Alanz Eyes

8 Things every blogger needs to understand

July 9th, 2006 - Posted by Alan Howard

As you’re blogging, it’s always a good idea to keep these things in mind:

1. Every reader has an opinion - and they’re all correct.  At least, in their own mind they are.  Don’t be too sensitive about what people say on your blog.  Remember, they’re entitled to their opinion, especially if you don’t agree with it.  There are going to be people who don’t agree with you - does that make you wrong?  No, it doesn’t.  Just because you don’t agree with others, doesn’t make them wrong either.  Let them have their opinion, and use it to encourage discussion.

2. Posting the same thing as everyone else just makes you boring.  If you’re writing the same things as other bloggers, why would anyone be interested in hanging around your blog when they can get the information elsewhere? 
3. Posting unique content is how you get noticed.  Ensure that whatever they’re
   reading on your blog can not be read anywhere else.  That’s how you’ll
   keep visitors coming back. 
   
   
4. It’s better to have controversial posts read by people who disagree with you.  You want to provoke people into thinking about things they normally don’t.  Getting them to actually feel an emotion in some way - even an angry emotion - is a guarantee of encouraging them to keep coming back for more.  What inspires emotion inspires interest.
5. Only a few of your readers are going to leave comments.  Don’t expect everyone to feel inspired enough to comment.  Most visitors will read what you say and then move on somewhere else.  Only a tiny few will leave a comment about something you write.  The more controversial your topic, the more likely they’ll comment on it.  If you’re blogging to gather praise and acknowledgement, you’re doing it for the wrong reason.
6. The same people are the ones who will repeatedly comment on your blog.  It’s not a bad thing though, as it means you’re encouraging people to come back, and they’re inspired to discuss their opinions with you.
7. Don’t have a hit counter.  Knowing how many people have been to your site is meaningless, and no one cares.
8. Don’t complain about web traffic until you’ve taken the time to analyse your logs with a decent web stats package.  Understanding your traffic is important if you want to know how many people are visiting, what they’re looking at, and which sites they’re coming from.  Knowing these things can help you create more popular content.  I use www.statcounter.com which I find excellent.

Entry Filed under: Pre-2006