Just a thought – about you
2 Comments »7th August, 2007; Category: Just a Thought
Here is another quote about life from that great philosopher, Ashleigh Brilliant:
Isn’t it a nice co-incidence that you are I are both alive at the same time.
Indeed it is.
It is amazing too that you, my readers (yes both of you), are coming so faithfully day after day to read my words of wisdom, wit and wonderment.
Go ahead and improve my day – leave a comment.
Your comment can just be a simple “Hi” or “So pleased to hear you are still alive” or whatever. You don’t have to be terribly erudite – in fact, just keep it simple today. My head couldn’t stand anything complex.
My head thanks you from the bottom of my boots.
Quick Blogging Tip: check all links
I made a small mistake in one of my posts last week. One of the links I included in the body of the text didn’t work. It was a crucial link too, one than took the readers to a vital page which would help then to do what I was suggesting.
I am grateful to one of my readers who pointed out that the link didn’t work. I was quick to correct it for the benefit of future readers.
Quick Blogging Tip: check all outgoing links from your blog to make sure that they take your readers somewhere – preferably to the page you intended – or they may end up somewhere else.
Promote your blog by participating in forums
Participation in niche forums is an excellent way of promoting your blog and finding new readers. It can be fun as well. The forums I participate in are also great educational tools; I’m always learning new stuff about my niche.
I’ve participated in one forum for over ten years and this is right on the topic of one of my blogs which is bird watching (often called birding). The forum is called Birding-Aus with over 500 people all over Australia contributing their sightings of birds here in Australia. I contribute to the forum reasonably regularly and it always generates some traffic and a few comments. This is because I always have a link to my three blogs in the signature line. People must be clicking out of curiosity.
Ask a question:
On some occasions I’ve deliberately made a post on the forum with a question and then with an invitation to answer it or comment on my blog, again with a link to the relevant article. This has also generated a good source of new readers and people prepared to comment.
A source of guest bloggers:
Forums can also be a source of guest bloggers on your blog. On one occasion I made a post on the forum outlining a birding identification blooper I’d made and invited others to share their similar experiences. Over twenty people contributed their bloopers which I used – with their permission – as the basis of a series of about twenty posts.
How to get involved in forums:
Darren Rowse on ProBlogger has covered this topic really well so I won’t repeat it here. It’s called Search for and join forums on your blog’s topic.
New contact form for this blog
A new feature on this blog for my readers is a Contact Form.
This will now be a constant feature on the side bar under the Contents heading. It is for my readers who wish to contact me via email for whatever reason – rather than leaving a comment or question in the comments section.
The usual comments section will remain of course. And you can also subscribe to my RSS feeds for both posts and comments. This facility is also on the sidebar.
How to participate in blog carnivals
Last Wednesday I wrote a post called How to increase your blog readership: participate in carnivals. Participating in blog carnivals has been very effective for me in reaching new readers and developing a blogging community around my niche. I recommend this process to anyone as a very effective way of also getting new links.
Several people have visited this site and have left questions and comments as a result of Darren Rowse’s project called 31 days to building a better blog. In my original post I didn’t answer the obvious question: “How do you participate in a blog carnival?”
How to participate in a Blog Carnival:
- Search for a carnival appropriate to your blog’s niche. For example, on my blog about bird watching (Trevor’s Birding) I have found several carnivals specifically dealing with birds and birding. A good place to start looking for carnivals in your niche is on the Blog Carnival index.
- Read several issues of the carnival to which you wish to contribute.This is to get a feel for the types of posts people contribute to the carnival.
- Write a post to contribute to the carnival. You can also use an old post from your archives but it should be fairly recent. I prefer posts that are not more than a few days old – or a week or two old at most.
- Send the link to your post to the organizer or host. This can usually be done either by email or via the organizer’s blog home page. Take special note of any deadline date and any special conditions.
- Wait for the Carnival to be published. This can be anything from a day or two up to several weeks, depending on the frequency of the carnival and how close to the deadline you submitted your contribution.
- Read the contributions to the carnival. The carnival hosts can arrange the contributions in any way they wish. It can just be a list of links with no comments. It can be in the form of a story with the links embedded in the text. I have seen some very creative approaches and this is limited only by the host’s imagination.
- Comment. Be sure to comment on the blogs of other participants. This will encourage reciprocal comments on your blog.
- Link. Make links to those blogs you found interesting. In many cases they will link back. Some even list all the links, just like Darren does on ProBlogger.
- Get ready for the next carnival. Most carnivals are held at least monthly, some fortnightly and even weekly. I never prepare posts especially written for the carnival but you could do that. I prefer to just pick my best post from the last week or so. Remember to submit your link in plenty of time (I’ve sometimes forgotten!).
- Offer to be the host. I haven’t done this yet but I will some time later this year. It is quite a bit of work but very worthwhile I believe. This would be an excellent way of reaching many more new readers and a bonus is many new links. Note, however, that not all carnivals allow hosting.
An example of a carnival
One really good example of a carnival is the one I contribute to every fortnight (when I remember!) It is called I and the Bird. This link takes you to a page which has links to all previous carnival hosts (an archive). The organizer also includes plenty of information about what a carnival is, how one is run, hints on submitting and hosting.
Start your own carnival
What if you can’t find a carnival that your blog fits nicely into? Your only recourse then is to start your own carnival. Be prepared for plenty of hard work, especially in the initial stages, but the rewards could be wonderful. Promoting your carnival in your niche is just one of the enormous tasks I would see facing anyone contemplating this move. My advice would be to start small with perhaps only three or four contributors who are prepared to support you in the establishment phase. This sounds like the start of a completely new post.
Related articles and links:
- How to increase your blog readership: participate in carnivals
- 31 days to building a better blog 2007 – on ProBlogger.
- Blog Carnival index – a good place to start looking for carnivals in your niche.
- I and the Bird home page – look through the archives for examples of an excellent carnival. This page also gives a lot more information about what a carnival is and how to go about submitting.