These are take-away notes from a blog conference I attended a while back. No, not Blissdom, Blogalicious! Yes, it's office-cleaning week and I'm digging up all sort of old notes!
I don't have a source for these notes, but here goes: how to build a better blog in four easy steps:
- Show Up You don't have to write every day, but show up consistently. Three times a week is a reasonable goal.
- Add Value There's no point in writing everyday if you're so pressed for material that you wind up posting your grocery list, cut back on your posting schedule.
- Engage Users Ask questions, foster dialog instead of merely broadcasting your thoughts.
- Add Functionality Make it easy for people to share your posts, dig through your archives and whatnot.
(Yes, Blogalicious is billed as a conference for women of color, but it's open to anyone who enjoys learning from a diverse group of women. It was a fabulous conference in 09!)
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7 comments:
I think those are great tips. Thanks for that :) I think one other one is, visit. You have to visit - I try and visit other people, follow, etc. And sometimes I spend quite alot of time trying to comment on what they said. Not just one word but really comment and its very time consuming.
I think people miss that this is an important part of their OWN blogging. They really do have to visit back - they really do have to comment. And a comment isnt "cool" or 'interesting' with a link to their own site...
Tracy
I am new to blogging so these tips are very helpful! I have a blog for my stationery website and I am always struggling with what topics to blob about and I need to remember that I can blog about anything! Thanks for sharing.
Good tips! Good Blog ~ Best wishes to you and Happy WW to all!
Simple but true!
These are great tips. Try as I might, though, I can't seem to sustain more than 1-2 posts a week. I wonder sometimes if it's hurting my traffic, but I only want to post when I have something to say, and since my posts tend to be on the long and wordy side, I like to let them hang out for a while and give people a chance to read, reflect and comment, before moving on to the next. I think posting often was really important back in the day before readers and SO many other competing blogs, but now I wonder if it's not better to give people less to read...and just make sure it's always worth reading.
Meagan, you are absolutely correct. I was catching up at your blog the other day (bad me, no comment left behind) and your posts are rich and thoughtful as well as thought-provoking.
In fact much of my blog reading these days is what I call catch-up---I need a better term. Instead for stalking a blog waiting for the next post, I typically stop by once a week or once every couple of weeks and see what's up.
There are too many blogs out there! I can't keep up with someone who writes long posts every day!
I'd add "Return visits if possible". Not always possible if you're already stretched timewise, but hey, it's a nice thing to do and you never know when you'll find a new post that tickles your funnybone, broadens your mind, infuriates you, or makes you sit back for a moment and think.
I try to write several times a week. Sometimes it's darn hard. My days are full with many (boring) things and honestly, would you like to read my to-do lists? You might laugh at some items but you'd be rolling your eyes and sighing at other items. LOL!
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