I just got my 10,000th hit on this blog today. After 7 months of blogging, I still feel very new to this avenue of communication and networking. I have met some great people through blogging and new friendships have been birthed to this form of virtual connection. In fact, I have finally met some of you in person the past few months in various venues. Quite amazing to say the least.
I know there are several articles out there about blogging, but I was wondering if anyone of you had any personal insights into becoming a better blogger (whatever you consider to be “better”). Do you mind sharing? 
Special thanks to those who have interacted with me over the months on this site! I really learned a lot through your input [most of the time ].
This post is tagged Better Blogging, Blog, Blog Hits, Blogging, Communication, Network
4 Comments
I learn all I can from you!… was a myspace blogger for 3 years before really updating here in the adult world. there, it helped to be transparent and relevant to local needs of my group of 600 myspace friends. here, it’s so different…. still some transparency, but more of a global lens to my local context/or vice versa…..if that makes sense. also reading marla saunders at http://www.coffeeshopjournal.com and anne jackson at http://www.flowerdust.net sharpen up and stretches me a lot.
For me, bogging’s about personal expression.
I easily get bogged down in worrying how I’ll sound to this or that reader. When I stay true to myself (having my experiences in focus rather than my readers in focus), I come up with my most brilliant posts.
There’s some degree of censorship that is needed, undoubtedly more for you than for I. That’s a shame.
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Have you ever considered monetizing?
Great thoughts John and Josh…
John, you are too kind…:) I think you’re right about the “global lens” perspective. Blogs are definitely different than myspace or facebook kinds of communication. I will definitely check out the two site you mentioned.
Josh, I agree with you about being authentic. My experience has been the same as yours. And you’re right, I suppose there is a level of censorship I must be mindful of due to my current commitments…maybe one day, this will not be an issue at all.
I’ve thought about monetizing but wasn’t sure which ones were reliable and non-intrusive to those visiting this site. Any ideas?
Well, if you really want to monetize, you should consider making more posts like your recent Starbucks one (due to its popularity)! =d
Kidding.
But yes, I do have some ideas to share. Hmm. I’m trying to decide whether or not to send an email or spam all my text on your blog… maybe I’ll push the limits of blog-comment morays and post my thoughts here.
Before I forget, the 10k hits can be misleading. For instance, I read your blog posts from the comfort of my rss feeder, meaning I don’t come to your website. Do you know how many subscribers you have?
Okay, on monetization:
Yes, it’s a matter of putting ads on your page. With a well laid-out design, you probably would be able to do something unobtrusive. There are types that pay you per click of the ad, and others based on your web traffic stats. Either way, it takes… (I’m gonna shoot from the hip here) probably 10k hits a day to make a reasonable ($300/mo) compensation.
The hard part isn’t choosing the ad type, it’s creating a blog in which (many) others find value. There are a lot of blogging tips out there (let’s see on google… “Results 1 – 10 of about 1,810,000 for blogging tips. (0.28 seconds)”) but I find that many quality full time bloggers disregard many of the most popular tips. I think the point is that there’s no easy scheme in making something of quality. It’s true of everything in life. It’s about making something of rich and deep quality that other’s can’t imitate because it takes too much hard work.
But this is where I think you have a distinct advantage. Your professional creative accomplishments (lectures, sermons, curriculum, et cetera) already give you a wealth of content from which to draw. It may be a matter of you getting in the habit of making a blog post version whenever you design a classroom lesson or a youth camp sermon series. If you’re already going to spend 10 or 20 hours crafting your content, most of the work is already done for you.
Beyond the content, some effort needs to be made to efficiently direct readers from the web to your blog. Some of the best options here require some money (sorry).
I’ve thought about this in regards to you for some time now, actually. Now it’s off my chest and I don’t have to carry it around in my overcrowded brain anymore.
These have been general comments (and there are more to be said!), but I’ll leave you with a blogging detail, which I would have left in my previous comment if I had remembered it: some brilliant bloggers I know, including myself (did I just invalidate this paragraph?), keep a long list of blogging topic ideas in some text file. These are the things about which we mean to blog. When the inspiration or right circumstance comes, we have a bunch of ideas to draw from, and we can make choice decisions. This sounds really simple, but it’s been one of the most important blogging practices I’ve ever held.
Cheers.
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