I don’t get sick very
often, but I’m sick today; not so sick that I can’t do stuff, but sick enough
to be whiny and to drive my wife crazy. So I climbed from bed, complaining the
whole way, and trudged to my office, making Maggie wish she had taken a
different day off to prepare for Easter.
I’m not 100%, but I decided to see if my sick
brain could learn something. I pulled up a course from
Writer’s Digest that I signed up for last week—Creating Engaging Blogs
by Dan Blank. I decided to see what he knew that I didn't. I found, it was
considerable.
By and large, my blog (this one) isn't bad, but he
pointed out little things that could make it better; not so much regarding
content, but more along the lines of appearance and function. One of the points
that stood out concerned the description of the blog … what it’s about, and who
might enjoy it.
Ooops!
Mine had
no description. And the more I looked at it, the more I realized I was lucky to
have any readers at all … not counting my family of course. I made them read
it. So I started changing things; the background, the template, and some of the
gadgets. I added a description, and changed a few other things. The cool part
about a podcast is the ability to pause it. I’d learned something and compare
it to my blog, pause the podcast, and fix stuff. Worked out pretty well.
Another critical point he brought out was the “About
Me’ page, or in my case with BlogSpot, my Profile from the Google site; another
aspect of a blog that I lacked. He stated that a blog should not be about ME ME
ME, but more about how it benefits the reader, and what the reader will gain
from it. I write about writing, the writing process, the journey to
publication, and occasionally digress to other things—both funny and sad—that I
have found interesting, or that have profound effects on me. I like to think my
readers enjoy these little diversions as well, but on the whole, I tell my
readers of my adventures in the land of writing and publication, and hope they
gain a bit of insight.
For example, somewhere in my blog is a post on reading excerpts before a crowd of strangers, and another on the things one might say when asked what their book is about. These are the things aspiring writers aren't
concerned with until they come face to face with them, so I point them out in
my blog.
If your profile is all about you, that’s fine, as
long as you tell the first-time reader how you and your blog can benefit them. Mine
was about me, not the blog, so I changed it. I expect I’ll get around to the
cool stuff I did later as things progress.
Best Regards,
DB
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