Today and tomorrow I’ll do a two-part series covering common problems that bloggers have, with solutions for each. Today we’ll cover personal blogging, tomorrow we’ll look at business blogging. Here’s five common problems with personal blogs and how to fix them:
1 – How do I find the perfect photo to add to my post? Go to Flickr. Search for pics that have a creative commons license that allow you to use them, and give proper attribution. BTW the pic to this post came from Flickr as do many of the amazing pics you’ll see here.
2 – How much information should I share on my personal blog? For a personal blog, this is really up to you. *I* would advise you to always have your picture on the front of the blog, preferably the top right corner. An About page explaining the focus of the blog would be nice. If the blog is highly-trafficked and gets a lot of comments, a comment policy might be a good idea as well.
3 – How do I get more comments? I have written a ton of posts about how to get more comments. Here are a few quick tips:
- Ask.
- Leave posts open-ended, with a ‘What do you think?’ type closing that invites the readers to share their opinion.
- Comment on other blogs. Works every time.
- Take a definitive stand on an issue. Switch between this and leaving posts open-ended.
- Reward frequent commenters. Name a ‘commenter of the week’, or add a plugin like Comment Luv.
4 – How do I get on a blogging schedule? Oy. This one can be tough, because it mostly comes down to a time-management issue. One piece of advice is don’t set the blogging bar too high for yourself. If you try to commit to a new post a day and you just can’t do it, you’ll probably lose enthusiasm for your blog pretty quickly. But if you start out shooting for once a week, and a month into it see you can crank out 2-3 a week no problem, then you can ramp up the writing.
Another suggestion is to have a ‘series’ every week. Like every Monday share your 5 favorite posts/articles from the last week. Or on Friday share your favorite parenting blog with your readers. If you add a series post once a week, then you know that you’ll have at least one post a week, and it can take a big weight off your shoulders!
5 – How the hell do I figure out what I want to write about? Remember that a personal blog is for YOU. It’s not for me, it’s YOUR sandbox, and if you aren’t getting enjoyment out of it, then you probably shouldn’t be blogging. Write about what moves you. It can be your family, politics, or your old video game collection. And guess what? You can always make it private so only YOU get to see it? It can be your online diary, or it can be your online window into what’s important to you. You can post once a day, or once a year.
So when you pick the focus of your personal blog, your only goal should be creating value and enjoyment for YOURSELF. Then write with that in mind, and on YOUR terms.
Does this list help? Are there some common problems with personal blogging that I missed? Let’s discuss them in the comments!
Pic via Flickr user kevindooley
Mack, you provided excellent solutions. One other thing for us personal bloggers to keep in mind, unless we have it in a private community, it is available for our families, friends, colleagues, children, spouses, etc. to read, share and comment.
Happy blogging everyone!
.-= Shannon Renee´s last blog ..Valuable Information 😉 =-.
Mack, great advice. I spend more time visiting other blogs, tweeting, and making connections than I do blogging. I have found that it adds up to so much more than promoting my own blog: I now have friends all over the world, I have many more ideas about what to write about, I am learning something new every day, and I am having WAY more fun than any of my friends who are in their 60’s. (but remember, 60 is the new 50). I will talk with you in blogchat this weekend. molly
.-= molly campbell´s last blog ..INSPIRATION GENERATION =-.
Thank you thank you thank you for the Skelliewag link for finding Flickr photos-QUICKLY! This little piece of my blog takes me the most time.
Cynthia Bailey MD
http://www.otbskincare.com/blog/
Good post. It nicely sums up the core items eveyone wonders about. The commenting thing drives me nuts. The thing I know I should do much more of is commenting on other blogs (like this). That is another time management piece for me just like witting on a regular basis. Thanks for the post. I’m looking forward to tomorrows.
Are there any “how to get blogging” courses out there people would recommend?
Fiona here is the beginning blogging course that Ann Handley and I put together for Hubspot 😉
http://inboundmarketing.com/university/how-to-blog-effectively-for-business-gf101
Mack
Great suggestions. Big fan of #4 — I know that once I started my Three For Thursday series it took a real weight off because at least once a week I didn’t really have to *think* about what to write..I just had to pull up my Three For Thursday bookmark and find the three things I wanted to highlight.
And on a side note, I think it has helped my blog traffic as certain folks have really taken to it and tend to share it and RT my Tweets promoting it.
@TomMartin
Tip #1. on images is great.
Here’s another free image resource website that enables bloggers to embed tagged images in their blogs. http://www.tangeloimages.com
Here’s one of my blog examples: http://squaretails.blogspot.com/
Tagged images do more than static images, they deep-link the people, places and products inside the image that are relevant to your posts. Tagged images are searchable and help drive traffic to your blog as well.
Thanks for the insight Mack.
Look forward to more posts and tweets.
(Full disclosure; I am also co-founder of Tangelo)
I know that once I started my Three For Thursday series it took a real weight off because at least once a week I didn’t really have to *think* about what to write..I just had to pull up my Three For Thursday bookmark and find the three things I wanted to highlight.