I spent a decent amount of time today reading various blogging tips blogs. I’m always interested in what I can do to make my blog better, but it’s also got to work for me. I’m not an A-list blogger and never will be. I’m not an expert on anything and don’t claim to be. I only have one niche – ME, as evidenced by my blog’s title.
I’ve played with my blog’s template and gotten it to where I’m satisfied with it. I have a lot of ideas that I’d like to try, design-wise, but lack both the time to try them out and the expertise to figure it out.
My pagerank isn’t where it could be. I don’t have time to dedicate to heavy social networking, like Digg, StumbleUpon, Technorati, del.icio.us, etc. If I did I’m sure I’d have more readers than I do now. As it is, I don’t even track my stats, so I have no idea how many readers I get. I do have counters and such, but I don’t have time to pay attention to them.
The biggest mistake I make, according to all the pros out there, is that I don’t have my own domain. I can’t be a serious blogger if I don’t, right? Sure, I’m here on Blogger, and I am serious about my blog. I’m just not serious about making this my full time job (full time hobby would be nice, though). I’ve checked out other blog services. I have a LiveJournal that I rarely post on but visit at least 3-4 times a week to see my friend’s blogs. I like Blogger in that it’s the only free service (that I know of) that allows full customization of the html and css code. Free is good for me. Now, I can get my own domain name and continue hosting it on Blogger. I can also get a domain, have a bigger website, and link to the blogger blog. That’s still a thought. But I like Blogger, it’s been good to me, and I have no intention on leaving it just yet. Besides, the work to move everything is just too much for me, and I’ve already established that time does not grow on trees.
What do I do? As far as publicizing my blog goes, I make sure I let my friends and family know it’s the best way to keep up with my goings on. This past year I put labels in all my holiday cards to advertise my blog. Also, as of 5 minutes ago, my blog address is in my email signature. I’ll also check out the message boards I visit frequently and make sure it’s in my signature there also. I’m not looking for a huge audience, but the people who are interested in me, like friends, family, and internet friends will likely want to know if I have a blog and where to find it.
Link-Love and Comments – sure, I practice this. If I like your blog, I’ll link to it. I don’t expect reciprocal links, though blog etiquette says this is the thing to do. Comments are also nice. I try to comment as time allows, but I don’t feel compelled to comment on every single post you have. If I have something to say, I’ll say it, but even in person, I’ve never been one to talk just for the sake of talking. I’m also trying to reply to comments more. I enjoy this kind of dialogue.
Now, for the feedback. What do you all think of my blog? Is there anything that doesn’t work for you? Does it load ok? Let me know, and if it’s a load issue, let me know about what OS, browser, and all that technical stuff that you have so I can pretend to know what to do about it.
Other Posts Like Me:
- Talk to Me
- 10 Tips for Personal Bloggers
- Blogging Pet Peeves: Feeds
- Blogging Mistakes – Posting Too Soon
- About Pages for Personal Bloggers
You pretty much hit the nail on the head for me, too. I don’t generate enough income through my blog or have enough visitors to make paying for my own domain a priority.
I don’t expect reciprocal linking, but have gotten really bad about it. These days I use my blogroll as my reciprocal linker, and read whoever updates through my google reader. Like you, if I feel compelled to leave a comment, I will. When I don’t, I won’t. Hey, a lot of people don’t even acknowledge comments, so you and I (and a few others) are way ahead of the game on that one alone.
I would not consider myself a serious blogger….my site is more of a vanity site, though I will touch on things that are important to me.
I am doing some social networking via cre8buzz, myspace, and facebook. I have not yet ventured into StumbleUpon and Digg. I do have a del.ico.us account which I never use. I’m lost when it comes to all that ‘digg this’ and whatever in stumble upon, though I see it all the time. Maybe I will eventually make my way around to those things, but for now….my life and my paid posts are hard enough to keep up with without doing any social networking. I social network mainly to find more great blogs to read, but not specifically to get my site’s readership up there. I still get less than 40 hits per day. That’s pretty low considering I’ve been blogging for about six years now, and in this particular blog for several years. But most of the time, I am okay with that :)
DSB – I think we can be categorized as “Bloggers who have a life outside of blogging.” While I do very much enjoy blogging and would love to have more time to devote to it, I would still only have a vanity site, as you call it. Besides having the blog, I enjoy the blogging friendships the most. I don’t think the A-listers really have that.
I was going to write a long comment but this question you have raised is so good I think I might actually blog about it. Check my blog tomorrow probably first thing in the morning your time. ;)
Snoskred
http://www.snoskred.org/
Snoskred – looking forward to it!
I wish I could tell you how better to promote your blog, but I’m in the same boat as you. I do like your blog: it loads well, the subject matter is good, and you post frequently.
Jordon – it’s not the traffic so much as it’s the constant barrage of messages saying that I’m not a good blogger because I don’t have a custom domain and a specific niche that people can learn about. It’s similar to people being told they’re not cool enough because they don’t wear Abercrombie or some other crap like that. But I know that, like you and me, there’s lots of other “uncool” bloggers out there.
I wrote the post :)
Am I A Good Blogger?
Hope you find it useful.
Re “niche” blogging. You know something? That’s just one of those catch phrases. Your niche is you. My niche is me. I don’t blog on any one particular topic. I blog on various topics and they can range wildly. When you see someone talking about being a niche blogger, that person is talking about the exact same thing you and I are already doing.
I don’t think they’re saying you are not a good blogger – I think they are saying you could be a more *successful* blogger. But their niche is solely blogging – and me personally I think they are limiting themselves in a major way, If I had to blog on the one topic all the time.. I’d be looking for a gun and a bullet, I think.
When you read those sites, take what you can use, take what you like, take what you want to try and see if it works for you. Discard the rest if it’s annoying or upsetting. :)
Blogs are like.. where poop comes out and opinions. Everyone can have one. ;) Because they have limited themselves to a niche, they’re going to be recycling the same topics over and over – while we are free as birds to blog about whatever we like.
Is it good if you can write something useful to others? Of course. Should you feel like you have to? No way.
I hope that helps. ;)
Snoskred
http://www.snoskred.org/
Snoskred – you’re awesome. Thanks.
You are doing just fine. It’s less about what other people think of your blog and more about whether the blog does something for you. Even if it’s just a cathartic way of dealing with stuff or running your thoughts by someone else.
-N
Here’s what I’ve learned, having gone from 0 to around 400 readers a day in less than a year.
Technorati, digg, etc. aren’t worth worrying about. Occasionally somebody will Stumble one of my posts and I’ll get 500 more hits. They stay for 30 seconds and then they’re gone. The only thing I use Technorati for is determining who links to me, so I can reciprocate and visit them.
Having your own domain won’t make much difference either. In short, there are no “tricks” to promoting your blog. Not that I’ve found, anyway.
My advice is:
1. Write interesting posts that aren’t too long.
2. Use a clean, easy-to read template. Doesn’t matter if it’s a standard WordPress or Blogger template, as long as it’s easy to read.
3. Post regularly. Not necessarily every day, but on some kind of more-or-less regular schedule.
4. Comment on a lot of other blogs. Visit and comment on the blogs of every visitor to your site.
5. Blogroll everybody who blogrolls you. Also blogroll other blogs that you like and that are similar to yours. Don’t be shy about asking for reciprocal links.
Honestly, that’s about it. No tricks. Just providing good content and being a good blogger citizen. :)
N – I did start this as a form of journaling, since I rarely write in my journal anymore but I type a lot. It is cathartic, and it is fun.
Diesel – for the most part, this is what I have been doing. I don’t want bazillions of readers, I’m happy with what I have and picking up a new one here and there. This was mostly a commentary on all the “how to be a good blogger” articles there are out there.
I think you’ve got a great blog. I have to tell you that a few months ago, I really got wrapped up in my blog stats that it affected my writing. I was writing about topics that I thought people wanted to read, so to increase my stats.
Sure, I increased my stats, but blogging became a chore to me and became stressful. It became so stressful that I stopped posting for a few weeks and even considered quitting altogether. What people kept telling me and what I eventually figured out was that I need to write for me and no one else. If people like it, they’ll come back to my blog. If not, then I really didn’t need them in the first place.
My stats are now more than 50% down from before, but I enjoy blogging again. And, I’ll keep going.
As far as a domain name, yeah, I have one. You can probably get one cheaper out there, but I pay $10 a year through yahoo. For now, I just forward it to my blogger URL. I don’t see myself moving from blogger anytime soon. But, if I do, then I’ll have that domain name – and it’s cheap!
I think everyone who starts out blogging does it because they enjoy it. For those who can make a living at it, great. There’s not enough room for that many people to do that. For the rest of us, as long as we keep having fun and enjoying what we do, that’s all that matters.