Friends! I'm thinking of starting a wee series in which we talk all things blogging: inspiration, logistics, making it look good, making it readable.
What questions do you have about blogging/writing/being awesome on the internet? (I'm not sure I can help you with the last one as I don't even own a smart phone)
21 comments:
i'm not sure you can create greatness...it has to well up from within and from the heart. and if it doesn't.. do i want to hear it?
Everyone says that it's important for your blog to have a focus, a theme, sort of a "thesis statement" that everything revolves around...but how do you figure out what that theme is? How do you know what to make your blog about? If you don't want to follow a theme like weddings/food/crochet/etc., how do you figure out what to write about? Yourself?! This really confuses me.
Heaven,
Valid. But! You can be great and create all sorts of greatness but if said greatness is housed on an ugly blog with too many gifs and white font on a black background, nobody's gonna want to read it ;)
Madison,
I feel like my blog is a testament to the fact that you can be successful without a theme - but that's the short answer :)
I find there are a lot of 'Make your blog successful' type posts out there. A lot of which produce the same questions and outcomes.
It may be too specific but the 'bits n bobs' blog like your own is a obviously harder to 'promote' or find a target audience for. Is there possibly something in that? Maybe a 'how to make your blog your own'? This is me being purely selfish though as I too am of the bits n bobs variety and feeling like a message in a bottle lost at sea. :D
I do like the idea of this series though. Two Thumbs Up!
I created a blog in Blogger a few weeks ago with a bunch of ideas and pictures on my camera, then got very bogged down with the technical crap. Putting up a banner took me an entire evening.
I guess my questions are mostly technical - should I host my images elsewhere or just whack them straight into a post? Are there any easy (and free!) services/tricks you've learnt along the way?
Any advice would be mucho appreciated! Thanks honey :D
I would love if you did a blogging mini series. I don't have a specific niche either which used to bother me initially as I couldn't easily answer the question' what do you blog about'. But I stuck with it and after 8 months I have a nice little community. It would be wonderful to hear your insights as you are so inspiring and a very successful blogger.
Personally, I find that the most important thing is reader participation. Having a back-and-forth between you and your community fuels debate and frequent posting. Alas, this is something I never managed to wrangle up and wrastle down! I've never really had a themed blog that I've been able to keep afloat before, but I'm also the type to find an eclectic blog the most fascinating. It's funny that you should post this as I happen to be doing a complete revamp over at my bloggity blog right this very second! (#andamstrugglingmightily)
I would LOVE if you would do this! I've been blogging for about a year, but have no idea how to expand my readershipor how to make it a more appealing read!
I like this idea! I've been managing my blog now for about 9 months. I am getting ready to move it onto it's own URL and off of wordpress. I have lots of ideas for a new design and features... I think once I've got that sorted my concerns will deal mostly with marketing, promoting and maybe focusing it. I want it to eventually be a way to support myself (doing what I love- writing) and as a jumping off point to freelance and not work in an office anymore! :) So, I think your idea is a good one. Just having somewhere to read other people's experiences, vent, hear ideas, and cheer each other on is a great way to grow for all us bloggers! We all may have good ideas and blogs, but I believe there is always room for improvement! :)
I have a theme, I post daily, each post has a coherent style...and even my friends don't read.
I'm really uncomfortable self-promoting, but is there any other way to gain readers besides invading other blogs to say "oh read mine"?
I would like to know how to make my blog look better! I have zero web design skills. I don't need anything too complicated, but I would like my blog to be cuter!
Are there any tips you can share, or maybe web designers or templates that are good for someone on a budget? Thanks!
omg, is that Maxim Galkin? ha ha ha ha
I'm going to jump on this bandwagon, too. I'd love to hear your perspective as a generally theme-less blogger. Strategy for sure, but also what tools you use, how you manage sponsors, etc.
@Steph -I don't have a ton of readers myself, and I'm not a super experienced blogger, but I do have a few tips for getting noticed without being obnoxious that hopefully will be useful. 1)Have the blog feed directly to your facebook account and twitter (set up a twitter account and follow like folks if you haven't already) 2) Look at doing guest blogging on news sites and link to your blog (eg, I blog for my local Patch - a news site that has a microsite for towns all over the US) 3)Check out BlogHer- sign up, get your blog listed, join groups, etc 4)go to other similar sites like reddit.com, etc and list your blog 5)Comment on posts you like- but be sure its stuff your interested in and you're genuinely contributing to the convo!
I'll be 18 in September and will be able to put adds on my blog. Are they worth it?
First, love the Party Down picture (amazing show). Second, love the idea, and as a relatively new blogger would check in on this type of series often! Like some of the other commenters, my questions are usually of the technical variety. Where can you find cool templates, and are there easy tips and tricks for making your blog look a step above homemade? Also any suggestions for attracting visitors? Thanks for doing this!
I would loooove to read any advice you might have on blogging :) I have a lot of questions, most of which have already been covered in the previous comments, but I guess one of the bigger ones would be how I can make my blogs more organized and user-friendly....
Yes! This is a brilliant idea! Like everyone above, I have started a blog but don't really know what to do to make it interesting. Right now it's a bit of an online diary, which isn't really what I want it to be.
How to promote when you're not really into self-promotion (or don't feel it's worth promoting) would be great.
Thanks :-D
Love this idea too!
Making blog buttons, banners, icons(?) for your regular features without using photoshop...
plus all of the above.
thanks!
All the above! Would love to hear your blogging story too. I'm also curious about making money through blogging, promoting and networking without being self-righteous, a pain and/or bashful. Anything you wish you'd known before you started? Anything you think you'd do differently?
I'm just starting out blogging, so any advice you can offer would be great. Design, content, how often to post, what not to post, responding to comments, responding to negative comments, promoting your blog, making blog friends.
Ta
Jo
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