Tag Archives: readership

Which service would you use to start a blog?

Posted on Tuesday 26 July 2011 by Alice • 0 Comments
Fairy Blog Mother: blogging help

Click my logo to ask me a question!

This was a question that was asked on LinkedIn. I took a look and blanched at the number of answers that were already there (which would normally mean my response would be lost in the wilderness), but then having read them I realised the question hadn’t been properly answered.

This is because there isn’t a straight answer to this kind of question. Of course I would recommend WordPress, but there are, of course, two kinds of WordPress, each with their own characteristics and special features.

The questioner needs to work out which one is right for him. Here are three questions he needs to consider:

  • Are you technically-minded?
  • Do you have access to a web-developer?
  • Do you want to use your blog to sell products or make money?

If the answer is yes to the above, then he obviously needs to use WordPress.org. This is an excellent platform to create a monetized blog or a blogsite to act as a CMS website, and the facilities it provides are second to none.

But if you are starting a blog on your own, without external help or a desire to monetize it, purely as somewhere to write or to promote your business more effectively on the web, then I would recommend WordPress.com.

Now I expect all the other blogging experts that answered this question will be be thinking that I’m crazy. Well, not really. You see, it’s usually wise not to run before you can walk. You can use WordPress.com to master the art of blogging properly and effectively before seeking out a web-developer to move onto WordPress.org. And don’t forget it’s very easy to transfer your posts and pages from one to the other, so all is not lost.

Meanwhile, while you are learning the ropes with WordPress.com, you’ll still receive excellent SEO, search engine coverage, access to social media, and an excellent and easy to use environment to learn all about blogs and how they work. Here you can build up your readership and following in safety, because WordPress is doing a lot of the work for you behind the scenes.

Once you’ve moved onto WordPress.org you’re out on your own, which means you’ll have to start working that much harder. But that won’t be a problem, because you will have gained a good grounding beforehand, allowing you to develop and grow, rather than floundering like a non-swimmer diving straight into the deep end.

Filed Under: Blogging help, blogs and blogging, Free Wordpress blogs

When is the best time to blog?

Posted on Friday 22 April 2011 by Alice • 1 Comment
Fairy Blog Mother: blogging help

Fairy Blog Mother

Everybody has different body clocks, so they choose their own time to write their posts. Some people get their inspiration first thing in the morning, others late at night once they’ve been suitably stimulated by various happenings during the day. Of course you can write your post whenever suits you, only to save it in draft for later editing or, if you’re sure it is ready, schedule it to go out at a more appropriate time.

So when is it a good time to publish? I find this varies quite considerably, according to which particular media I have ‘fed’ my blog post to, so it can be read by the audience that populates it.

It all depends when my readership is more likely to be participating on social media. With Twitter the pace is so fast your post could easily be superseded by other news as soon as it hits the Twitter-stream – unless your followers have set up their own streams which includes you in it. That’s how I keep abreast of the worthwhile Twitters so I can interact with them and follow their blog posts whenever they are published.

You need to work out when is the most favourable time your fellow social networking friends are going to be around to read your posts. Do you catch the early birds, the mid-morning browsers, the lunchtime feeders, the afternoon skivers, or the evening perusers. Ideally you need to schedule your post’s feed so it either catches the most popular time, or multiple entries to get a better chance of being read at another part of the day.

Feeds to other social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn will allow your post to be visible for longer before it is usurped by its successor, and subscription posts that are sent to email inboxes or search engine reader pages will languish there quite happily until they are read.

And a post’s journey is not finished with the subscriber – the practice of sharing posts, through Twitter, social bookmarking sites and natural referral techniques will prolong the life of a post so it can reach another form of readership.

So the answer is to find that ‘optimum’ time that will spark off the chain reaction to send your post on its merry way, as it transverses across the world wide web in pursuit of both new and tried and trusted audiences.

Filed Under: blogs and blogging, Free Wordpress blogs, increasing business visibility, Self-hosted Wordpress blogs, social networking

Should your posts have a personality?

Posted on Monday 4 April 2011 by Alice • 0 Comments
Fairy Blog Mother: blogging help

Fairy Blog Mother

It doesn’t matter whether you’re blogging for pleasure or business, it is how you communicate with your readers that will determine your blog’s success.

How your posts are written may depend on the niche, subject matter or industry you have chosen, but you should not lose sight that a blog is not merely an online diary, or somewhere to write articles to get them published on the web, for more people to read your work and to expand your online presence.

Unfortunately that kind of stuff is incredibly dull. For me a blog should not be boring, it should be somewhere to inspire your readership, cultivate your knowledge, practise your passion, explore your expertise, strive to succeed as ‘the’ thought-leader in your chosen subject – and all this hard work will show up in your posts, making them readable and more likely to be shared.

And sharing is important! A blog should resemble a community, or the ‘hub’ of your business, somewhere for you and your readers, followers and subscribers to communicate. It doesn’t matter whether they are potential customers or not, who knows what influential person may read your posts and share them amongst his colleagues? And remember ‘every’ reader is equally important, not to mention valuable, so make sure your posts reach out to everyone who visits your blog.

Ideally you should be ‘talking’ to your audience through your posts. For me, ‘talking’ is the operative word, as good and readable posts are ones that ‘communicate’ with their readers, rather than preaching to them. When I write my posts I try to make it as if I am holding a conversation with my readers, with me desperately trying to type it down fast enough before it disappears into the ether…

And this ‘hub’, this ‘community’ your blog is trying to emulate, make it so that anybody who is interested can visit to read what’s on offer, and can feel free to participate. It’s the commenting on the latest post or adding their pennyworth to an existing discussion that makes a blog come alive! Cultivate these conversations by putting in a personality into your posts; make them encouraging, informative, friendly and accommodating  – and add in a leading question or call to action to prompt a response too!

Filed Under: blogs and blogging, Free Wordpress blogs, Self-hosted Wordpress blogs, Writing tips