Well I’m a bit late to help John Connell with his session at BBC’s Glasgow HQ! But I like the blogging questions and think others would be intrigued by my answers. 1. How did you get into blogging? I’m sure lots of people that are very glad I’m blogger would be totally surprised by the fact that initially I really struggled with the concept of blogging — Why anyone would blog and why others read their blogs? It took almost…
Unfortunately it is very easy to misinterpret and/or mis-use any type of statistics. People often look at the number while failing to consider how the statistic was calculated or what it truly means. About Misinterpreting Statistics Here’s an example: Statistics show that 45% of the population can’t read the newspaper. Shocking literacy rates! Or is it? How many included in that statistic were too young to read, didn’t speak English, had some form of disability etc? What percentage of the…
People are now asking me about Blogs.mu in terms of school blogging programs so I’ve decided it’s better to clarify because most people won’t appreciate how very different Blogs.mu is from other hosted blogging solutions. But before I do it is important to point out, to ensure full disclosure, that I work for both Edublogs and Incsub (who own Blogs.mu). WordPress blog vs WordPress MU blogs When you sign up for a blog on Edublogs or WordPress.com what happens is…
A lot of the learning from blogging happens as a result of commenting and interaction between commenters. Comments that challenge views, ideas and thoughts or provide alternative solutions expand our thinking. Trouble is most readers are reluctant commenters, not because of lack of time, but because they feel uncomfortable leaving comments. Please leave a comment to demonstrate the power of commenting by sharing your thoughts on: Reasons why readers mightn’t leave comments on blog posts What makes a good comment? What are some…
First impressions count! Combine poor theme choice with a cluttered sidebar and you have a recipe for convincing first time visitors NOT to subscribe to your blog. They’re too busy being turned off to notice your great posts! Unfortunately sidebar clutter creeps up on most bloggers. So I thought it would be helpful to share the process I regularly use to declutter my sidebar. Prioritizing SideBar Decluttering What I do is take a critical look at my design in the…
When I leave comments on other blogger’s posts I like to be notified on any new comments that are posted. Maybe it is just me? But comments by other readers and response(s) by the blogger help my learning. Being notified of follow up comments means I can choose to continue the conversation by returning to the post to add further comments — this makes me a more effective blogger. Needless to say, after 18 months of tracking comments, I’m ‘quite’…
How you write your posts and its content is really important! But so are the pages on your blog! Did you realise that visits to your pages can be higher than your posts? But when was the last time you audited your pages and made improvements? Especially your ‘About Page’ since this is where new readers find out more about you, your blog and decide whether to subscribe to your blog. Conducting Page Audits The key with any page on…
Natasa describes interlinking archived posts as “a blogger’s day in hell!” Strong words but I can’t think of ANY blogging task that horrifies me more than working through old posts to add links to new posts. It’s incredibly time consuming! And if your main reason for linking posts is to get readers viewing more pages of your blog I’m not convinced of its benefit unless you have a high traffic blog where readers often visit older posts. BUT…if you want…
Day 2 in the 31 Days to Building a Better Blog Project is to Do a First Time Reader Audit on your blog. This is one of the MOST important tasks of the 31 Days Project. How you see your blog and what you write about is often totally different from how viewed by others. Take the time to do a Reader Audit of your blog even if you’re not doing the 31 Days Project; you will be amazed how…
Wasn’t me who said I’m currently unable to revisit Darren Rowse’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog while also reflecting on Steve Dembo’s 30 Days to Being A Better Blogger! Course I’m able! Simple… I will write posts about each task on this blog but based on my interpretation of what’s 31 Days 8) . Using Email For Relationship Building The first task of the 31 Days Project is to email a new reader of your blog. Why? Helps…