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Blog Tip Sharing Project 7: Building Your Community

Written on July 12, 2008 by Jennifer in B.T.S.P., blogging

Welcome back to class everyone! You all look so tan and rested. Did you lose weight?!

Today’s class is going to focus on building a community around your blog. What I mean by community is this: The people who visit and comment, the meaningful interactions with other bloggers, and positive word-of-mouth about your blog. I think that building a community around your blog is vital to attracting and maintaining readers. You want to create an atmosphere on your blog where people feel welcome and want to come back.

To build a community around YOUR blog, though, means occasionally…okay OFTEN…venturing out and participating in OTHER blog communities.

1. Comment on others blogs

I think that this is THE NUMBER ONE THING you can do to attract and maintain readers to your site. Commenting on other blogs is especially important when you’re first starting out with your blog. In fact, behind well-written content, I think it’s THE MOST IMPORTANT THING you can do to generate traffic. Find other blogs in your niche and let the comment love flow.

People LOVE receiving comments and your comment let’s people know that you visited. Consider your comment your calling card. Not only does the blog author see your calling card, but so do other visitors to the site. If you’ve left a particularly witty or well-written comment, you’re likely to get people’s interest piqued enough to click through to your site. Beware of leaving very obviously “traffic-seeking” comments, like “Oh that was funny. Be sure to check out my blog at Practically Comment Spam!”

With that said, there does come a point when commenting and reciprocating comments can take over your life. Literally. For me, I attempt to visit new readers’ sites, but it has become nearly impossible. Sometimes it takes me weeks or months to return the visit. We’ll discuss more about managing your blogging time commitments in an upcoming post.

EDITED TO ADD!!!!! Thanks to Megan at Velveteen MInd, she brought up an excellent point about not having time to comment, but instead promoting a blog post on Twitter or StumbleUpon…I think this is AS GOOD if not BETTER than leaving a comment. Not only are you giving a virtual high five for their post, you’re potentially sending them loads of traffic. And what blogger doesn’t adore loads of traffic?

2. Join weekly meme’s/carnivals

(There is some debate as to what these weekly participation things are called…from here on out for ease of reading, we’re going to call them carnivals, k?)

There are so many different carnivals you can join to promote content on your site each week. Participation in these carnivals can be a great way to generate traffic, especially when you’re first starting out. Being a regular contributor to a particular carnival is also a way to developing relationships with the other participants. If you do choose to participate, it is a good thing to also visit the other sites participating.

Here are just a few carnivals in which you can participate:

Best Shot Monday, Tackle it Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday, Works for Me Wednesday, Thursday Thirteen, Haiku Friday, Fight the Frump, Weekly Winners, Weekly Words Challenge, Theme Thursday, Manic Monday …if you know of any others to include, please let me know and I will add them!

Participating in carnivals should be interspersed with original content. Solely posting lists or pictures can turn some readers away. I know that some of my regular readers don’t visit on Fridays because they don’t care for Haiku Friday…AHEM.

3. Be involved in at least one social networking site

I’ve talked about this before, no need to rehash. Whether you choose Plurk over Twitter or Cre8buzz over Facebook, choose a place you enjoy, make friends, and participate. It will pay off.

So now that we’ve established some ways of getting your name out there and socializing like a nice person, here are some things you can do right on your own site that will help build and maintain your community.

4. Be accessible to your readers

One thing I failed to mention in my post about sidebars, was to make your email address easy to find. I would say that I get at least two emails per week from people who have a question or want to make a comment privately. This leads me to my next pet peeve point…

5. REPLY to emails!!!!

If someone has emailed you, REPLY. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve emailed another blogger only to get *crickets chirping* NO REPLY. This has also happened when someone has emailed me for advice or assistance, but never bothered to thank me for my reply. *shakes head in disgust*

Listen people. It’s rude not to reply to emails. If you don’t have time, then reply back and say, “Hey, I’m so swamped right now, I’m sorry I can’t reply right away, but when I get a chance, I will, kthnxbai!”

(If you think I’m talking about you, well….) Speaking of replying…

6. Reply to comments left on your blog

Replying to comments lets your readers know that 1) you actually read your comments and 2) appreciate each comment left. Before learning about the greatest comment plugin ever that emails my reply to the commenter, I would just reply via email. Most of us don’t have time and it also isn’t necessary to respond to every single comment on your site. Some comments don’t require replies, but those comments that ask a question or that just make your day, SHOULD GET A REPLY.

The ability to respond to comments is also a point of contention between different blogging platforms. In fact the whole replying to comments issue is one reason I switched from Blogger to WordPress. I think that Blogger’s key flaw is that you don’t have to include your email address when you comment. Tsk, tsk.

6. Show your readers you care about them by linking to them

The greatest way in the world of blogs to let someone know that you admire their work, besides commenting!, is to link to their site. If a post of someone’s inspired you to write your own, LINK TO THEM!

7. Link to your own posts to help explain the backstory to new readers

Have you ever walked up to a group of people who are all laughing about some situation and people that you’re clueless about? You stand their feeling awkward and left out… This happens on blogs all the time. I regularly read new-to-me blogs and don’t understand what they’re referring to, then in the comments section I realize I’m the only one who doesn’t know the back story.

Remember that many people just randomly happen upon your blog and do not know your life story. If you want to make your new readers feel welcome and you’re talking about something that has a backstory or could be clarified by something you’ve already posted about, then LINK TO THOSE POSTS! Don’t let new readers feel like the new kid who doesn’t get the joke.

So basically what I’m trying to say…Building relationships in blogging is exactly like building relationships in real life. Be nice to others, return favors, and make others feel welcome. The goal should be to develop meaningful relationships with those to whom you relate.

I also think it’s important to mention that the size of your blogging community is only as important as YOU make it. If you have 10 loyal readers, that is AWESOME! If you have 1,000 loyal readers, that’s AWESOME, too…not awesome-er. When a blogging community becomes very large, it’s hard to maintain those readers through reciprocity in comments, replying to comments, or linking to new sites.

Previously in this series…Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

PS. There will be no class next Saturday. I’ll be drunk.

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Blog Tip Sharing Project 6: Sidebars

Written on June 28, 2008 by Jennifer in B.T.S.P., blogging

Welcome to week 6 of the blog tip sharing project! Today’s topic is a continuation of last week’s discussion of blog design. Let’s talk about your (probably overloaded) sidebars. I say that they are probably overloaded because, well, most sidebars, INCLUDING MINE, are. Whether you have one, two, or more sidebars, think about the purpose and necessity of each item you stick over there.

Generally, we want things in our sidebars to entice our readers to stick around and read more. Your sidebars are also a good place to put information that lets your new readers get to know who you are and who they are reading about. When your sidebars are too cluttered, INCLUDING MINE, people tend to ignore all of it because it’s too visually cluttery*(new word!) to wade through.

One excellent way to clean up cluttered sidebars is to add pages. Under my header, there are links to pages that contain information that I previously had in my sidebars. With a little html/javascript/css knowledge, they can be added to any template. Just google “adding pages to blog” and you’ll find about 59 million sites willing to help you.

Let’s talk about the MUST HAVES for your sidebar(s).

1. Subscribe button

Make it easy for people to subscribe to your feed. My subscribe button is over there to your left, right up at the top. Easy to find! I really like that particular button because it makes it easy to add the feed to any feed reader. You can get that button, too, at Addthis.com.

(Quick confession, I don’t understand how to use these orange subscribe buttons I see everywhere. They just take you to the feed and I can’t figure out a way to add it to my Google reader. I must have the dumbs.)

2. Cast of Characters

In my sidebar I have my name, a picture of myself, the names and ages of my kids, and my husband’s name. This is a CRUCIAL thing to have in your sidebar. When a new reader stops by, they need to know who and what your blog is about. If you don’t already have this on your blog, I’ll wait for you to fix that RIGHT NOW.

**taps fingers**

3. Comment Policy

You need to let commenters know what you do and don’t allow people to say in your comments section. Be sure to let readers know if you edit comments, delete rude comments, or if cursing isn’t allowed. Here’s a great explanation of comment policies from The Blog Herald.

4. Search Box

This is helpful for those who come to your blog and want to search for something specific. I often use search boxes on other’s blogs when I’m looking for a post that I wish to link.

Those four items listed above are probably the only ABSOLUTELY necessary things you should have in your sidebar. However, most of us, INCLUDING ME, cannot resist the lure of other widgets and buttons for our sidebars. So let’s continue to discuss some of the other things that are useful, though not necessary.

5. Consider adding the number of feed subscribers to your sidebar.

Ever since adding my feed count to my sidebar nine months ago, I’ve gone from around 150 subscribers to over 600. Here’s an article from Problogger that discusses revealing your subscriber count.

6. Blogroll/Google Reader shared items/Blogger’s blog list

Sharing with your readers what YOU read, is not only a great way for people get to know you, it’s also a fantastic way to send traffic to sites you admire.

Since most people’s blogrolls are hundreds of sites long, I don’t necessarily recommend that you keep your full blogroll in your sidebar. There are ways you can still have a blogroll, but without so much clutter including having a having a link to a separate site or page that houses your blogroll, a rotating blogroll which shows just a few of the blogs you read at a time, expandable boxes for hiding or showing your blog list (also excellent for hiding awards, buttons, etc.), and scroll boxes.

(By the way, my blogroll is NOT updated. Since I use a feed reader to keep track of the blogs I read, the only time I add people to my blogroll is when someone asks. If you’re not on it and wish to be, please email me and I will add you.)

7. Archives, most recent posts and favorite posts

Offering these in your sidebar makes it easy for people to nose around your site. I have archives and most recent posts in my sidebar and I made a page for my favorite posts.

8. Links to your social networking sites, like Twitter, StumbleUpon, Flickr, etc.

These links let people know where else they can find and “friend” you. I don’t have links to every site I belong to, but the sites that I use the most.

As I mentioned last week, make sure that whatever you have in your sidebar is not holding up the loading of your page. Long load times means lost visitors. Many of the award buttons and twitter widgets cause these slow loading times. Beware!

I realize that I have many things in my sidebars in addition to the items I mentioned above like ads, a live traffic feed, and (too many) other buttons. Like my Internet addiction, I’m slowly weaning myself from the lure of excessive widgetry*(new word!). It’s a work in progress.

I’d love to know what you think is necessary in a blog’s sidebar. What do you think is unnecessary?

Previously in this series…Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

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Blog Tip Sharing Project 5: Blog Design

Written on June 21, 2008 by Jennifer in B.T.S.P., blogging

A nice* blog design makes people want to stay and read.

Nice (in reference to blog design) adj. “A blog that doesn’t make your eyes bleed when you click over.”

I think that everyone has opinions on what a nice blog design is, some of us think a background design looks really cool, where others think that lots of white space is the cat’s meow. Some people like two sidebars, others prefer three or even four. Since this blog series is about what has worked for me, that’s what I’ll focus on, but also include some links to helpful articles and blog posts I’ve read on the subject.

Today we’re going to cover overall blog design…and yet again I’m giving you the much coveted list.

1. A unique design makes you look more credible than a default template (like those provided by Typepad, Blogger, and WordPress.)

I know that when I switched from one of Blogger’s stock templates to a unique three-column design with custom header, I had an increase in readership. Certainly there are exceptions to this, as two of my favorite blogs, Swistle and Oh, The Joys, simply use the Minima template provided by Blogger and they are doing justfinethankyouverymuch without a fancy pants design.

There are thousands of free templates that you can find simply by googling “free template for blogger/wordpress.” Also, simply adding a unique header, easily made with the assistance of a program like Photoshop Elements can spiff up a basic template. If you happen to use Blogger for your blogging platform, Tips for New Bloggers is a great site that walks you step by step through tweaking and customizing the basic templates.

If you prefer a truly unique design, there are many reasonably priced web designers who can help you. Here are just a few…

Dawn and Coming to a Nursery Near You
Dress My Blog
Temptation Designs (on a brief hiatus due to the birth of her second baby boy!)
Judith Shakes Designs
NW Designs
Oh My Stinkin Heck
Izzy Blog Design and Graphics
Blogs Gone Wild
Splat Creative Designs
Swank Web Style
Jenny at Absolutely Bananas (headers and buttons)
Me! I can help make headers…but that’s about it.

2. Whatever template you choose MUST be fast loading

When people have 1000+ unread in their Google Readers or those who’ve stumbled upon your blog have to wait for your page to load, they simply aren’t going to wait and will click away. Therefore, you are LOSING READERS. Waaa!

I had to take my twitter badge off of my sidebar because it was causing slow loading time. That makes me want to cry, but I did it FOR YOU because I heart you even more than I heart twitter. Other things that slow loading time are cluttered sidebars, coding errors, and flashy ads or backgrounds.

3. Make sure that whatever template you choose for your blog looks nice* in all web browsers.

You can check this by going to browsershots.org.

4. Your blog should be easy to navigate.

a) Is it obvious where to comment on your blog? Also, don’t make people have to register to comment! Adding that step could possibly make people throw up their hands in frustration! Edited to add: I’m not referring to blogs powered by Blogger, but rather blogs that require you to register to even comment.

b) If your header isn’t “clickable”, then you really need to make a button that people can push to send them to your “home” page. This is easily done in your sidebar…for example on my last template, my header wasn’t clickable, I made a “home” button by writing this code:

You can also make your header clickable…somehow…if anyone would like to share with the class how to do this, please do so in the comments section.

c) Is your most recent post the first thing at the top of your blog? If it isn’t, people aren’t going to scroll around looking for it and you are LOSING READERS! WAAA!

5. Did I mention before the design should look nice*?

Oh yes, I did! And this is what I mean…

Think about these things…the colors you choose for your background, headers, links, and fonts. Make sure they are easy to read. Stay far, far away from tiny fonts, they’re too hard to read! Beware of really elaborate or flashing backgrounds, as they can distract from your content. If you have ads on your site, make sure they don’t overwhelm your content.

There is also a debate around the blogosphere about music that automatically plays on blogs. I personally don’t mind the music, but there are people who swear that they immediately leave if music starts playing. It’s just something to consider.

Here are a few links to posts that discuss blog design…

Make Your Blog Design Work For You

17 Resources for Creating a Blog Design

Good Blog Design

Next week I’ll discuss your blog’s sidebars and use of pages. It will be a RIOT.

I’d love to hear what you all have to add about nice* blog designs. Please, please, please, please…make certain your comments don’t sound like “I hate blogs that…” I certainly don’t mind people putting in your opinions about what makes for a good blog design, just please consider the feelings of others. Also, let me know if you’ve seen any results from StumbleUpon this week…I’m so proud of you who have really jumped right it and stumbled your little hearts out!

Previously in this series…Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

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Blog Tip Sharing Project 4: StumbleUpon Primer

Written on June 14, 2008 by Jennifer in B.T.S.P., blogging

Let’s review what we’ve learned so far in the series. First we should write often, practicing the skill. We have learned some writing techniques for gaining comments and readers. Also we’ve learned that subscribing to different blogs about blogging can offer great tips. Last week, the focus was on how social networking can pay off, and that it’s not necessary to devote time to every site out there, but rather focus our time on a few. One of the sites I mentioned last week was StumbleUpon and teased you with the possibility of 1,000 hits in one day.

Wanna know how?

Me, too.

Kidding. Well, I’m only sort of kidding. I should confess that StumbleUpon (SU) totally baffles me. Some posts go over well, others die a very quick death and I don’t really know why. But I have learned a few things about using SU that I think will help you and! I’ll give these tips in list form! My goodness I’m a gracious host.

Let’s begin with the toolbar. If you’re a smarty pants, know-it-all and already know how to use the toolbar skip to the next section.

1. To stumble a post click on the title of the post so that you’re on the direct URL to the post you wish to stumble.

Rather than stumble an entire site, stumble specific posts on a site.

2. Hit the “thumbs up/I like it!” button.

3. If it hasn’t already been stumbled, then a box will appear where you’ll write a little review. You’ll also be asked to put it in a category. Choose your category WISELY. Then add as many tags as you can, the more the better. (Sometimes, SU screws it up, though, and puts it in an incorrect category despite your best efforts.)

4. If the post HAS already been stumbled, then when you hit the “thumbs up/I like it!” button, it will change colors. When it does, hit the little “speech bubble” button and write a review and add tags. You certainly don’t have to write a review for EVERY site you stumble, but the more reviews you write, the more weight your stumbles carry…(which I will talk about in the next section.)

5. A great way to stumble upon sites is to simply hit the “Stumble” button. You can choose the category of what you want to stumble simply by choosing under the “all” button. Scroll down and choose your category.

6. My favorite way to stumble is to stumble the sites my friends have stumbled upon. You do this by hitting the button that looks like two people side by side. (Do you think I used the word “stumble” enough in the first sentence? Jeez.)

BEWARE! Stumbling upon sites is addicting and can cause you to realize you’ve been stumbling for the past four hours while your children ate crumbs off the kitchen floor for lunch. Or so I’ve heard.

7. You can send your favorite sites to the friends you’ve made on SU to ask for a review or to just send them something you really enjoyed by hitting the “Send to” button. I’d recommend only asking for reviews from people that you “know” and have some sort of relationship with and not random friends you’ve made on SU.

NEXT SECTION. Woo hoo!

Now that we can use the toolbar, let’s talk tips to drive traffic in your direction.

1. StumbleUpon frowns upon you stumbling your own site.

If you think you have a really fantastic post, ask someone to originally stumble it for you. You can always give it a thumbs up and review after them. The rumor is that you can only stumble one site fifteen times.

2. Write reviews when stumbling! They help up your status over simply just giving a site a thumbs up. The more reviews and sites you’ve stumbled upon, the more weight your stumbles carry. It also helps to have lots of friends on SU.

For example, if you’ve only written a few reviews and given a handful of thumbs up, when you stumble a post it doesn’t carry as much weight as someone who has stumbled AND REVIEWED 3,286 sites. Getting a thumbs up from someone that has reviewed many sites and has many friends, will get your post noticed by more people.

3. Stumble often and stumble a variety of sites. DON’T ONLY STUMBLE YOUR OWN POSTS. BAD!!!

When I originally tried out SU, I only stumbled my own site and saw NO visitors. Once I figured this out and starting stumbling LOTS of sites, whenever I had a new post of mine that had been stumbled (by someone else), I saw more traffic driven to my site.

It’s also nice to just be generous and send traffic to sites you admire. If you’ve just read something that you just KNOW other people should read, too…then STUMBLE IT! …yet another way to get involved in this blogging community!

4. SU users love lists, pictures, humor, and well written posts. According to different things I’ve read, SU users DO NOT LOVE slow loading sites, blah blog designs, long posts, typical “mommyblogger” posts about poop and what your kids didn’t eat for dinner.

5. The more tags you give a site, the more exposure it will get. Choose those tags wisely!

For example, if you choose just “Parenting” as a tag, you’re missing out on LOTS of potential visitors. Also choose “kids,” “family,” “babies,” “for-kids,” “homemaking…” Those are merely examples, but the point is…the more tags the better.

I realize that this all seems like a lot of work. It is, but there are rewards. I think that SU can generate quality traffic, meaning that I’ve noticed after a high traffic day on SU, I’ve seen an increase in subscribers the next day.

There a zillions of sites that talk about SU and how to use it to build traffic. If you want to know more of the nitty gritty information, go read these:

StumbleUpon Traffic Guide, 50 Tips by 50 Authors

A Comprehensive Guide to SU: How to Build Massive Traffic to Your Website

Building Your Blog With SU

Please include any helpful SU hints you have in the comments section!

Next week: I don’t know yet. I’ll surprise you.

/SU lesson

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Blog Tip Sharing Project: Bonus Dumbass Edition

Written on June 8, 2008 by Jennifer in B.T.S.P., blogging

Unexpectedly, I have created the need to add a Sunday edition of my Blog Tip Sharing Project this week. It’s urgent information that I feel like I MUST tell you, so that you won’t nearly die of panic like I did.

If you happened upon this blog last night between 10:30 and 11:30 PM, you would have seen that every single post and comment and my template, and EVERYTHING THAT MAKES THIS BLOG MY BLOG was gone.

I killed it in one fell swoop trying to upgrade to WP 2.5.1.

I was certain that my heart would pound right out of my chest. My face was flushed from the panic, I felt like I couldn’t breathe and was gasping for breath. Tate tried to calm me down, but with a dead blog and everything I’d ever written deleted, calming down just wasn’t on my agenda.

I hope you’re not laughing, because it hurts.me.in.the.heart!

So here are my tips for today…especially pertinent for WordPress self-hosted folks….

1. When you go to upgrade to the latest WP, BACKUP EVERYTHING. I’m NOT kidding. BACKUP EVERYTHING. The blog you are seeing today is a result of my having BACKED UP EVERYTHING.

2. If you decide to use one of the software services like Simple Scripts for WP upgrade through your cpanel (via your webhost), understand that there is a HUGE difference between “Install” and “Upgrade.”

Last night I installed a totally new blog, rather than upgrade the one I already had. Oops.

Stop laughing at me, please.

3. Did I mention to BACKUP EVERYTHING? Oh I did? Well I MEAN it!

4. BACKUP EVERTHING. In case you’re wondering, I backed up my site via my cpanel on my webhost using the Backup Wizard. I backed up my Home directory and MySQL files individually.

Thank goodness I did or…I could crap myself just thinking of the horror of having to start from scratch.

This concludes the dumbass edition of my weekly BTSP. Good day.

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Blog Tip Sharing Project 3: Blog Promotion and Social Networking

Written on June 7, 2008 by Jennifer in B.T.S.P., blogging

So glad to see you all back in class today! I’d like everyone to welcome any stragglers, I mean newcomers. You can read Part 1 HERE and Part 2 HERE.

Today we’re going to discuss two areas of blog promotion…Sites where you list your blog and social networking sites. I’m looking at these two areas differently, as I’m going to call those places where you go and sign up your blog, and basically your blog is added to a list, Blog Promotion Sites. Those sites where you can interact with others and add contacts, I’ll refer to as Social Networking Sites.

I’ll begin with Blog Promotion Sites.

When I first began blogging, I signed up with every blog promotion site I could find, HUNDREDS of them. It took me hours to find the sites, add my name, confirm my request…and most of that work was for NOTHING. With a few exceptions, I never saw any traffic generated from the majority of those sites. Also, some of the sites claimed to be very exclusive and rejected my blog for various reasons including “lack of quality content.” What. Ever.

There have been several sites that I thought were worth the effort to sign up.

1. The Good Blogs

What I like about this site is the fact that the widget shows blog post titles. The catchier my title, the more hits I received. Please note that I no longer have the widget in my sidebar…this is because I feel like I already have too much stuff in my sidebars and I didn’t want it to look cluttered over there. (I’ll talk about that in an upcoming post.)

2. Alltop

I have no idea if it’s still possible to get your blog listed on Alltop, but if it is, I’d recommend trying. I have received quite a few referrals from moms.alltop.com. What I like about this site, is that a short snippet of the post can be seen by scrolling over a title. More reason to make those first few sentences of a post really catchy!

3. AllMediocre

There is no way that I can mention Alltop and NOT mention AllMediocre! My friend Meghan started this blog promotion site in response to not being included on Alltop. It started as a bit of a joke, but it has really taken off. There are some really great blogs listed…you should click over there RIGHT NOW and get yourself listed!

That’s it. All those sites I signed up for and so few were even worth the effort! I am curious if anyone has had luck with other blog promotion sites…if so, please let the class know in the comments section.

The bottom line: Most of these sites are a huge waste of time and effort.

Moving right along to social networking sites…

With any social networking site, I think that you get out of it what you put into it. There are only so many hours in a day, so I recommend choosing just a few to devote your time. In the interest of time management, here are a few of the sites to which I belong, but devote very little of my time…Cre8buzz, Facebook, Gather, MyBlogLog, FriendFeed, Plurk (New!), Blog Catalog , Bumpzee, and Maya’s Mom. There is NOTHING wrong with any of these sites, I have just chosen to invest my time with ONLY TWO other social networking sites that I really enjoy. (Edited to add: Here’s a very timely post from Problogger about which sites people use the most.)

1. Twitter

There are SO many things I enjoy about twitter, like the ability to talk about myself in 140 characters or less! (Self-absorbed much?) Also, I enjoy reading others’ SUPER hilarious tweets. It’s fun to be a part of many different conversations, sort of like being able to flit from person to person at an uber cool party!

Recently I discovered twhirl, a twitter client that you download. It makes following conversations INFINITELY easier than hitting refresh over and over. A small icon in the lower right corner dings and tells you when those you are following have posted new tweets, tells you when people have replied to you, and when you get a direct message. You can also shorten URL’s, search for friends, and add friends. All from twhirl! As somewhat of a computer application dimwit, I easily figured out how to download and install twhirl, so if I can do it, you can DEFINITELY do it! As an FYI, there are many other twitter applications, I just happen to use twhirl, you may find you like another one better. Please feel free to share your favorites with the class in the comments section.

So how does can twitter help promote your blog, you ask? Well for one, you can promote your new posts via twitter. For example, you can say something like, “Blog tip sharing post at my place! You bring the beer! http://playgroupsarenoplaceforchildren.com…” Also, if you’re a WordPress user, you can install a plugin that does this for you. I know that I tend to click on the tweets that give me a funny, little tease about their blog post.

Also, twitter is a great way to become friends and communicate with lots of other bloggers. Being a part of the blogging community is, I think, VITAL to blog promotion. Twitter is one way to get yourself out there.

Now go on. If you haven’t joined twitter, what ARE you waiting for??? When you get your account, follow me…twitter.com/playgroupie!!!!

2. StumbleUpon

Technically, StumbleUpon is a social bookmarking tool, not a social networking site. However, I’m putting it in this category because it’s a place to interact with others and add contacts.

There is SO MUCH I have to say about StumbleUpon, that it’s going to have to be a post unto itself…next week. Here’s a little teaser, though. As a result of some of my posts being stumbled, I’ve received as many as 1,000 hits in ONE day. 1,000. Hits. In one day. Now I realize some of you reading are yawning and thinking, “1,000 hits? So what? I get that many in an hour.” Others of you are messing yourselves from the excitement of the possibility of 1,000 hits in a day.

Homework! (STOP groaning, it’s worth it…1,000 hits?? Remember??) I recommend that you download StumbleUpon’s toolbar. It will make what I’m going to talk about next week easier to understand. While you’re at it, add me as a friend! playgroupie.stumbleupon.com.

Share your favorite blog promotion and social networking sites in the comments section.

Until next week! Class dismissed.

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Blog Tip Sharing Project 2: Writing Tips

Written on May 31, 2008 by Jennifer in B.T.S.P., blogging

Disclaimer: In NO WAY do I feel qualified to give any sort of advice when it comes to writing improvement. My grammar is sketchy and my vocabulary is limited to words like “lame” and “awesome.”

Welcome back to class everyone! Did you all find a comfortable chair? You there…in the back? I don’t bite, you can sit right up front here!

Before I begin, I just want to say that I have read posts about WHAT people SHOULD and SHOULDN’T write on THEIR own personal blogs and almost all came off as pompous and arrogant. In NO WAY do I want to seem pompous or arrogant. These tips are merely things that have worked for ME.

Let’s begin! *clap, clap!* I think for easiest information digestion, I’ll just put these tips in list form. These are the things that I’ve done in relation to my writing that I think have helped increase my traffic.

1. Shorter paragraphs, with breaks between paragraphs are easier to read.

I cannot digest posts without paragraph breaks. They make me constipated.

2. If you’re seeking comments, talk about things that people relate to, include your readers in the conversation, ask them questions.

I like to think of Playgroups are No Place for Children as a sort of community blog. It’s not often that I write a post that is “deep,” but rather I write things that lots of parents would like to discuss also. Many of my posts ask questions or spur conversations, which I feel like creates an atmosphere where people feel comfortable commenting.

3. Let readers into your life. Be real, write from the heart with honesty.

4. Along the same line as letting people getting to know the real YOU, include pictures with your posts.

This certainly doesn’t apply to you if you would rather not post photos of yourself or your kids. Dooce had a great post recently that convinced me that posting pictures of my children is no worse than taking them in public to the grocery store where they’re exposed to LOTS more people than see this blog. I put a watermark on every photo of my children so that they are less desirable loot for picture stealing jerks. Also, after a post is no longer on my first page, I delete the photo from the post.

5. If you choose to use pseudonyms for your kids’ names, use a real name versus a cutesy name. It’s easier to relate to and follow their stories.

I have received quite a lot of positive feedback about changing my kids’ pseudonyms from Peanut and Shel to Carson and Ella.

6. Post frequently, but not too frequently. If you don’t show up to your blog, no one else will either…But! If you post three times a day, people are less likely to click through from their feed readers.

I’ve read some opinions that say you should ONLY post when what you’ve written is truly worthy of being read by others. Meh. I don’t necessarily agree. I’m well aware that all (most) of my posts are not award-winning works of art. It’s my blog and if there are some days that I don’t feel like honing my writing craft, but instead want to write a silly post, then I will.

7. Write about a variety of subjects.

I try to write about my kids one day, myself and my interests on other days, marriage occasionally, and anything else that strikes me as funny. I really do put thought into WHAT I’m going to post about, so that I don’t have twenty posts in a row about how irritating two and half year olds are.

If you have any writing related tips to share with the class, please leave them in the comments section.

Please…I beg of you! Please refrain from comments that sound like “Well MY biggest pet peeve about certain blogs is….” or “I’m too important to read about what you had for lunch!” Those kind of comments will give me stomach cramping.

Quick reminder…Blogging? It’s a hobby, no? We are allowed to write however and whatever we want on our PERSONAL blogs, right? Take these tips with an entire MINE of salt.

Is that the bell I hear? Class dismissed.

Part 1 is HERE.

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