Attracting Viewers

As blog writers, I assume many of us are also active blog readers. This is very beneficial as we can look at our blog posts from two perspectives, one of which is more objective than the other. If you are not following a considerable number of blogs right now, go do it! Starting with this one!

While getting your name out there is relatively easy (see my post on advertising for some ideas) getting people to read, and continue to read is different. I do not read every blog that show up in my news feed. Some just don't appeal to me.

The best way to get regular readers in my opinion is to first have a way for your readers to get to your blog, or even better, for them to see when it has been updated without going to your blog first. Since only the title and the first few sentences will probably be shown, it needs to be eye-catching. Include a photo as well. Finally, update regularlarly so that your readers will not forget you, reply to comments, and make sure your writing is worth reading. Also, consider a statistics meter. I recomend Google Analytics. This gives you a count of who is coming to your site, how they are getting there, even how much time they spend there and how many pages they view.

What makes you want to keep reading a blog?

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Inspiration

Where does inspiration for your blogs come from? StumbleUpon, as well as online news sites tend to be helpful. So is reading other blogs. It seems that as soon as I start writing, I can't stop the inpiration. But its getting started that's the real problem. That's been my concern the last couple of weeks, which is why my blogs are fewer. I read somewhere that the best thing to do is set a goal for the day and not stop until that goal has been reacehed rather than give yourself a time limit.

So where do you get your inspiration to write?

Blogging for Dummies

The Dummies Guides are known for being good, basic guides for beginning a new hobby. Blogging for Dummies goes beyond that and has a lot of tips helpful for more advanced bloggers.

It has instructions for setting up a new blog on some basic hosting sites as well as if you want to host the blog yourself. It also has ideas for types of blogs that you could write if you need inspiration.

The book also has lot's of tips for some of the more elaborate aspects of blogging, such as editing your photos and making money off of your blog. There are also plenty of examples of good blogs that you can use for ideas.

This edition was published in 2006 so some of the information is slightly out of date, but not so much so that it can't be used. At least one of the blogs featured in Blogging for Dummies is no longer updated.

Full Disclosure: I receive part of the profit from any sales made as a direct result from this blog, soI am paid to post this.

Amazon Associates

I've decided to try out Amazon Associates on this blog, because lately I've been lacking ideas. This is why my updates are no longer regular. Who here has tried an associates program? What kind of success did you have?

How I got started in blogging

While looking for scholarship opportunities on the site Fastweb.com, I came across a blogging scholarship. This would have been around 2006. I didn't get into blogging on the website, progressiveu.org, until my freshman year of college in 2007. The goal of the site was to encourage people, especially young people and college students to blog about topics that were important to them. Blogging frequently enough could earn you a scholarship. I continued to blog on this site until a few months ago when I got out of the habit because of problems that the site had.

The site is up and running again, but the layout is different and many of my favorite bloggers appear to be gone so I haven't felt like getting back into it. I still missed sharing my opinions and I felt I had enough knowledge to begin blogging about college. That blog was started in June. After a few months I realized that I needed advice as well as people to vent to about my blog which is how this blog started.

How did everyone here first start blogging?

Pictures

On almost every blogging site I look at, they all tell me that pictures are the best way to attract people to your blog. Most of my blogs do not have pictures, just because they are hard to find and I've been having trouble with my camera. If I do have pictures they all come from Zemanta. Soon though I am going to test this theory and share with you my results.

Do some pictures work better than others? Are some posts better off without a picture? What are your favorite sources to find pictures?

Advertising

Today's post is just a simple question. What do you find is the most effective way to make your blog known? Blog directories, forums, commenting on other blogs, or something else? Please share your answer in the comment section. Feel free to elaborate on your answer.

Market Analysis

I've decided to try doing a market and competitiveness analysis of my blogging niche and my other blog, Don't Let Higher Ed Eat Your Soul. Soon I will do another one for this blog. The idea is that I will analyze my own blog, as well as three others that are in a similar market to mine:

College Lifestyles: This blog advertises itself as a guide for "Nutrition, Lifestyle, and Ettiquette for Savy Coeds." Not only is it focused on female college students, it is particularly focused on Sorority girls. The average reader probably is not overly concerned with money (either her parents help her, or she gets enough scholarships) because many of the ideas involve shopping. A college lifestyle reader is likely concerned with her future career.

College Candy: Most the readers of this blog are also female. These readers are closer to what the average college student its: Don't have a lot of money and like to party. Sex is a major topic on this blog. Of course, these readers are also savy and concerned about their future as internships are also a big topic and there are several city guides.

Lovely Undergrad: Again, this blog is aimed at female college students. The main topic, however, seems to be decorating. There are frequently pictures of apartments and suggestions for decorations. Most readers probalbly live in an apartment  off campus rather than in a dorm. Books are also a big topic on this blog because the aothor frequently discusses the Kindle.

Finally, My Blog: My ideal audience is male and female college students, as well as high school seniors who are planning to go to college. While I like to include advice, I'm also trying to discuss current events that affect students so my readers can debate them. So my ideal college student reader is living in a dorm, on a four year track at a school, probably, but not necesarily, public or state school.

So, after reading my blog and the other ones I've analyzed, do you think I've done a good job? Do you think I cater to the audience I want?

Also, I'd like to invite my three readers to do something similar to what I just did and post it in the comments section if you are so inclined.

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Maintaining Multiple Blogs

Does anyone keep more than one blog? Currently, I have three, although one I do not do much with. There is this one, of course, and my other blog, Don't Let Higher Ed Eat Your Soul. Now, however, I feel like I'm getting all kinds of ideas for more blogs that I would like to start. The problem is, I do not think I would be able to keep up with more blogs than I already have. coming up with ideas is not an issue to me. My biggest problem seems to be advertising. I have found several sites that work well for advertising my first blog, and since in this blog I talk about blogging, that's pretty easy as well. Still, writing good comments takes time, and I don't want to be spending all of my time sitting at a computer, browsing the internet. Andd what about ideas that don't have a simple niche or other blogs in their niche?

I mentioned that coming up with ideas for blog posts is not a problem. Sitting down to write out a decently lengthed and well-researched blog is. Checking facts, finding links, and of course, finding a wide enough angle to blog from takes time and sometimes I just don't have the motivation.

Also, do all of my ideas for new blogs really need their own blogs? Couldn't some of them be combined?

What do you think, readers? How many blogs do you maintain? What are the biggest challenges that come from having more than one blog? How about the rewards?