The Bloggers With The Most To Say
Blog Advice Needed
http://www.lovecommashannon.com/2009/04/thoughts.html
I'm posting this here in hopes that there are a lot of you out there that do no follow my blog, but could be of help.
If you don't feel like reading my post, here's my question in a nutshell.
Would you rather read a blog that was sometimes personal, but didn't really have a flow to it; it was just a random blog about different things all of the time?
Or, a blog with a themed look, that had posts all relating to the same thing, but each post with a different topic?
I'm posting this here in hopes that there are a lot of you out there that do no follow my blog, but could be of help.
If you don't feel like reading my post, here's my question in a nutshell.
Would you rather read a blog that was sometimes personal, but didn't really have a flow to it; it was just a random blog about different things all of the time?
Or, a blog with a themed look, that had posts all relating to the same thing, but each post with a different topic?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Erini CS on -
I think a lot of it comes down to writing.
When it comes to blogs I read, I want something that's written decently well and can capture my attention (which is sometimes kitten-esque). But I also, I want to read something that's true to the author -- it's nice when you can get a sense of them through their posts.
The biggest name blog I read is dooce.com -- and even though I have NO interest in parenting any time soon, I love her blog. She's got this massive personality that comes out of it. Then again, I used to read Gala Darling, but now she mostly irritates the crap out of me.
But when it comes right down to it, it's your blog and you should do whatever you want to do with it...
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Permalink Reply by heather on -
I used to love Gala, but she has pretty much stopped updating with anything other than quotes/outfit posts. It makes me sad because her actual writing is so much better and more interesting!
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Permalink Reply by Oats on -
I think most blogs in nature follow the former - no real flow, just random blogs about different things; even the blogs that center on a theme, say politics, each blog is going to be random in a sense compared to the previous blog.
I've encountered a few blogs that have a general theme or style where all blogs center on one thing but branch out to other topics relating back. While not completely random, if you don't change up the topic every once in a while, readers will get bored.
And similar to the top, if your topics have no stylistic connectivity or theme, people may like some posts but dislike others.
The key secrets to blogging successfully: Don't try. And write for one person and one person only - you.
Blogging shouldn't be about attracting readers, it should be about expressing yourself. You'll attract people who are like yourself or that like people like you - or maybe just like your writing style. Likewise, you'll have groups of people who vehemently dislike your blog. So no matter what you do, you're screwed in a sense. So the best advice is to place less focus on the overall structure of your blog - which will form itself over time - and focus more on putting your thoughts into words on the screen.
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Permalink Reply by Alianna on -
Both.
It depends on the person and the topic; for example, I read what amounts to the diaries of some people and they jump all over the place. There is flow there, because it's all about them and I think they are interesting or at least the way they write is interesting to me. I also follow some themed blogs, like a fashion one or a cooking one, but I don't usually like these as much. The blogs that are must reads for me daily are the personal ones, except for 31 Dates in 31 Days. I really liked that while she was doing it.
I think your best bet for getting readers is to keep writing what you want, because ultimately it's your site and you will read it. Follow a lot of blogs, leave comments, play on the forums and list yourself in blog catalogues; there are lots of them.
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Permalink Reply by heather on
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I read both themed blogs and non-themed blogs. I like non-themed blogs better, but since there are so many of them out there, it really has to be well-written to make me keep coming back. Themed blogs are easier because I care less about the quality of the writing and more about the information they're providing--if I'm interested in what they're writing about and they're giving me anything that hasn't already been said a million times by a million other people, I'll read it.
I think it's harder for a non-themed blog to acquire readers in the beginning, but once you do, it's easier to maintain them. A lot of themed blogs run out of things to say on their chosen subject and just end up writing variations on the same blog posts over and over and hoping no one will notice.
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Permalink Reply by cooper on -
I read both, very few themed blogs keep my attention for long, though there are a couple of themed blogs I have been reading forever.
I think there was a lot of people out there starting blogs recently who must have read some advice from one of those how to blog sites where they always tell you to have a niche. I think the best blogs are the ones where people don't read any of that and just blog because they want to.
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Permalink Reply by DShan on -
this is a fascinating discussion, and it's come up over and over and over again on this network. i find it incredible how important personal blogging is to the audience. this is the only place online that's pushing personal blogging as a niche - we're all here to keep our personal writing alive, connect with other bloggers, and if we're lucky find a nice batch of readers to validate our thoughts. us moderators work towards ensuring that the overall tone here is 'personal blogging' - not ProBlogger stuff, not MoneyMaker blogging.
i will say this...the Personal Bloggers who acquire massive attention (and thus one definition of success) are always still niche writers...they may not write about a subject but they have a VOICE. one that's irreplaceable.
Topical Blogging isn't necessary to staking out a large readership. it is important if you want to build an authority on a subject (the definition of a traditional career/brand). nevertheless, if you're blogging just to write...focus on finding the guts to stake out your inner voice. people will respond.
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Permalink Reply by Shannon on -
Thank you all for giving me your insight on this. I do want to say that it's not the number of followers that I'm concerned with. I've made so many great friendships through my personal blogging, that I guess I was worrying if I changed it up too much, those friendships would sizzle out because we wouldn't be as connected. I have pretty much been over analyzing it in my head, because I'm struggling with what writing style I want to do.
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Permalink Reply by Marcello on -
agreed. It all depends on the writing and which subject appeals to what person. My blog perhaps isn't about my personal life, its about asian cinema, so if you hate asian cinema, no matter how well written it is, you are not going to be interested. there is a target audience for every blog. Even if your blog was about nothing but the mating habits of a Giraffe, I am sure there would be a core audience out there somewhere.
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