Showing a Little Bloggy Link Love
April 28, 2009 by Stephanie
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I have been crazy busy lately. Doctors appointments, a minor league baseball game that was cancelled after we took our seats, and a home school conference all conspired to keep me from reading my favorite blogs! But this weekend I managed to catch up on some blog reading and want to tell you about a few of my favorite posts on blogging.
Leo Babauta asks a great question in his post Essential Blogging Question: How Can You Help Your Readers Today. I think he’s right. Focus on writing content that’s useful to your readers and all the rest (traffic, comments, links, ad revenue) will occur naturally. That’s not to say there aren’t things you can do to help it along, but if those things are your focus, and not the content, readers will sense it and move on.
Another question I read this weekend was “who is a mommy blogger?” Jessica at Jessica Knows has given her thoughts on the definition of mommy blogger. She makes some interesting points about the moms who receive free products and earn incomes from blogging. I’ve already given my thoughts on the definition of “mommy blogger,” but I’ll just add here that there seems to be a split developing in the Mommy Blogger world between those who embrace the marketing opportunities and those who scorn them. What do you think?
Regardless of how you feel about marketing, you probably want to improve your blog. Even a “pro” like Melanie wants to learn more and is improving her blogs by participating in ProBloggers 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge. I plan on working my way through his assignments in June, when I have a little more time on my hands. In the meantime, I enjoy reading Melanie’s blog, and those of other participants, to see how they implement Darren’s ideas. Are you participating in 31DBBB now or plan to in the future?
Another method for improving your blog is to have someone critique it. Asking for constructive criticism takes courage but can reveal a lot about your blog that you can’t see! Stop by BlogCoach and ask for a critique by Angie and her readers, or read what they are saying about other blogs; learning from the mistakes of others is a sign of wisdom, right?
Angie also answers blogging questions on BlogCoach. Recently, she answered a reader’s question about how to transfer blog ownership. She includes some really useful links and suggests writing a contract to make the transition easier for everyone. If you are thinking about transfering a blog, you want to follow her links!
While I’m not planning to transfer my blog anytime soon, I am planning to move to WordPress. One thing I like about WP is all the great themes (or templates in Blogger-speak) you can choose from. If I were going to stay with Blogger I would switch to one of the WP-looking templates Angie at 5 Vinez Monkeys has discovered. If your blog is on Blogger, you HAVE to check this out!
Another post you should check out is Organizing Mommy’s article on forwarded emails. I found it pretty funny and issued several loud ‘AMENS!’ as I read it. If you have a friend, relative, acquaintance or co-worker who regularly sends you forwards, I’m sure you’ll nod your head in agreement with what she has to say.
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