Blogging is Fun!

I have had an exciting time this week networking, making friends with new bloggers from all around - sharing blogging ideas and tools. With yourblogtools.com up and running, I decided it was time to shift focus and concentrate on relationship building – and it has been fun. As a result of this move, I noticed three changes on this blog: An increase in traffic. A significant increase to my subscriber list. An increased activity in my post comments and discussions. To celebrate this excitement, I have put together a short video post which also happens to be my first :)

Catch the Channel Hoppers

This is a guest post from my lovely wife Yemi Lufadeju. A freelance Publicist. If you have cable television you're probably familiar with the feeling of channel surfing. You go through hundreds of television channels trying to find something that'll engage you for at least the next half hour, but then you find nothing and settle for the shopping channel. Blog readers are like channel hoppers. They have millions of blogs to visit and not enough time to spend on any one blog. It doesn't help that every blog has a different personality and character. So even if two blogs are on the same subject, chances are they present information from different angles - no two blogs are the same. So what do you do to make your blog stand out? Coming from someone who visits a lot of blogs by professional communicators - mostly journalists, there's really one key rule - keep it short, sweet and straight to the point ( a bit unlike this posting ;-) And how do you do that? Sometimes it's easier to start with a brain dump. Just off load what's in your head about a particular topic, on the page...(This always helps when you have writer's block) When you feel you've got nothing else constructive to add to the topic, read through it like you would someone else's blog and weed off everything that hinders the flow of your thoughts. By making your thoughts clear and coherent, and straight to the point, it quickly becomes a well-edited piece of work that communicates effectively with the reader. Very much like your favourite TV programme which you set alarms or record. Before you know it folks will bookmark your blog and visit each time there's a new posting. So do what you do well, and keep them wanting more.

Avoid Blog Destruction

In general, blogs live and breath on constant activity, once this element is removed – it’s pretty much game over. Blogs are very dynamic by nature and are constantly evolving - a reason why search engines love them a LOT! Let’s look at some typical blog activities; New Content (Frequent Posting) Tweets from Twitter Reader's comments (General discussions and reactions) As a result, your blog instantly becomes a breeding ground for discussions and interactions. However, the moment you cut-off food supply is the moment you hit the destruct button – A bit like flicking on the lights at a party – Party Over! Blog-Destruct buttons Let's identify some key buttons: • Irregular post frequency • Lack of quality content (Blog that no longer offer value to readers) • No call to action (Not instigating a conversation or readers opinion) I am sure there are many more blog-destruct buttons - some bigger than others. Try to avoid them. Do you know any others? Share your thoughts to benefit others.

What Sound Advice Have You Introduced to Your Blog?

There are a number of great bloggers out there, on a daily basis pumping out great advice and recommendations – from blogging practices to marketing techniques. Which has led me to think, how much of this advice are we actually applying to our own blogs? At times, a blogger can be bombarded with a wealth of useful information. In fact, I personally have them springing up from all angles - Google Reader, TweetDeck, Email Notifications and so on. This has led me to list  a few advice I have picked up and implemented. Blog: Mike's Life! Post Title: Eight ways to get more page views Author: Mike CJ In Mike’s post “Eight ways to get more page views”, A segment of his posts highlights the effectiveness of having Mini-bio on a sidebar. Giving visitors a quick snap-shot of who you are and a link to your about page. Blog: Lisa Morosky Post Title: How to Write Scannable Blog Posts Author: Lisa Morosky Lisa’s post points out the importance of making your content ‘scannable’ for readers. In this post, she encourages Highlighting major points. Use of bullet points or numbered lists Break up of paragraphs Blog: CopyBlogger Post Title: How to Stand Out in a Crowded Niche Author: Jonathan Morrow Now, this is a very encouraging post, especially for new bloggers. There are simply too much information out there. At times,  it seems everyone is talking about the same topic, but there are ways you can be creative about your own message. A crowded niche is not necessary a bad thing – there’s sometimes good reason for that. Blog: GideonShalwick.com Post Title: 37 “Must Have” Tools For An Online Video Marketer Author: Gideon Shalwick I love this post, and how Gideon carefully explains 37 must have tools. I also like the screen-casting tool being used here SCREENR. I shall be using this tool in the near future. Have you been encouraged by a blog post recently?