Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Shouting into the abyss

Collapse
X
Collapse
 

  • Doug Nelson
    started a blog post Shouting into the abyss

    Shouting into the abyss

    I know, some times it feels like no one is listening. This early in the blogging game, you might even be right. The search engines only found these blogs a few days ago, and it will take awhile to be indexed, ranked, etc.

    In addition, unlike the forums, there is currently no way of measuring how many views your blog is getting. This is promised to change in future versions, but in the meantime realize that even if no one comments on your posts, you're still getting read many, many times every day.

    But don't let any of that concern you. This isn't a conversation, it's closer to a book. Each blog entry is a page, and a book with only a few pages isn't going to hold interest for long.

    In the meantime, there are things you can do to get more readers. Aside from the obvious (post regularly, post interesting stuff, etc.), you can also promote your blog.
    • Give your blog a distinct name, not just "X's Blog". (I know it just says "Doug's Blog" at the top here, but if you look in the title bar you'll see that this is actually named "Janitor's Closet")
    • Put your main URL in your email signature. That way every person you email will know it exists.
    • Post to other blogs and forums asking people to check it out. It sounds spammy, but as long as you're posting in an appropriate place, it's not. If you've made the effort to make a good blog, they'll appreciate the tip (just don't post over and over, once will do it).

    Once people find your blog, and like what they see, they'll start recommending it to others. Then you can stop promoting and concentrate just on the writing (I promise, I've been through this).

    • chillin
      #1
      chillin commented
      Editing a comment
      Maybe one more pointer:
      • Visit your blog regularly to accept or reject comments.
    You must be logged in to post a comment.

Related Topics

Collapse

  • Doug Nelson
    Writing to be found
    by Doug Nelson
    Blogs are not like forums or email lists or chatrooms. People do not look for blog hosts and then browse merrily though the myriad posts. They find, through various means, one blog, decide if they like it, and then either bookmark it or subscribe to its RSS feed.

    So what are these "various...
    11-10-2007, 08:31 PM
  • Doug Nelson
    How can you have any pudding...
    by Doug Nelson
    ...if you don't eat your meat?

    How many blogs do you subscribe to? I thought so.

    Just as you have to look at photographs if you plan on making your own, and you need to read novels if you plan on writing one, if you want to blog well you have to read good blogs.
    ...
    11-13-2007, 03:48 AM
  • Doug Nelson
    Blog Titles (fnarfley)
    by Doug Nelson
    Give some thought to what each blog entry will be entitled.

    Look up at the top of your browser, in the titlebar. You should see "Blog Titles (fnarfley) - RetouchPRO" or something similar.

    Search engines give disproportionate importance to the title of any single...
    11-14-2007, 06:52 AM
  • Doug Nelson
    How I read blogs
    by Doug Nelson
    I know a lot of users are still trying to get their head around "what is a blog?", so I thought I'd offer my own experience.

    I use a program called FeedDemon. There are lots of alternatives, many of them free. I just happen to like FeedDemon.

    When you discover...
    11-09-2007, 09:47 AM
  • Frank Lopes
    Blog titles
    by Frank Lopes
    I must be missing something....

    How does one give his/her blog a title?
    I don't see anything in the control panel...
    11-26-2007, 05:31 PM
Working...
X
😀
🥰
🤢
😎
😡
👍
👎