How to increase your blog readership: participate in carnivals
One very effective technique I’ve used to increase the readership on my blogs is to participate in various carnivals relevant to the topic of each blog. Carnivals are an excellent way of getting exposure in your particular niche.
I see the following benefits:
- People in your niche become aware of your blog.
- It is a good source of developing incoming links.
- You discover other blogs in your niche and by reading their blogs you discover new ways of writing about and presenting your subject.
- Many of those reading your blog for the first time will leave comments.
- You become part of the community in your niche.
While I don’t see huge inflows of traffic from participating in carnivals, I do see a strong bond of loyalty from those who participate in the carnivals. We visit each other’s blogs frequently, we leave relevant comments and we make links back to each others articles where relevant.
Related articles:
- Trevor’s Birding – from the archives of my birding blog.
- Trevor’s Travels – from the archives of my travel blog.
Links:
- Blog Carnivals – an index of over 2000 carnivals for bloggers on many different topics.
- 31 days to building a better blog 2007 – the inspiration for this post came from this article by Darren Rowse.
UPDATE: I have written a follow up article in answer to the questions left by people commenting on this post. It is called:Â How to participate in blog carnivals – I hope this answers a few questions.
Back to writing again
It has been a while since my last posting on this blog.
Three weeks in fact.
I’ve been busy – very busy. We’ve moved house. We still live in the same house but we’ve moved the furniture around in three of the rooms. I now have a “new” office. It is much more spacious than my old office and the view through the window is great though I now realise that the garden needs some tender loving care.
The move included emptying the old office completely ready for new carpet to be installed. We had furniture everywhere for a few days. Then we had boxes of gear piled up everywhere. Gradually things are taking shape again and we are gradually getting organised. I must post a photo of my new office; the bookshelves look most impressive.
Another interruption to my writing occurred last week. We went away for a short five day holiday with our daughter. This was far too short but still the experience has given my writing a great boost. Over the five days I gathered plenty of material for writing. The seaside has this special effect on me.
There was an interesting side issue to the break away from home. I took my laptop with me intending to do some writing while away. I never took it out of its carry bag! Instead I managed to read half a novel, the first time I’ve done this in many months.
Making your writing more readable
Most writers aim to communicate with their readers.
For your writing to communicate with your readers, it needs to be readable. For a text to be readable it has some – if not all – of these characteristics:
- It must be easily understood.
- It must be free of errors.
- It must keep to the point.
- It must be enjoyable or meet a reader’s need.
- It must be concise, not rambling on unnecessarily.
Related articles:
- 5 Rules for effective writing
- Easy reading and the art of writing
- Five things successful writers do
- Top 5 writing hints
- 23 ways to become a better writer
This article was in response to an article posted by Raj Dash on the Performancing Blog. The article is called 7 suggestions for making your blog writing more accessible. My thanks to Darren Rowse for this link.
Do you blog for yourself?
I’ve been blogging now for about 15 months. Actually it’s longer than that on one of my other blogs (See Trevor’s Birding) but that was on another platform.
I find that blogging for myself is very satisfying as I see the number of articles mounting into their hundreds with over 400 on this blog and over 500 on my birding blog. It is also satisfying to see the number of comments steadily increasing each month along with the total number of visits. On my three blogs I have a total number of visits of over 500 per day. This is very encouraging.
It is also encouraging to see my writing skills developing the more I write. I can now “write on demand” knowing I have set myself a target number of posts to write. I also set myself a target number of words to write every day. I’m a little short of this target but not far.
Writing for others:
A growing trend with blogging is to write for other blogs, such as a network of blogs. My son recently challenged me to consider doing this but I haven’t yet taken the plunge. I almost did a few weeks ago when an opportunity arose on a topic I could have written with my wife. I didn’t apply and the position was filled. I can see some advantages in writing a blog for a network, for example. Some of these advantages are:
- All the technical stuff is taken care of.
- Regular income.
- An expectation of regular posts – this is great for discipline.
- The benefits of being in a large network – some of the promotion is done for you.
- A sense of community within the network.
At this stage I don’t think it is for me – unless someone out there has an offer too good to refuse. Remember – I have the time, I have the skills and I have the track record.
To read more on this topic read this article: Blogging for yourself vs. Blogging for others on Darren Rowse’s Problogger.
Just a thought – about writing, life and everything
“Isn’t it sad that so many people are never where they really want to be.” Ashleigh Brilliant.
Where do you want to be?
Where do I want to be?
This is An Interesting Thought.
For far too many people they really do not want to be where they are at present. I heard of a recent survey of people here in Australia that revealed that a huge percentage of people not only don’t like what they do, but that they actually hate their work. I can’t remember the percentage, but it was something like 80%. This has huge implications for managers and corporations.
Where do you want to be with your writing?
Are you happy with where you are heading with your writing? I would guess that most writers are happy just being a writer; the alternative is working in a job that shackles you to a desk or a bench or a counter in a shop. That can be a nightmare to put up with on a day by day basis. A daily job can be so exhausting that there is nothing left in the creative tanks when you get home at night. I should know; I tried teaching AND writing for 35 years. I didn’t work and it caused much frustration.
Where are you with your blogging?
The demands of blogging can also have some inbuilt frustrations. Many blogging gurus suggest at least one post every day, some promote the idea of doing more than that. Many bloggers get frustrated with lack of traffic and little income. They start off in a flurry of activity and soon realise they’ve run out of ideas. Blogging becomes just another job with poor returns for effort made.
The Secret of Success with Writing and Blogging
The secret of success in the writing life and in the blogging life is that there is no secret.
Sure, there are hints and tips and strategies and ideas that can help you along the way, but the only sure way to success in writing and blogging is the same as in most other pursuits – hard work, persistence and a never give up attitude.
Links:
- Brilliant Thoughts in Seventeen Words or Less – Ashleigh Brilliant
- Just a thought – more thoughts in this series I have written.
- Just a thought – about writing and life.
- Just a thought – the trouble with work.