Comments on: So You Want To Be A Blogger, Part Three – Creating Compelling Content

By: Roschelle

Roschelle — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:53:58 +0000

Great writing, passion and being a consistent blogger are excellent starting pillars for any new blogger to base their foundation on. There's so much to learn about blogging. I'm an open book trying to absorb everything I can. Really informative and well written post

By: Robert Granholm

Robert Granholm — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:43:10 +0000

Great post JD. This post opened up my apparently closed eyes to scheduling when to post. I don't have always have a mass of content ready at a scheduled time, but there's always something to reflect on during thelifedesignproject that will be useful to readers and myself…it will be easy to build into the system I already have as well. Thanks.

By: Diggy-Upgradereality

Diggy-Upgradereality — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:18:51 +0000

Heya JD!

I'm loving this series, very helpful and informative! Loved the title, clever use of alliteration

I agree that content is so very important, that is why you need to be passionate about what you write, otherwise you will run out of things to say after a few posts. Mostly I get inspiration for posts in random places, driving on the highway, eating lunch, shopping, and then i always grap a pen and paper and write it down before i forget the idea:)

One of the bigger things about blogging that I son't quite have the hang of yet is traffic and subscribers. I'm guessing you'll cover that in your next sections, looking forward to it!

Cheers! Diggy

By: jdbentley

jdbentley — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:07:32 +0000

If you want a more detailed list of posts (and a lot of other awesome information) check out the Problogger.com book (not the 31 days to a better blog workbook, the actual Problogger book). They go into more detail and their are more post types than you'd imagine.

Some people can make a one-way dialogue work, especially if its satirical and/or ranty. Proof: http://maddox.xmission.com/ If you can pull it off and perfect it, that would probably even be the best option. People who can do that are rare and blogs that are like that are rare (and awesome). You'd really stand out.

By: jdbentley

jdbentley — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:02:03 +0000

Yeah, definitely. I guess "honesty" fits into the "passion" prerequisite. The more "real" someone's story is, the easier it is for them to engage you. This is why Tim Ferriss and Chris Guillebeau have so many followers. They are so much more authentic than many bloggers because they aren't just preaching, they're practicing it then recounting it from memory with hindsight.

By: jdbentley

jdbentley — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:57:34 +0000

What I appreciate about Meandering Bohemian is that the content really holds its own. That design could be anything. You could pack in ads everywhere, choose clashing colors and make it a totally unpleasant experience aesthetically, but I would still go there. I'm not sure I know of any other site I could go to for bite-sized inspiration. Those yoga pictures made me feel relaxed just looking at them.

By: jdbentley

jdbentley — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:52:18 +0000

Regularity was an accident for me. I've never kept something up so well in my life. What made it easier after the first few weeks was that after getting feedback, comments and a modest following, I started to see it less as a hobby and more as a job.

By: jdbentley

jdbentley — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:50:20 +0000

After I read this, I thought about doing a followup about finding out what readers want. After some more thinking I'm pretty sure that would be a horrible post.

There's no magic to finding out what readers want. There's only two methods I know of to do it.

Ask them what they want. (Using surveys, IM, whatever)
Look at what has worked before.

It's really just about patience and tinkering. I'm glad you brought it up.

By: jdbentley

jdbentley — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:44:06 +0000

The only advice I would give about finding a schedule is to avoid posting every day. It takes a lot out of you and people don't care that much about you anyway, especially when you're just starting out. You'll likely overwhelm people if Feedburner is sending out an email to your subscribers every morning or if they open their reader and see several posts they haven't read yet. I'd stick with 2 - 5 posts per week.

The exception would be if you're a multi-author blog. Then it's easier to manage getting new posts up and readers would see it more as a "news site" than a blog.

By: jdbentley

jdbentley — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:39:33 +0000

Content is the only thing other elements can't make up for. Content can hold up a lackluster design (Proof: http://www.stevepavlina.com/ ) , but a design can't hold up lackluster content.