Posting is Crucial To The Life Of Your Blog

Honestly, it doesn’t much matter to me what you write. Blogging should be a free flowing space where you’re taking risks, touching on topics you may not have ever touched, and being vulnerable in your own space. It matters more to me that you write.

In fact, I even encourage you to express yourself without writing.

Take my most recent student, Heather Haskins, who writes the blog Lighten Up. Heather used her blog to make video entries–also called vlogging.

Take another former student, Katie Linton, who writes the blog South Philly Silly. Katie sometimes drops the words completely and just goes with gorgeous BIG photos.

Or take a look at crime blogger Alexandria Goddard of Prinnified.com. She blogged one sentence (and then received 82 comments) to get her point across.

If nothing else, use your blog to be an extension of you. But we’re not going to see what’s happening with you–neither are your readers if you don’t post.

Image: American Hell

From Blog Post to Feature

You are not sleepy...

Many of you showed interest in attempting to turn some of your more provocative blog posts into features. So let’s get right to how to go about this process.

1. Look through your blog posts and see what you think might be most relatable to an audience. Did a post get more traffic than the others? Did you feel like one post resonated more with you than the others?

2. Once you choose your blog post, remember to see it as a draft. It’s not ready yet.

3. Start the editing process. Isn’t it lovely that you’re already half way there? Whatever site you’re going to pitch it to is not going to want anything over 1000 words. Make sure your post works like a story and that your experience has a strong first-person narrative. Writing an essay is a lot like writing a very short short story. Keep the focus on the topic. I’m not suggesting that your blog post doesn’t have these elements, but you’ll need to get to the heart of the essay with conflict, etc. just as you would in fiction. Read Kevin Keck’s essay The Stepfather on Babble for an example. It’s one of my favorites, is very chatty, very blog like, but insanely well written. (It also happens to be very long. Do not follow this direction if you are sending your essay to a website.)

4. Take a look at different sites you might want to pitch to. Parenting? Check out Babble. Love? Look at YourTango. Broad interest? Check out Salon. In fact, Salon has an entire section called Open Salon and they often chose bloggers to promote on their main page. Something political? HuffPost. (HuffPost doesn’t pay bloggers, but the pay is getting traffic to your blog.) Feminist? Take a look at Jezebel. (Jez doesn’t pay for content, but they will syndicate and send clicks over to your blog) You can also sign up for a year membership with Mediabistro. They have a ridiculous amount of resources and I’ve used their How to Pitch series numerous times — with success. They also have a series called Personal Essays Market that is worthwhile. You do have to pay for a membership, but I think it’s worth it. They give you emails, contact info, what the editors are looking for.

5. Write up a query letter. This is going to take a lot of restraint. In the query, I’ve found the best luck in writing an excerpt or intro to the piece in the first graph giving the editor an idea of what this is about. This is your first graph and you must catch their attention here. Second graph tell them what the story is about and that its on spec (meaning, it’s already done!). Editors only want essays from new writers completed. Third graph tell them a little about yourself. Done!

I love this query example from the site Ask Allison. These are great pitches and she gets right down to it. (She no longer writes the site, but it’s still an excellent resource.)

Please send me updates about your blog, submissions and query letters so I can look them over for 4th submission.

Good luck!

Taking Risks on Your Blog

I feel like you all had a strong reaction to my last post about Your Blog As A Concept, so I thought I’d expand on one of the topics I covered: taking risks.

There are elements of a blog that are going to seperate you from other bloggers. One post that is going to get someone to click. To stay. To read more. To comment. Someone will read a title and find it interesting. But what will get them to STAY? It’s typically not going to be the common blog post about mowing the lawn, or heading to the beach, or how difficult work is. What does risky blogging look like? Here are a few examples of my favorites:

• A new mother on co-sleeping and your sex life.
• A 14-year-old girl obsessed with couture and who takes pictures of herself dressing up like the Royal Tenenbaums. (And who was subsequently befriended by Anna Wintour. You know. The editor-in-chief of Vogue.)
• A blogger telling a PR person who didn’t bother to do any research about her blog to f@#k off. To which she received 1170 comments.
• A writer who took a stand against writing for free.

Put yourself out there. Be honest with yourself and your readers. But more, be honest about what you want to accomplish. Be the author who is control of your blog and your writing. A blog is a place you can experiment because you can always delete.

(Image: WarholianPics)

Your Blog As A Concept

1

I’ve been talking to a number of you about mission statements. This led me to want to tackle a much broader idea in blogging. The concept. Your blog begins as one idea. But like any element of writing, this idea begins to grow arms and legs. Branches. Some of my favorite bloggers decided to cover much more than they started out doing. Or maybe their blogs cover much LESS. Blogging is an informal expression. An online journal. I asked you to all create a mission statement because this is the smartest way to tackle a writing project, by asking, and then answering your question, what am I going to write about?

2

My amazing Lesley mentor, Hester Kaplan, said when writing a short story you should ask yourself the same question Jews ask during a Passover seder: Why is this night different from every other night? Apply this to blogging. Why is my blog different from every other blog?

3

With that said, you must feel comfortable about what you’re writing about. You also need to be your own shape-shifter (has Harry Potter seeped into my mind? Or is this reference from another movie?) when it comes to blogging. You should test the waters. Don’t be afraid to be raw. Don’t be afraid to be serious. Don’t be afraid to be funny. Don’t be afraid to stray from your mission statement! Or, if needed, don’t be afraid to create an entirely new one.

4

Blogging as a concept is also why I keep pushing you all to use BIGGER pictures. 500 pixels, please. Because a concept is well delivered to an audience with images. Make your images bold. Convey a story. Pick something unusual. Find a photographer who is abstract. Use photos like a work of art. This is the feeling you’re capturing. I want to sink into your blogs. I don’t want to squint.

5

I also want you to experiment with your blog. See yourself as the artist of your blog — not just the author. Ask yourself: How would I feel if I landed on my blog? Would I know how to get around? Would I want to stay? Would I want to click more? Pretend you’re in a gallery and look at your entire blog as a canvas. The blog is YOUR place. Your Sesame Street. Your address. Use it as an expression of yourself (or your character if you’re writing a fiction blog) and commit to it.

6

Is it time for you to take a stand? To make a declaration about yourself or about your blog? Is it time to talk about a personal event that changed your life? Don’t be afraid to be edgy or political. People might not like it, but it will set you apart from the rest. It will allow you to show conviction. It will define you.

(Image: daveknapik)

Why Good Titles Will Draw Readers To Your Blog

A great title can be as simple as this. "Reasons to Love New York. (Especially Right Now)" It's a service and a personal experience.

Imagine if this post read:

“Titles”

Would you click on it?

What if it read:

“Important Stuff”

Would you click on that?

Titles are a lot like the opening sentence to a great work of fiction or essay. It gets the reader engaged immediately and hopefully gets the reader to click onto your blog post. There are millions of blogs on the internet. A good  title is going to stand out among other blogs and like a well-written query letter to a potential editor, will convince a reader to click on your site before abandon ship.

Here’s what a good title will entail:

1. A service

According to the website Problogger the number one technique in creating a title is to “create a benefit.” In the magazine world this is called a service. It allows people to understand very quickly what the story or blog post is about and what it means to them. Of course, this isn’t always going to apply what you’re writing about, but if you have the chance to create a benefit–then by all means, do so.

2. A personal experience

Not all titles need to be a service. Confessional and experiential titles also work. A title I used for a guest post on my blog read: My Mother Asked Me To Grade Her–And I Gave Her An ‘F’

Sound a little dramatic to you? It was. The story was about the writer’s realization that she harshly judged her mother as a parent, even though she (the author) made similar parenting mistakes. In the end, the author was forgiving and realized that she had been hard on her mother.

Maybe I could have come up with a title that read: Don’t Judge Your Parents Until You Have Kids of Your Own. But I liked the controversial element of the title. Also, it was the writer’s personal experience–she literally told her mother “I give you an F.” So I used it.

3. Keywords

Keywords are part of your experience as a blogger because they are the words that you will use to draw people to your blog. They are also the words that search engines will pick up. Researching key words shouldn’t be the only reason you create your titles, but it does give you more power over your search engine optimization (SEO).

You can start by going to Google Keywords to find out what other people are searching for and then create your titles –and write tags—based on what you find.

Click here for Google Keywords

Here is how to use it.

Do a search for your topic in the word box. I’m going to use Katie Linton’s blog entry on “peach pie” as an example. (Thanks Katie!)

You’ll see that 74,000 people searched for “peach pie” and there is virtually no competition. This is great news. If you search for something and it the competition green box comes up full then you are going to be competing with a lot of other sites talking about the same topic. If you search for a topic/word that comes up with barely any competition then it means the person searching for “peach pie” is going to be more likely to click on your site.

Katie’s original title read:  “Oh me oh my. Love that country pie” entry. It was a cute title, but I have no idea what the entry is about except pie. What kind of pie? Who is making this pie? Now that I’ve looked on Google Keywords, I suggested she change that title to: Georgia Girl Makes Peach Pie.

… and she did!

Google keywords is an amazing–and free–tool that you’ll use in your blogging. But it will not be the only determining factor of titles.

 4. Ask a question

In journalism, leading with a question is like taking an easy way out. It’s a poor form. It’s dumbing down of material. It’s dumbing down your audience.

In blogging, it’s engaging and helps draw readers in quickly. And if used correctly, it can be highly engaging–even comical.

5. Be poetic

A beautiful, warm, inviting sentence can be equally as engaging as a title that’s been coldly designed for maximum clicking.

Whatever you decide, try to create titles with awareness that are unique and have meaning.

Photos–Why Are They Important For Your Blog?

Remember the beginning?

 

A long time ago, (I’m talking 10 years), internet was all dial up. Photos were barely noticed or you had to wait forever for them to download.

Now the most successful blogs have photos. BIG PHOTOS.

It captures your readers’ attention.

See my tricks? Am I getting your attention?

 

It allows your readers to put an image to your text.

In the world of the internet where capturing someone’s attention is crucial, your photos are also crucial. Think of photos as little magical boxes that keep your reader (who probably has three other windows open) still.

 

Intrigued?

 

Two ways to find FREE photos.

1. Flickr: Creative Commons

All photos from Flickr through the creative commons are free. In return, you must attribute the photographer. Download 500 pixel photos by right clicking the image and save to your desktop. Then upload the photo to your post with Blogger or WordPress directions, depending what system you’re using.

2. Google images

Google images are fabulous because any photo is easy to find. They’re also a little trickier because photos are varying sizes.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION TIP: 

Learn this word. SEO. Search engine optimization. As a blogger you will see this word often. How do you get decent traffic from search engines? Tag your photos with your key words and it will improve your SEO.

Here’s an easy way. Fill in title, alternate text and caption when you upload your image to your blog. Google searches for words within photos and often, the alternate text and caption is the only reason a search engine is picking you up. Tagging helps readers find your site.

(Images: Jack Louis Batchelor)

The Who, What, Where, Why and How of Blogging

If he only could travel through time and buy himself an iPad.

The first step to blogging is understanding the fundamentals. It’s a lot like the properties of journalism 101. Here are the basics as they apply to blogging:

1. Who are you?

Blogging is a first person experience, therefore it’s crucial to make note of who YOU are on the site.

*Yes, this means even if your blog is about someone else.

*Yes, this means even if your blog is under a pen name.

To make sure users can put a face to a blog – use a widget to welcome them or just introduce yourself.

2. What are you writing about?

I asked all of you to write a mission statement so you can have a clear idea about your blog. Blogs that are all over the place in topic can do well – but most succeed if they have a strategy, a feel, a goal, or even a specific story line. You can stray from this idea (more on that later) but it’s good to have a focus. Write a small blurb on what your blog is about and place it in your “about” page on the top nav (which is the top part of your blog screen. Do this by creating “pages.” You should equally put a mini version of your mission statement in a widget explaining what you’re about.

3. Where are you?

Is the location crucial? If you’re writing a travel blog – YES. Write about where you are. Talk about why you are qualified to write this blog about this area.

Not writing a local or travel blog – your locale might turn out to be important. One of my favorite bloggers, Rebecca Woolf of girlsgonechild.net writes about her life as a reformed rebel-rouser turned mom of two (soon to be four). She also writes about Los Angeles because that’s where she lives. It’s given me a better sense of WHO she is as well. Make sense?

4. Why? 

Why are you blogging? Why are you telling us this story? Why are you important?

Viewers will click on to and OFF of your blog in a matter of seconds. Content is the main reason why they’re going to care, why they’re going to read more and why they’re going to come back.

Be creative about your why. Not every post has to be 1000 words. Write a short post. Make a list. Give us the why in 500 words. But whatever you do, be truthful to your reader and to yourself.

5. How?

You’re a blogging novice. You’re unsure about technology. You don’t know your way around WordPress. You never heard of Blogger. You don’t know how to link a word. You don’t know how to add a photo.

BE ADVENTUROUS.

How are you going to create this blog? You’re going to do it from scratch. You’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to play around with widgets. You’re going to follow tutorials. You’re going to search on google for unanswered questions. You’re going to search for answers on message boards – and maybe you’ll even ask questions on other blogs.