Friday, September 24, 2010
Please Advertise
I want to make sure that I've read as many of my readers' blogs as possible, so please post a link to your blog if you have one.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Daily or Weekly Themes
Do you like doing themes for certain days of the week? For example, every Wednesday posting a picture. The only one I do is my comment of the week. I always feel like having a theme will box me in, even if I don't do one for every day. However, I know lot's of bloggers who have a theme for almost every day. The idea is that it gives you a starting point, and from there it is easier to come up with ideas. What does everyone here think?
Monday, September 13, 2010
Regular Posting?
On both of my blogs, I post pretty regularly, 3 days a week. I feel that this works best since it keeps me motivated and my readers know when to expect updates. Because my blogs are informative, I think keeping them professional in some way works best.
Other blogs and bloggers may be different. For example, if you have a personal blog, you'll want to post when you have something important to mention. If it is a news blog, you will of course blog when something newsworthy occurs which could be at any time, multiple times a day. Finally, if you blog purely as a hobby or blogging is not the number one priority in your life, it makes perfect sense to blog whenever you have time or simply whenever you feel like it.
Other blogs and bloggers may be different. For example, if you have a personal blog, you'll want to post when you have something important to mention. If it is a news blog, you will of course blog when something newsworthy occurs which could be at any time, multiple times a day. Finally, if you blog purely as a hobby or blogging is not the number one priority in your life, it makes perfect sense to blog whenever you have time or simply whenever you feel like it.
Monday, September 6, 2010
What You Risk by Blogging
Everyone has heard stories about bloggers losing their full-time jobs over something they posted in their blog. Sometimes it happens to bloggers who are too personal or discuss their political or religious views that conflict with those of their employer. To top it off, many states have "at-will employment" laws stating that the employer can fire the employee at any time and for any reason. Likewise, the employee can quit at any time and for any reason.
According to http://www.dailyblogtips.com/ you can even get in trouble for what you write in comments on other blogs. It seems as though nothing is sacred.
Its a fine line. Yeah, you want to be able to say and write what you want, and we deserve some privacy, but the Web is a public place. When we write something, we're saying that we want whoever wants to to read it. That includes bosses, parents, and friends.
My advice would be to not use your real name while blogging or commenting if you have a full-time job other than blogging. And even if you do this, know that it is not all that difficult to find the person behind the screen name. So just blog as though everyone, including your boss and grandmother, might be reading it.
According to http://www.dailyblogtips.com/ you can even get in trouble for what you write in comments on other blogs. It seems as though nothing is sacred.
Its a fine line. Yeah, you want to be able to say and write what you want, and we deserve some privacy, but the Web is a public place. When we write something, we're saying that we want whoever wants to to read it. That includes bosses, parents, and friends.
My advice would be to not use your real name while blogging or commenting if you have a full-time job other than blogging. And even if you do this, know that it is not all that difficult to find the person behind the screen name. So just blog as though everyone, including your boss and grandmother, might be reading it.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
5 Ways to Get Readers to Link to Your Blog
1. Link to other blogs and ask if they will return the favor
2. Post about current events
3. Start a contest that requires competitors to include a link to your site
4. Submit your original articles to article directories
5. Offer to guest blog for other blogs
2. Post about current events
3. Start a contest that requires competitors to include a link to your site
4. Submit your original articles to article directories
5. Offer to guest blog for other blogs
Monday, August 30, 2010
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?
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?
Friday, August 27, 2010
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?
So where do you get your inspiration to write?
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