore’s 12th-grade English class.

But these are rare exceptions. Grammar and spelling are both really important. I consider them a matter of courtesy and respect for the reader. The English language works better when you follow the rules.

5. Pictures add meaning.

Shutterstock has supplied me with the bulk of the pictures I’ve used on my blog for the last year. It has more than 12 million images available for instant download. Shutterstock gives me a free account because of my blogging, but they also offer monthly and on-demand subscriptions.

6. Write often, and keep writing.

Find your pace. Honor consistency. Once a month doesn’t feel like a blog, but three good posts weekly is better than two good and three not so good. Break your routine occasionally for mental health.

It’s easy to post most of the time, but then there are those down times, when you’re dragging and uninspired, that are harder. For me, what helps is sticking to the general rule of five posts a week.

7. Love the comments.

Thank you. Not you spammers. But even you critics with annoying comments. Especially you critics with smart, well-written disagreements. I love the comments; they make my blog live.

I try to answer comments as often as possible, particularly when they ask a question or pose some issue that deserves response. I do moderate comments. Although I have accepted some comments that recommend products or websites, I won’t allow an empty plug that is just taking advantage of context to do some free selling. I don’t approve personal attacks or pointless anger.

8. Love Twitter.

Twitter has done wonders for my blogging, my daily workflow, and my growing satisfaction with social media. It’s an effervescent collection of people posting thoughts, recommendations, opinions and, most important, links to blog posts they liked. It’s an instant view of the world of blogging, what people like and don’t like. It’s a very powerful generator of ideas for new posts.

9. Tell the truth.

You can’t fake it for long. Keeping track of all your various personae is exhausting. Write as yourself, or maybe (just maybe) who you really want to be.

10. Tell; don’t sell.

Lots of us blog for business. As much as I sincerely love the books and software I’ve done, I don’t blog about them.

How do you feel when people tell you how great their kids are? Peter came close to a high-school track record and Muffy won the spelling bee. That’s a drag, right?

Turning a blog post into a sales pitch has the same problem. You don’t believe me when I talk about my software or books any more than you believe the neighbor when he talks about his kids.

In 1,019 blog posts, I’ve mentioned my Business Plan Pro software 38 times. The vast majority of those mentions were anecdotal, talking about some business lesson in which Business Plan Pro was part of the story. One of them shows data gathered from Business Plan Pro users about the impact of business planning on their goals. None of those mentions is just a sales pitch. They’re all relevant to the subject matter.

As for gallery owners, I think you have the same problem I do: much as you believe in what you’re selling, if you call a series of sales pitches a blog, nobody will read that blog.

Tim Berry is president and founder of Palo Alto Software, co-founder of Borland International, founder of Bplans.com, an author of books and software, a teacher of entrepreneurship, a blogger, and a father of five, married 40 years. You can read his blog here.

Now that you’ve heard from a veteran blogger, check out NICHE’s brand-new blog, by associate editor Claire Patterson Blome.

For one thing, the NICHE magazine website has been completely redesigned. The new version is easier to navigate, more visually enhanced, and loaded with new elements meant to provide you with the most current information we can find on working craft artists and their product lines, small business operations and craft industry updates.

For another, we’ve added video to the Autumn 2010 online magazine mix. In “Supercharge Your Small Business with Social Media,” a new series scheduled to roll out over the next 12 weeks, you can watch small business and technology guru Amy Larrimore offer keys to unlocking the social media puzzle and using it to draw customers to your business.

A second video series, produced by NICHE associate editor Claire Patterson Blome and senior web developer Joel Bobeck, highlights working wholesale artists who exhibited at the summer Buyers Market of American Craft trade show in Baltimore, with close-ups of their work and informative comments about the creative process.

We’ve also put the NICHE Classifieds section online, together with user-friendly instructions for placing and editing them, as well as ad rates for 30-, 60- and 90-day packages.

Finally, launching concurrently with this online issue is NICHE magazine’s brand-new blog edited by Claire Patterson Blome and populated with exciting new artist profiles, successful selling strategies, merchandising tips and retail resources. We greatly encourage you to check it out (frequently!) and tell us what you think.

Discounts are the biggest draw, with 68% of consumers reporting that they sign up for retail e-mails to get a deal. Half of consumers said that they subscribe simply because they like the retailer or brand, and 49% said that they want to get a heads up about sales.

The key is determining which of your subscribers fall into each of these categories, so you can tailor your messages. Improving your online preference center will help you gather more information about each subscriber.

For consumers who are after discounts, try putting language in the subject line about special offers. Consumers who subscribe because they like your gallery will be drawn to e-mails focusing on in-store events. If you learn which mediums particular subscribers collect, you can notify them of specific sales and shows.

Also important? Advertise the benefits of subscribing to your e-mails, and not just on your website. Display information at the counter to get customers online once they leave your store.

Forrester’s online survey questioned 5,400 adults in the U.S. and Canada last August.

Guest blogging is a great way to earn free exposure, increase your own site traffic and establish yourself as an expert in your industry. But there are so many blogs out there that it can be difficult to figure out which ones might offer good guest blogging opportunities.

To ease your way into it, try doing a search for user-generated blogs. Thanks to the social media craze, many blogs now have user-generated content (UGC) sections where members of the community can create their own posts. Posting on these forums is a great way to start building relationships.

When in doubt, contact bloggers you already know. If one of your favorite artists is planning a vacation, ask if he or she would be open to you posting a guest blog about displaying and lighting artwork. Or maybe your chamber of commerce would be interested in a blog post about the local arts community.

You want to have a presence on the blogs with the most impact, so try searching on a site like Technorati for well-respected blogs in your area. Technorati lets you search by keyword, then ranks blogs by authority. There are endless possibilities out there if you just know where to look.