What are some tricks and tips you'd like to share with the Bloggers of RallyPoint?

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 03 May 2015 19:28:47 -0400

I'm learning something new every day to improve my IT skills and blog - JtSpratley.com/blog. What would you like to share or learn regarding blogging?

Response by LTC Stephen F. made May 3 at 2015 7:46 PM

LTC Stephen F. — Sun, 03 May 2015 19:46:15 -0400

1st - Only post information that you would not be embarrassed to learn had been revealed on open forums, newspapers, news reporting or tabloids.
2nd - Read, edit, and spellcheck before you post.

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made May 3 at 2015 10:24 PM

Capt Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 03 May 2015 22:24:11 -0400

SGT Private RallyPoint Member, for me it's the simple things. Replying to everyone - comments, related FB posts, tweets, emails, etc. Being gracious and courteous to your readers, and always maintaining professionalism. I am also mindful of my words and how they might look to my superiors. I detail many of my experiences, but I am cautious of how/if I word things that are unfavorable, or if I leave them off completely.

Response by Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. made May 4 at 2015 1:58 AM

Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. — Mon, 04 May 2015 01:58:58 -0400

If your going to blog - regardless of topic - decide:
1) Am I willing to follow through and to be committed to a schedule either daily, every other day, once a week, etc. to both post to my blog and to comment or followup on comments.
2) Why am I interested or committed to the topic, issue or agenda, I will be blogging about.
3) Am I attempting to use a blog, instead of a website to sell or to raise money? Problem.
4) Do you understand the use of and power of the Fair Use Doctrine.
5) Are you willing to learn the tactics of getting your message out using a blog. Writing or sharing something does not mean anyone will read or see it.
6) Have you considered that you also have to be prepared for success - because if people read you, they also expect you to continue.
7) Note, you do not have to pay anything to blog other than to potentially buy a domain name for your blog - no necessary; but if your blog becomes successful, you may wish you had done so. You do not need to buy products like wordpress to blog. All of my blogs - cost me nothing financially but cost me a great deal of time.

One of my blogs has over a quarter-million readers & followers and I do not pay for any support, and accept no income, have no paid ads and no tracking codes and subscriptions are free. My why - question above - was to have influence! It was not to make money. But everyone has their own reasons for blogging.

Success in blogging can be fun or even better yet meaningful. As one of the oldest bloggers (age and time blogging), I have used blogs for various purposes and agendas. The blogging was easy, the getting my stories promoted on the news networks and other sites, read by allies and foes, and promoted by others took time, building relationships with others and learning over time lots of inside tricks of the trade and being disappointed by a few people. Success has its cost and for me it required opening up to others by building a network of contributing authors to help meet the needs of readers and the various news services and others pulling the blogs feed.

Also, today it is also easier to share stories, articles and pictures today with the expanded social networks that did not exist when I began blogging.

Warning: once you publicly post something on a true blog or other social media, you can never totally recall it. Yes you can delete a post but that does mean it hasn't been copied, posted on other sites, blogs, social media etc. or archived somewhere else.

Jacqueem, Hope my comment was not too expressively long :)

Response by CPT Jack Durish made Jun 5 at 2015 12:10 PM

CPT Jack Durish — Fri, 05 Jun 2015 12:10:04 -0400

If you are blogging to simply pass time, have fun. If you are concerned with have it read, you need traffic. I have had significant success using the following tactics:

1. Use social media to drive traffic to your website. Twitter, Facebook, and all the rest.
2. Use questions in your blog postings to build interest (then blog to answer them and invite visitors to use comments to provide their own answers or comment on yours)
3. Use traffic building media such as StumbleUpon and Reddit to help build traffic
4. If your content is multifaceted organize it into categories
5. That which is readable is more likely to be read. Don't use fonts that are so fancy that they are hard to read. DO NOT TYPE IN ALL CAPS EVER. Do not type in all caps ever. (No look at those two statements and decide which is more readable) Also, all caps is like shouting at people and few enjoy that.
6. More on readability... Make sure that the contrast and color between text and background helps readability
7. Even more on readability... Narrow columns of text are far easier to read than long lines spanning the width of the screen
8. Build alliances with other bloggers to promote each others weblog

Finally...

Whatever you do...

9. Measure the results. Check server logs regularly. (If you use a hosting service that doesn't allow you to access server log entries for your website, find another hosting service). Use Google Analytics. Server logs can only tell you about requests that are received for your webpages. Google Analytics show you what users do with them.

Good luck