Blogging for Dummies Like Me

Sister Toldjah is a very good blogger and she’s been gracious enough to share some advice on building and maintaining a good blog, and good blog traffic, in a couple posts. Start with this post, bulleted for your checklisty convenience.

Then hop over to this post and scroll down a bit for a very good piece of advice on how to be a confident and strong writer. Here’s a bit of that:

Sure it’s very frustrating to post what you think should get the blog equivalent of the Pulitizer (ok, I’m exagerating a bit, but you know what I mean) and to have absolutely no one take notice of it – but the thing is, you have to remember that in the end, you have to blog for yourself. Whether or not one of the “biggies” sees it should be secondary to the enjoyment you get out of writing and posting it. Also, have a style that is unique to you. Don’t try and be like other bloggers. Your uniqueness is part of what will keep readers coming back to you.

Also remember this: A lot of linkage in the blogosphere happens by sheer luck: your trackback at another blog may get noticed, one of the bigs may stumble upon your blog by accident, Google may pick up the keywords in the title of your post and you get mega-hits from story searches, you may have placed an ad on a site that gets modest traffic that got lucky one day and was the recipient of an Instalanche – of which you will, in turn, benefit as well – but it takes more than just luck to keep readers coming back. It takes consistency. That’s something I learned about a year and a half into blogging. Just keep plugging away and your readership will grow. But again, make sure you enjoy what you’re doing.

I started The Shack over two years ago because I wanted a place where I could put my thoughts on the issues of the day. I did not intend for it to be primarily a political blog, but that’s the way my posts have gone, mostly because politics is the one hobby I have that I don’t share with a number of people close to me. I could blog more about music and gaming and religion – and I will, but more on that when I return – but I get to talk about those things quite a lot with my friends and family. Politics is that one thing where I need an outlet for the ponderings I have and The Shack meets that need. I’m terribly grateful for those readers I have who come here regularly and engage me in conversation because they are doing me a great service. They give me conversation and I do love good conversation. Ask anyone who knows me!

I occasionally wonder why it is that after more than two years I’m still bumbling along with a hundred or so hits a day when plenty of other folks get a gajillion hits a day despite having the writing and intellectual chops of a concussed, mitten-wearing gorilla.

But, you know something? In the end, my traffic really doesn’t matter. Sure, it’d be great to pull down crazy traffic numbers, or even the kind of numbers that Sister Toldjah does. It’d be nice to make a few bucks off of my work, even if it’s just enough to pay for the hosting, domain, and maybe even a little more web space to handle soe greater traffic. But it’s not terribly important to me. Sure, I’m just the slightest bit sad that the source of my biggest ‘lanches for the past couple of months has stopped blogging to tilt at leftist windmills and that I can’t seem to buy a link from the biggest blogs on the right. Then again, that would probably change if I shilled by blog even a little bit, right?

All that rambling comes down to much the same point that ST made. I’ve been blogging for as long as I have because I enjoy it, and for no other reason. I think that, in time, that will be the thing that brings me constant readers. It’ll work for you, too.

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Category: Blogs and Blogging