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The Art of Blogging: Revisiting Site Focus

July 10, 2012 by 84 Comments

I wrote The Art of Blogging: What is Your Site’s Focus?, and gave quite the list on things you should consider when creating your website’s focus. However, I still get on occasion bloggers who have been blogging and just have not gotten results. When I saw Dragon Blogger’s article, Blogging Without A Purpose, I was further motivate to revisit this topic once more.

Site FocusMy advice for those who have been blogging for a while and have had no success – go back to the focus and use your Google Analytics and other blog tools to see what will work best for your blog.

I will use Blondish.net to convey my own experience. At first, Blondish.net waded around in a pool of content from home life to my internet life. It was a bit disconcerting for some of my tech friends who would look forward to my posts that either contained something about blog tools, social media, but I was having a rough time and kept avoiding that. In fact, it hurt my site a lot and in December 2008, I put down in writing what could go on Blondish.net and what had to go elsewhere. I ended up creating a mommy blog for my home and personal life. Of course, I do put some personal stuff here at Blondish.net, but only if it is relevant to the focus of the site.

See, I have always given a lot of freebie graphics since I got online. While doing that, I kept getting questions on how to make things on just about anything I put on my site. I decided instead of always fielding my instant messenger, I would blog about it. In 2009, I got down and dirty with my blog, starting to clean up section (which I still am), moving contenting off and onto other places, and of course, blogging like a woman on a mission. My mission: to help bring my experience to others as a blogger to become successful and introduce things online that are resourceful. I also vowed to become more active in interacting with my commenters to hopefully continue the discussions beyond my blog’s words.

My blog has become more successful. My Alexa rank at the beginning of 2009 was hanging at 1.6 million, and now it is around mid 2009, it was 217,218. I have connected with quite a few other successful bloggers and have learned from them. I have influenced others in return. Since then I have slowed down some, but still built my site, focusing solely on sharing my knowledge. In the beginning quarter of 2012, I hit 50,000 Alexa, but recently did an experiment on how lack of blogging effects a site’s traffic and ranking….and let it slip to around 72,000 Alexa. As the saying goes- “Content is king.” Without content to attract your visitors, what is the purpose of your website in the end?

With all the tools for blogs to analyze what is being searched, you should not have any trouble on how to develop or even, redevelop your site’s focus.

Have you had a similar experience with your blog? Have you influenced others through your blog? Have any other suggestions?

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The Art of Blogging: Do Not Be Afraid To Leave Comments

July 7, 2012 by 65 Comments

For bloggers, it really can be a thrill to receive comments. However, there are people who go out of their way to become “comment whores.” A comment whore is one who is only out to gain comments and really does not contribute to the comment stream of their own site or others in a way to carry on the blog’s conversation.

A blog is not for people to agree with you, but to share ideas, learn, and possibly influence those readers who never really thought about what your blog topic entails. It kind of falls hand-in-hand with leaders and followers. You have to know how to be a follower in order to be a leader. So, in order to blog, you must also be able to leave comments.

This applies not just with your own site, but with others too. Never be afraid to go against another’s opinion, but do not expect others to change their mind and agree with you. It is presumptuous and overall, rude. Do not be afraid to return to a site and reply if the blog author responds. Think of it this way: despite the blog not being a forum, the blog offers the ability for others to respond, so it is kind of like a mini forum – a forum in most cases that you may not have to sign up to leave a comment depending on the author’s set comment preferences. That is why a lot of newspapers and online magazines are turning to blog platforms because it allows the two-way communication between the blogger and readers. It is an extension of the topic.

It is really an art to be able to write a blog and get feedback. Some bloggers write in a way that is not very welcoming and some forget to leave their topics open-ended to not inspire their readers to give feedback. Some places will carry on their conversations for days or weeks and it can be fascinating to read the different reactions.

Sometimes if another reader is interested in what you say on another person’s blog, you may find out that you have a new loyal reader for your own site. So, do not be afraid to comment or even subscribe to a blog’s rss feed.

Do you leave comments? What places online do you think give great articles that you keep coming back to leave feedback?

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Graphic: Blogging is an Art

July 6, 2012 by 13 Comments

I have always said that blogging is an art in itself. It takes passion and dedication to write your thoughts down. It also takes courage to do it knowing that others will read your work.

In blogging, as time goes on, you learn a lot, not just about your writing voice, but from your peers in your niche. You learn to re-focus your site to make it stay up to date because blogging is definitely a technology that is always evolving. You will always find new ways to share content and interact with your visitors.

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The Art of Blogging Series

June 29, 2012 by 29 Comments

I have decided to do a little series called The Art of Blogging. This is series of articles on what I have noticed in trends over the past decade on blogging and engagement whether through blog tools (plug-ins) or online resources. As I said, the articles will over mainly my experience, but I hope to get feedback, so I am also including a poll with this particular blog as I want to get the gist of how people have progressed online in their techniques to acquire blog comments, as well as other things they have learned throughout their experience. In the end this blog is to help those who have been searching for the right crowd for their niche.

I had been told at a WordCamp (WordPress conference) that I spoke and by several others that I should write an ebook on my experience, but I thought a blog series might be pretty cool. I can go back from time to time. Maybe I might put it into an ebook too? Who knows.

Please journey with me on this experience and like a new student in a Japanese school, I plead, “Please take care of me.”

The Art of Blogging

Blogging is an art in itself. It use to be just be typing and submitting to some simple site, or perhaps fiddling with some HTML before publishing a post. A lot of people wanted to start a blog much in the way anyone can start a diary, telling your experiences. With diaries, unless you are famous, those are often private, but when published online, they could be found by others.

The Internet in itself is amazing because this allows people to connect with each other all over the world. Blogging allowed people to find out with similar interests, and even become friends before even chatting via web cameras, voice chatting, or actually visiting in real person.

Blogging in itself has definitely evolved as not just something done on a personal level, but on many other levels. Businesses blog, teachers blog, teens blog… many different people blog. It really is a beautiful thing, especially with the serendipity that search engines can produce to any individual looking to find information on any subject. On the same level, the people doing the blogging are often inspiring their peers to try it too.

Really, blogging has become social networking in itself, especially with the ability to communicate by leaving feedback. No longer do people just have to socialize in forums or message boards. They can build a community within their own website.

Hopefully in this art of blogging series, it will be entertaining, informative, and overall, something that may inspire you in your own journey into blogging.

Kind Regards,
Nile Flores

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The Art of Blogging: Write Without Being A Megalomaniac

June 23, 2012 by 32 Comments

Yes, another blog in The Art of Blogging series. This covers the subject that I see quite frequently when I visit and read other blogs. It is when the blogger says that nobody or everybody is doing something. For example:

“Nobody likes that girl. Everybody thinks that we are fun.”

These are both false statements. If it were nobody or everybody, then we probably would not have arguments or an opinion on an individual level. It would be like the Borg on Star Trek who are of a collective mind.

Sometimes when there are a handful of people that agree or disagree, it is to be called a few or you can mention the exact number. In serious topics that involve facts and statistics, the art of being a megalomaniac has no room or business to come into play. In fact, even a rant about you and your friends versus another person should not say “everybody” because that is false. Instead, “my friends” should have been used.

Besides blogging, this tip can be used in regular everyday conversation. It makes you less abrasive and more intelligent when you are not including everyone in your opinion. In including them, you are attaching their name and thoughts to your own, and frankly, that is a bit presumptuous. It is also close-minded. Of course, your friends mean the world to you and perhaps they agree, but in the end, when it comes down to it, not everything is “all or nothing.”

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The Art of Blogging: Brand Purity

June 14, 2012 by 19 Comments

Brand purity for blogging is really important for bloggers to pay attention to. From the inception of a blog and onward to years to come, people remember blogs that stand out, especially ones that are well rounded in memorable content, interaction with its readers, and design.

Blogs that have become memorable and trustworthy are ones that have successfully mastered brand purity. Brand purity is where your blog without a doubt speaks about you and what you are trying to tell, sell, or connect with others about. If your readers are confused about what your site is about, then you are not getting your message to them correctly.

Other than your content, your design also can say a lot about you. If you are a blogger on a host that requires them to plaster their brand on your site, you are diluting that brand purity. While your readers have gotten your message, they may associate your site with the host, or brand that you are with.

Maybe you are hosting on a network in order to get traffic? Maybe you have a host that is free?

The problem is, if you want to monetize your site, sometimes these hosts will not allow you to. That, and you are adding backlinks and authority toward their business. In a way, you just became free content for them to capitalize on. That sucks to know, right?

So, how can you maintain your brand purity?

Invest in your blog. Hosting really is not that expensive. Whether it is shared or managed hosting for WordPress users, you really need to put a little into your blog before expecting to make any money later. That is what business is all about.

Make sure your visitors are clear about who you are? Make an about page. Also, put a brief description on the front of your site or put it in your site’s description or slogan to clue people into what they might expect of your website.

Make sure your visitors are clear about what you want from them? If you are trying to sell them something, don’t be shy about it. While obviously you do not want to spam people, you definitely need to be transparent about your site’s intentions.

Do not allow other sites even sponsors to over shadow your brand. Keep your brand where people are not confused.

You might not think as your blog as a business, but if you are monetizing it, even with simple cost per click ads, you are running a business.

What other ways can you maintain your brand purity for your blog?

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