Ragamuffin Secrets To Successful Blogging
Some would say I have built a fairly successful blog community around here.
Some would not.
But if you are interested on my take on how to build a better blog, here are my bullet points.
- Don’t post about your family. Most readers don’t care.
- Try and target an audience and write for them. Remember your blog is for others.
- Don’t talk about things you are not an expert at. You end up looking like a fool.
- Keep your posts short and to the point.
- Don’t embed videos on your blog. We have all seen them before.
- Embed videos on your blog, most people have not seen them before.
- Keep your posts long, with careful thought spread throughout.
- Take a stab at writing about things you are not an expert at. It creates good discussion.
- Write whatever you want without your readers in mind. They come to read what is in YOUR head, not theirs.
- Post about your family. People love to share in your personal life.
Woah. Wait a sec. I think I just contradicted myself.
Yea.
I don’t think there is a formula to successful blogging except not trying to be a successful blogger.
Once you try too hard to figure it out your blog ends up not being you.
And there is nothing worse than a blog written by someone who is trying to be someone else.
If you are boring, be boring.
If you are sassy, be sassy.
If you are sexy, be sexy.
If you are fat or phat, be fat or phat.
Unangle your blog and you will be much happier.
Just my thoughts. Share Yours.
Los
RAIN IT DOWN
I couldn’t agree more, but I disagree. I try to be myself, except when I am not. Great tips for blogging, but not that great. Nevermind…I will stop trying the contradictory thing.
thanks for the insight. As the genie in Aladdin says….”BEEEEEEE your self!”
quite interesting…being provocative for the sake of being “you”. nice.
I just recently walked this treadmill-like journey myself in a post on 5 reasons why I’m blogging, inspired by my self-imposed question of, well, why I’m blogging.
good thing posting about my family is on your list or i don’t think i’d have a blog…also i’d have to say that mine is probably 50%-50%, partly done for myself, partly done for others
.
BRILLIANT!
this post reps why I follow this blog. I spent two or three minutes re-reading the first two bullets that contradicted. I was thinking, ‘huh? is he on crack?’ then i kept reading and saw the trend. ha!
Now that was refreshing! That’s exactly why I read your blog….I feel like I know you Thanks for the insights.
Rich Butler
can you do no wrong?
We will never have the success you have because we will never be as cool as you are!
)
My blog is a pretty good success (among our church people) because I post skinny pictures of myself every Wednesday. They love to gawk at what their preacher used to look like!
During our last vacation I let them see their preacher with a mowhawk and bald. They get a real kick out of that kind of stuff.
Dave
I would add “have friends with cool blogs and then beg to be on them.”
I love it!! Alot of times I find my self not saying or saying something for the sake of my audience but that doesn’t last long. I have to be real. So, I wait, and I pray before I post some stuff that might start a fight. Sometimes God says no, but most of the time I think it’s good to get people thinking, even if they think I’m a fool.
it’s simple to me. write whatever you want to write. like what you write. answer for what you write. be happy with it…because you might be the only one reading it.
“Own your words.”
That’s what I’m about. Holla.
The key is….truthiness.
I followed your tips to the “T.” I wouldn’t ever post a bunch of photo’s of my family or ever talk about them on my blog, ever!
So I just posted a bunch of photo’s on my blog of my family. Other then the horrible layout (thanks blogger), it follows your secrets to the “T.”
Are you a champion or just popular, or, are those the same thing?
How do I know I am successful?
Is that only a numbers thing?
Not trying to be a smart@#%^, but I am really curious.
Do you have to have thousands reading to be considered serious or successful?
There are a few CEO’s out there who have wanted to jump into blogging…and then have their secretaries write for them. It doesn’t work that way.
Thank you, that was really helpful, I’ll try my best to do those things short/long posts and all
This was good. I started getting mad at you doing another “Here’s How To Blog” article and then of course you U-Turn at the end.
Loved it.
I can’t remember how I’ve stumbled across your blog but I really like your content. You are pretty raw and honest and I appreciate that about you.
I predict one day we will be pals.
Corey
thought-provoking
What if you’re boring one minute and dyn-o-mite the next?
(Well according to like 4 people on the planet alive right now I’m dynomite -does that count?)
I just post hot controversy topic titles to really boring theological topics no one cares about. For example: “X Stripper Found Dead In Church Closet” for a post about whether the personal hermenuetic is more important than the communal – you know…
That way I get a lot of traffic to my terribly unpopular blog. The ole bait and switch manuever.
encouraging as i try to keep up with the jones’…
Excellent reminders in your post and in the comments. For me the hardest thing to do is to let it all hang out, though that’s what people respond to the most and that’s why I started in the first place. Revealing, releasing, renewing. Thanks for the nudge.