Blogging, a tricky affair ? Part-V
This series is on simple tips for making our blogs more reader friendly.
Don’t go off topic. There’s nothing wrong having a personal blog that covers many aspects of your life but if you have decided to start a blog with a sole focus that sets out to cover a particular niche (E.g. a mommy blog or a movie, cricket, travel or a pet blog) and you have been doing so, it can be quite frustrating for readers to suddenly see other aspects of your life in every second post. Occasionally it is okay to write some off-topics but try to stick to your main theme if you have defined one.
The remedy is to identify what you want to write about (the general idea) and let your readers know what to expect and then to stick to that topic as far as possible. Does your reader know what your blog is about immediately after landing on your blog ? How do you communicate it to your new readers ? Now, do you see something in top left sidebar here on this blog for new users ? 
Don’t be predictable. Now, this is opposite to what I said above. Don’t get confused by the two statements, they mean different. OK, you have a theme around which you weave your posts but never become predictable. Even blog with a single topic such as Cricket can be presented in so many different manners. List posts, tags, conversations, essaying, letters, scribbles, poetry, one-liners, photos… there are so many ways to present your contents.
Be different. Write a post instead of replying to many similar queries. I do this quite often on my travel blog. It is actually a good sign that people are approaching you for assistance. They see you as a trusted authority in your niche and someone that they want to help them. Earlier I used to reply to all comments. Then I realized when a newcomer comes to my blog searching for something, s/he generally doesn’t read the comments. So, I had to repeat my answers. Then I started writing post for such queries (But still many queries get replied thru mails).
One example here. When I was writing posts on different aspects of Goa, many of them started contacting me to know the places to stay. I was anyway going to write about it at a later date but then I had to hurry. Instead of replying to individuals, I wrote a post on different places/ways of stay with their costs and facilities etc.
That’s my way of being different. What’s your way ?
Question for you – Do you do any of these ? Or how do you deal with such situations ?
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Musings » Blogging, a tricky affair ? Part-IV said,
April 26, 2009 @ 12:27 pm
[...] To be contd here .. [...]
sumit said,
April 26, 2009 @ 4:11 pm
I do all of the above, or so I think. For the newbie around my corner, the heading says it all. Apart from that, I suppose I do vary the pace, the content enough to make people folks read through. The idea has always been to present my thoughts and I do that, through a mix of poetry, stories, meanderings, ramblings, updates, anecdotes n stuff like that. At times, keep it serious, at time the tone light hearted. sometimes, just a banter!!
What do you think? Do you know what to expect there? Is it predictable?
Rahi said,
April 26, 2009 @ 9:18 pm
i think thats the reason why my blog has many readers but none of them are very regular. because i go off topic. in fact i have no single topic that i write about. it is as my new blog name suggests Ityaadi or miscellaneous. do u think i still have time to build a niche for my blog now.
Cuckoo said,
April 27, 2009 @ 12:47 am
Sumit,
Yes, you do.
And you are doing quite well. Those snow photos are awesome. Sitting here in hot Mumbai I can only envy you.
Rahi,
You go off topic ? How do you say so ?
Your blog has variety, you should keep it like that. And I don’t know whether you have noticed or not, no. of readers/commenters on your blog has increased over a period of time.
But you should maintain a pre-determined frequency and work on other aspects.
Anyway, keep reading this series. I am going to cover many topics.
Peter said,
April 27, 2009 @ 3:25 pm
Very often we are very kind to each other when commenting! Many comments on many blogs are just, and often of the”nice photo” type. I guess this is normal for a pure photo blog, but personally I’m more attracted by blogs where there is something to learn (although nice photos can be attractive also, of course)! Some blogs are defintiely interesting also for the comments part (like yours).
Coming back to the somehow too kind comments that we may get, I think we should learn also, between friends, to come up with some real critics or suggestions for what we would consider as improvements. This has been more easy when you really meet (physically) some blogging friends, which I have had the pleasure of a few times now. Of course, you can’t please everybody … and somehow we also make the blog for ourselves. (Now, I have to think about what kind of critics and suggestions I could make to you! … and feel free to do so about my blog.)
shalini said,
April 30, 2009 @ 7:49 pm
Nice post! Finding like-minded bloggers is also important….the moment that happens, a blog’s readership is transformed.
Celine said,
May 3, 2009 @ 6:49 pm
Cuckoo,
I could certainly use a few hints from these posts.
Some day when you are free and up to it, do write a post on backpacking in Europe as you seem to have travelled quite a bit in there. Thanks in advance.
Cuckoo said,
May 3, 2009 @ 10:04 pm
Peter,
Yes, I fully agree with you on this. I have this in mind to write about too.
Well, I have given a suggestion on your blog ! And I’ll be writing about that as well.
Shalini,
That is always true. Sooner or later that is bound to happen.
Celine,
Yes, I’ll try to write about backpacking. Europe is huge. I have so many things to write about but doesn’t happen.
BTW, which posts are you talking about ? Which ones you read recently ?