Content Writing & Copywriting Blog

Is the future of blogging shaky?

Aug 05, 2008 2 Comments »

I was reading this blog post on Read/Write Web and it seems people are already suggesting how you should cope with the demise of blogging. Is blogging really fading? It depends on whom you are asking and who is blogging.

When considering this question you shouldn’t take blogging as a simple term or an activity; blogging is a form of communication no matter what you are communicating and how you are communicating. Just like any application or activity blogging too is going through a transformation. There was a time when there were very few blogs and very few readers. Then came a time when there were very few blogs and many readers. This phase proceeded to a stage when there were lots of blogs and lots of readers. The last stage obviously creates lots of competition, lots of repetition, and consequently lots of weariness. This is the reason why many bloggers feel that the popularity of blogging is fading to an extent.

If you go by the numbers and statistics then you will surely feel that but if you see blogging as a utility, a tool, that you can use to spread your message and to communicate to people who are eager to listen to you then blogging is still the most potent application you have got. If you cater to an audience that is fad-centric instead of personality-centric or value-centric then you will very soon lose that audience as soon as a new fad appears. Something like, some bloggers feel that they have been gradually losing their audience due to YouTube and Twitter. If this is the case in your blogging too then you needn’t worry because that audience anyway didn’t belong to you; it was simply there because it had nothing better to do.

As long as you keep on providing relevant content and keep the channels of communication flowing between yourself and your audience your blog is never going to lose its significance and place.

When’s the best time to post your blog entry

May 03, 2008 4 Comments »

Does it matter when you publish your blog posts? On what days? This post at Read/Write Web says, according to a study conducted by Jake Luciani, that the best time to publish your blog posts is between 1pm and 3 pm (PST) and then between 5 pm and 7 pm (PST). And the best day is Thursday. Weekends are the worst days to post because very few people access blogs during weekends.

Jake used an RSS software API to study social bookmarking websites Digg, del.icio.us, Reddit and Mixx to arrive at this result. You can see the associated graphs on the Read/Write Web post.

Does it mean you shouldn’t post regularly? I don’t think so. Although such data helps you target certain audience, I think any time is good to post provided your post is relevant and useful. Social bookmarking websites are not good indicators of traffic trends (in the real sense) because the dynamics are totally different. Most of the time it’s the herd mentality that causes traffic surges through these websites. Real traffic, valuable traffic, is gradually built, one post at a time. I’m not saying that traffic from social bookmarking websites doesn’t matter, but you shouldn’t judge your blogging success by the amount of exposure you get from these websites.

Provided your blog content is relevant and useful, your readers will go through it as soon as they get a chance, and that can be any day, at any time.

Should you display your RSS feeds counter on your blog?

Mar 04, 2008 No Comments »

This is the question dosh dosh is pondering over on his blog (he has the feeds counter displayed on his blog by the way). Why do people put their RSS feeds counter on the blogs? Is it to show off how many RSS subscribers your blog has? I don’t see anything wrong in such kind of show off.

Maki (he publishes dosh dosh) argues that he doesn’t want people to subscribe to his RSS feeds just because he has high number of RSS subscribers. I think displaying your RSS feeds counter makes good sense because it shows your visitors, especially the new visitors, how many people trust the content on your blog. Even initially if they subscribe to your RSS feeds just because they’re impressed by the number they will end up reading your posts eventually and I think this is good, isn’t it? You’re not misleading them; you are just trying to make sure they don’t miss the updates on your blog.

Blogging, written, textual blogging, is all about readership. The more readers you have the more successful your blog becomes, and the more successful your blog becomes, the better content (ideally) you want to present on your blog, the better the content on your blog, the greater is your readership. So it all becomes a cycle, and displaying your RSS feeds counter is just a small part in this whole entire big affair. Whether we like it or not there are a few people who are driven by numbers. There is nothing wrong in prompting them to subscribe because if they don’t like your content they will simply unsubscribe. So there is no harm putting your RSS feeds counter on your blog. What do you think?

Side note: instead of leaving comments on other blogs I have decided to create short blog posts on my blog with links to the posts I intended to leave comment on. This way I will be able to generate more content for this blog as well as send trackbacks to other blogs. Also I feel freer expressing my thoughts on my own blog rather than posting one-liners on other blogs. I won’t be doing it all the time but most of the time I will. Some blogs don’t publish trackbacks but still personally this seems to be a better idea.

How can you make your blog content interesting?

Feb 20, 2008 No Comments »

This is the post that triggered this thought. How interesting is your blog content? Does it keep your readers engaged for a long time? Does it bring your readers back to your blog again and again? What actually defines "interesting"? Different people have different definitions but you can call your blog content interesting if it

• Is highly useful, relevant and contemporary
• Is presented deftly
• Interacts with your readers
• Solves different problems and delivers timely solutions
• Encourages conversations

Let the readers of this blog know what keeps your blog interesting. I just now came across Maki’s excellent post where he gives his own perspective of what is good content.

Every business should have a blog and can have a blog

Feb 13, 2008 No Comments »

Andy at BlogHerald recently commented that the businesses that are not able to run blogs should not run them and to a great degree I agree (and therefore, don’t). He has listed 5 reasons why most business blogs fail to take off

1. Lack of fresh content on a regular basis
2. Not enough RSS subscribers
3. Not enough comments
4. No contribution in terms of traffic to the main business website
5. No clue about promoting products and services through the business blog

These are valid reasons for the failure of a business blog. But it doesn’t mean that the businesses that cannot manage a blog should not have a blog. Your business blog can act as an invaluable tool whenever you decide to use it. You can even promote your products and services when your blog has kicked off. All the above 5 drawbacks can be easily countered by hiring capable people. For instance you can hire an experienced writer/blogger to generate regular quality blog posts and he or she may not even cost your business much if you simply outsource this portion (generating content) of your blogging activity. There are many individuals who can take over the complete management of your blog right from providing fresh content non-stop to interacting on other blogs on your behalf. I think some people are already doing this — providing this as a total turnkey solution.

I don’t provide the complete business blog management service but I do write blog content for many business blogs on weekly or monthly basis and those blogs are doing quite well in terms of all the 5 factors mentioned above. Having a blog doesn’t always mean doing everything on your own. If you decide to use your blog as a business-promotion tool then hiring someone who can manage your business blog any given day is a smart business investment.