Blogging Tips

What is your blog about? Cooking? Parenting? Crafting? Government? Boogers? Whatever it is, make sure it's "you." Maintaining a blog is a lot of work, and if you don't love boogers enough to write about them several days a week -- until the end of time (or you quit) -- don't start. If you don't have the passion for your topic, you don't have much to offer your readers... and, they will soon be gone.

I personally LOVE coming up with ideas and giving advice. I always have. It may sound weird to some, but that is "me." When I get a phone call from a friend in need of ideas or advice, I get a rush. Really. That's how much I like it. People ask me all the time if I ever worry that I'll run out of things to write about, or ideas to share on the blog, and I can easily say "no." I feel confident that I can spew out ideas for the rest of forever, assuming I'm never bound by duck tape and gagged with a smelly sock. That may be a big assumption. Clearly, a blog about ideas would suit me well. And it has.

So, think about where your passion lies, and blog about it. One word of caution I have is to not get caught up in the linky party or giveaway trap in an effort to gain readers. I've seen several great blogs quickly go downhill because they became obsessed with hosting giveaways and linky parties. Their content suffers and I don't know about everyone else, but I take off in a flash. See ya. It's fun to host giveaways every once in a while. It's fun to host linky parties every once in a while. But unless you are a blog dedicated to those things, that is NOT why the majority of your readers are coming to you. They are coming for your content; to revel in your passion. Don't leave them hanging. What you want is readers who LOVE reading what you write about, not readers who sign up because they have to in order to enter the giveaways. That's not how you build an audience. I do giveaways now and then, as a treat to my readers, to build some excitement, and hey... to get some free stuff for myself. I may do a linky party someday; haven't yet. But, I want to keep it minimal. I know that's not why y'all are here.

Anyway, my whole point... write about what you love and stay true to your blog.
Next page: Be Different
BE DIFFERENT

grapes

Image: Jack DaRos via Flickr

The truth is that whatever you choose to blog about, there are probably already a zillion other blogs on the same topic. So spend some time thinking about ways your blog can be different than the rest. If you're doing a craft blog, see if you can come up with some ideas that most other craft blogs don't do. Recently I stumbled on a craft blog that was dedicated to little boy crafts. I thought that was so clever, because really... lots of the crafty stuff we see is more appealing to little girls. Look at other blogs in your same genre and change yours up a little. Maybe if you're doing a cooking blog, you could host monthly reader submissions, where they submit their recipe for, say, lasagna. You try it, pick a winner, and give them a prize! That sounds fun... never heard of anyone else doing it. Ya know what I mean? Maybe the premise of your blog will be basically the same, but just see what you can do to come up with something different, like the submission contest I just mentioned.

For me, I knew there were a ton of women's blogs giving their readers "ideas." Nothing new. But, I decided to do a few things different. First, I wanted to have a post every day, not just a couple times a week. Second, I wanted to give even new and undiscovered bloggers a chance to share their ideas on my blog. As opposed to only accepting guest posts from superstar bloggers. Third, I wanted to address topics beyond just cooking and crafts. If I wanted a post on infertility, potty training, or complimenting people, I would do it. I wanted each day's post topic to be a surprise to the reader. So, that's that. That is what my goals were as far as "setting myself apart," and unless I'm delusional, I think that my readers have liked it.