Darren Rowse has started another group writing project (If I had to Start My Blog Again) in his popular blog, ProBlogger. I am writing this entry as a part of this group writing project.
I have been problogging for just 4 months and now I have two blogs (SouthAsiaBiz and IndianRaj) at Know More Media Network, one of the leading blog networks in Internet today. SouthAsiaBiz is 4 months old while IndianRaj is just passed one month last week. My two blogs are advancing steadily with KMM Network and I am happy about the progress. The best side of working for KMM is that I do not have to worry anything about coding or design and I am not good at them either. Secondly, because of being a part of a network of 70 blogs, my blogs had good amount of links without extra effort from the beginning. Now, when I look back at the last 4 months, I realize that I have learnt some valuable lessons about blogging and I am a more matured blogger now than when I started. So, if I had started over again, I would surely do some things different. Here are some of them:
1. Planning: When it comes to planning, I am not the best person. In fact, I am not a very organized and highly self disciplined person. In blogging, planning is very important. Now, I plan a lot in advance and of course it pays off a lot. In the first three months of blogging, I did not plan much and this is perhaps the most valuable lesson I have learn about blogging. Now, I often plan in advance what I would write in my blogs.
2. Topic: In the initial days, I was not so selective about topic. I cover South Asia and India and after many trial and errors now I have better understanding of the topics that I should cover in my blog. So, if I had started over again, I would be more selective about the topics. I have noticed that stories with a human touch often get more hit and links. Of course, that does not mean that I should write all of my entries on offbeat topics.
3. Title: If I start over again, I would surely give a lot of importance on writing a good title for my entries from the first day. A good title is like winning half the battle in attracting visitors.
4. Social bookmarking sites: I really wish that four months ago I knew about social bookmarking websites like Digg, Fark, Reddit, Stumble Upon, Shhoutwire etc. In the last 5 weeks, I have been blessed by Fark, Fark Sports, Shoutwire, Stumble Upon and Boing Boing and in addition to giving huge hits; they have given me a lot of confidence on my blogging ability. So, if I had to start over again, I would surely take social bookmarking websites very seriously from the first day.
5. Networking: There are hardly any blogs in my field (South Asian business) and that is why I felt that building network with bloggers will be difficult and I did not try that much. Now, I understand that building network depends not on being in the same niche but writing quality content and creating an impact on other bloggers.
6. Off topic Posts: When I started blogging, I strictly wrote only on my field (South Asian Business) for the first 10 weeks. There is nothing wrong in it but there is nothing wrong either if occasionally I try to bring variation by posting one or two off topic entries a week. During World Cup 2006, I broke the tradition and wrote about World Cup in June and I achieved the major breakthrough in my blogging career. My world cup related entries gave me a lot of traffic and links.
7. SEO knowledge: With more traffic coming from Google everyday, I really regret that in the last 4 months, I did not study enough about SEO (search engine optimization).
8. Attitude: When I started blogging, like other bloggers, I had to start from the scratch. Getting some traffic was the toughest part for me and in my heart; I got totally frustrated and scared. What if no one reads my blog? What if I do not get hits even in 6 months? What if no one links me? What if I receive a lot of criticism for my entries? I wrote 15-20 comments in other blogs but some days I did not have even one comment in my own blog. My fear and frustration intensified because South Asian business is not exactly a very popular topic that would attract a lot of visitors. An internet connection of 4-5 KBPS does not make life easier. That was the worst mistake I have made in my blogging career. Now, I have a positive and confident attitude towards blogging. It's not that I have become a very successful blogger but I know I am on the right track as I can see that my blogs have achieved more links and more hits in four months than many older blogs.
If I had to start over again, I would surely try to have a positive and confident attitude towards blogging. Now I know one thing in my heart: if I post quality content every day, write comments in other blogs and submit links of my entries to social bookmarking websites- I will get some hits and links on a regular basis.
I like to thank Darren Rowse for this particular group writing project as it has given me the scope to contemplate on my blogging. Thus, I have been able to pinpoint some of my mistakes and hopefully I will address the issues in the coming days in a better fashion.
Hi Razid,
What is "social bookmarking sites"? Could you describe it closer to me, please?
I like your blog-lesson very much. I need this kind of advices as I´m a blog-newcomer and I´m aiming high as well. I want that my blog reaches a large audience and I want it to be a running business. I´ll save your link as a favorite to come back to and study to learn the lessons you mentioned here.
Greetings Silja
Posted by: Silja | July 26, 2006 1:22 AM | Permalink to Comment