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09/13/2006: "Food for thought"
Today's How to of the day on my Google page is "How to Dissuade Yourself from Becoming a Blogger". At first I thought that I should have read this before I started, but then I remembered that I actually had dissuaded myself for four years before I started blogging.
Go to the article and just start following links. I just spent 15 minutes doing it and not one of them has been uninteresting. I wish I could link to all of the interesting bits. Ah, hell, I will in the extended text.
One that I will link to is an article about how to be a successful new blogger: "Building a Successful Blog Through Conversation" by Amy Gahran. It's got six relatively easy to follow steps that should allow almost anyone to create and maintain a successful blog. Even though I actively disregard 5 of them, I will include the steps (only the titles) with an explanation of why I do or do not ignore them.
- Focus: This is actually anathema to what I am about, especially in regards to this site. I suffer from the same affliction that many of my test-taking peers suffer from: jack-of-all-trade-ism. (It's a real word, look it up.) (
I can't believe you actually looked it up! You know, they took gullible out of the dictionary, too.) - Identify Your Target Audience: Honestly, I can't imagine why anyone would visit this site. I hardly even visit it. I guess if I had focus, this step would be easier.
- Who Do They Already Read?: Well, if I had a target audience, I might know this. My links to other blogs are pretty haphazard, so you can tell that I don' even know who I read.
- Pick Up on Current Themes: Okay, I occasionally do this and for the very reason that she lists it. I know that if I want readers, I need to focus on what's going on now, not what happened weeks ago. (Yes, I know how far behind I am on commenting on the U.S. News letters, shut up.)
- Comment Strategically: This item makes the most sense out of all them as far as what you should do to get noticed. Go to where your audience goes and comment. But since I don't have an audience, and therefore don't know where they go, I can't do this really well.
- Comment Often: The problem here is that I don't really like commenting on others' blogs. I've often thought that the major problem with talk shows is guests. I know what moron on the street thinks, I want to hear from the person who was savvy enough to get paid talking. That person has advice I can use!
Go to every one of these links. When you're there, follow some of their links.