She wanted to share some of her notes from a session topic you might be interested in, Building Your Blog Audience.
Now, even if you didn't read the Pew Internet report on bloggers a few weeks back (that I never got around to writing about, sorry), you might still agree with its findings -- that most bloggers are:
"...focused on describing their personal experiences to a relatively small audience of readers and that only a small proportion focus their coverage on politics, media, government, or technology."But what about you bloggers who specifically want to get out to a wider audience?
Check out Holly's entry -- it consists of notes from Simply Recipes blogger Elisa Bauer's discussion on how to build your audience. It includes:
- Tips on Content -- like have great content, avoid filler posts, and be excellent.
- Build Community -- participate in others' blogs, through comments, tags and links
- Visual Design -- use font sizes, colors and photo sizes that are easy to read.
It's not enough to say "I want more readers" -- unless you've got an unusual viewpoint, like you're a big cheese at a major company, well-written waiter dishing dirt or bouncer at a hot nightclub [language warnings, not to mention book deals, for the last two], how will you get people interested in what you've got to say? After all, there are a lot of personal blogs out there.
The trick to get someone interested in your blog is to get them interested in you. And that's not going to happen until they get to know you. And that's not going to happen until you get to know them.
It would be great if you could just start a blog and get showered with attention from strangers, leading to book deals and instant fame. But for most of us, that's not going to happen.
So, what you do is engage with other people; read their blogs, leave comments, and really talk to them (not, "Good entry, now visit my blog.").
Just my two cents on top of some good advice.
Thanks -- Joe
11 comments:
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Gee, it's a good thing we keep records, because if I were to fall and hit my head, I might actually not remember that you were a Guest Editor last month. -- Joe
I won your big blog contest with money and exposure and everything.... and, two years later, I get like 3 regular commenters. I can't suck that badly....The question we need to be asking is what can AOL do to get us more hits?
I always liked the idea of giving AOL (and AOL only) bloggers one of those tabs on the Welcome Screen. Let's see what is on the Welcome screen as I type this, shall we?
- No problem with the cyclone story, but the second story down involves a Girl Scout Leader who stole cookies.
- "When PMS attacks your diet" is almost as ugly as "Johnny Depp to play Fatty Arbuckle." Champagne, anyone?
- The marketplace tab seems solid all the way through, although the spiritual diet stuff could easily be shaved off the lifestyle one. The AOL Directory could be altered so that Journals get a link out of it.
I've been into the wine, so I'd gather that someone at AOL Community has thought of this before. It's too good of a pitch, especially when you're only eliminating a PMS/food article to include it. "We'll reward the journalers, and lure in new journalers. Everyone wins!"
I suppose that- in an amazing display of mediocrity on our part- AOL Journalers have been sized up and written off as a form of entertainment.
(contd.)
I feel personally culpable for part of this, as AOL had some plan to send me to Houston to cover a baseball game, and I:
- couldn't get the computer AOL lent me to work
- snuck out of my seat down to the front, which basically f*cked up Jamie when he tried to find my seat... and I think he was flown to Houston for the express purpose of getting my picture.
- the first phone contact my family ever had with Bob Wooldridge was when he called our Houston hotel room to ask me to remove a blog entry I did in which I implied that Roger Clemens had a vendetta against Italians.
- Garnered several TOS violations for comments I made regarding the size of Reuben Stoddard (?).
- Put my camera in a bag that didn't travel by train too well, thus leaving me maybe 30 yards from every player with no ability to document it.
- Refused to do newspaper interviews, because I was still on my school's payroll... and would have been cut off from it rather quickly if the Boston Globe linked to my blog entries about smoking grass or wanting to go deep on David Ortiz.
In all fairness to AOL, I kind of snuck up on them as far as content goes. I was blogging for mere days before someone suggested I try to get in the contest (I think it was MoBetta). They couldn't have had any idea how goofy I was. I also look innocent, which always helps.
You also should have had 3 AOL judges. I'm sure Leonsis (Judge #1) was like "Jesus... this woman is insane" after like 3 of my posts. I'm sure Richard Justice merely scanned what he was judging, and I simply flirted my way to get Jim Palmer's vote ("I was almost at Alternative Weddingsville before Mr. Palmer's Jockey ads put the brake on my deviance").
Getting back to the point.... don't let one bad apple spoil the whole bunch. The chances of the system coughing up another Smurf are pretty slim. 99% of J-Land wouldn't offend anyone.
Break us off some Welcome Screen. We'll see t
I think the heat's getting to you Joe. I wasn't a Guest Editor. I was just one of Editor Jeff's featured picks.
-Dan
Dan -- you are right, of course; though having used your pic on the main screen for Jeff's picks does present a bit of a dilemma -- I will have to think about it.
In the meanwhile, we can add you to the list of Guest Editor candidates. Thanks -- Joe (posted & mailed)
Oh. Just use a picture of a cracked egg or a monkey with a crash-helmet, and you'll capture my "essence" pretty accurately.
-Dan
Thanks for this Joe. I will follow the links up and read the advice.
Kate.
http://journals.aol.co.uk/bobandkate/AnAnalysisofLife/
I was kind of hoping to strike a fire in you there, Joseph.
Hey I am having major problems here with getting ppl to read I have no idea how to link or do anything I am totally lost help?
I'M THE AUDIENCE AND I WILL TELL YOU THE TRUTH! SWITCH PLACES WITH ME FOR JUST A FEW MINUTES AND DONT TIME ME BECAUSE IT IS A LIE THATWE ALL USE AT TIMES AND THIRTY MINUTES LATER WERE ASKING FOR JUST TWO MORE MINUTES. I THINK WRITING SHOULD FOCUS ONKEYWORDS AND HAVE THE ABILITY TO TRUST THE READER BECAUSE BY FOCUSING ON KEYWORDS WITH MORE DEPTH OF KNOWLEDE WITH PASSION AND EMOTION THAT HEIGHTENS THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE LEARNING PROCESS AND SHOWS US THAT YOU HAVE THE ABILITY TO EMPHASIZE THE KEY WORDS WHICH ARE ESSENTIAL FOR SUCCESSFUL COMMUNICATION AND TRUST IN US TO CHECK YOU OUT VERY THOROUGHLY. AT THIS POINT FAITH IS IN TOTAL OPPOSITION TO THAT LAST STATEMENT! I DONT BOTHER WITH MY SPELLING ON MY FIRST TRY BECAUSE IT'S JUST PRACTICE TO ELIMINATE ERROR AND SELF DECEPTION. AND REMOVE ALL UNNECESSARY WORD WHICH SHOWS I HAVE RESPECT FOR MY AUDIENCE. ONE MORE THING I AM JUST A FILLER !HOLLY I HAVE NARROWED MY LEARNING FIELD FOR A SPECIFIC REASON! TO BE A FILLER SO SOMEDAY I WILL BE OBSOLETE !THAT WILL NOT MAKE SENSE TO YOU !SO I ASK OF YOU TO TRUST ME AND SHOW ME THE MEANING OF BELIEF! TO ME FEAR AT TIMES SEES SENSE AS A NECESSITY , WELL AFTER ELEVEN YEARS WITHOUT IT BELIEF SHOWED ME THAT I CAN SURVIVE WITHOUT ITFOR MORE THANA DEFCADE.DONT ATTACK A MAN OF FAITH WHO ASK YOU TO WAIT FOR THINGS TO MAKE SENSE, BECAUSE ITS WHAT BELIEF MEANS AND HOW IT OVERCOMES FEAR. I ASK YOU NOT TO UNDERESTIMATE ME IN ANY WAY BECAUSE IT STOPS YOUR GROWTH AN INCREASES MINE!I AM A FILLER HOLLY COMBINED WITH GOD'S MERCY!
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