Good morning and welcome to another Sample Sunday.
Earlier in the week, I pondered the art of blogging and why I (and many other bloggers) although having many hits on their blogs rarely received comments –or if they did they were sporadic in number.
So I did a bit of thinking and a bit of research, checked out which blogs were successful in terms of followers, regularity and contained interesting material.
Following one friend’s advice I added a side bar to my own website with all those nice easy little buttons to click on for tweeting, Facebook, Delicious etc. as, although I have a RSS feed this would make it so much easier for the reader.
And do you know what? He was right! Overnight – no, within minutes comments, re-tweets, sharing and liking went up by more than double. Thanks Tim Ellis, fellow author.
Following on from this I’ve come up with a few good (well I think so) ideas on how to raise the numbers of comments on your blog. Remember these are only my suggestions; you’ll have plenty of your own I’m sure.
1. Have a comment box and make it visible. This box will send comments directly to my email box, making it easy for me to reply to you, the sender. All comments are thus private and will remain so unless you wish me to make them public.
2. Make sure that your blog post is interesting enough for people to make a response, and that you have made an open ending – there must be room for people to express themselves. If you write a blog that is so perfect in every way then there is nothing for readers to respond to. The blog must be left ‘open’. Thus leave your posts a little unfinished.
3. Write with authority on a subject you know well; give advice, as in a ‘niche’ subject. This could even be visual – beautiful colourful photographs, amazing animal pictures, geographical beauty.
As I said just a few ideas…At the end of the day maybe there are too many people saying the same thing, hence the ‘heads-up’ posts.
I think my blog should contain my thoughts and be of just my voice.
To me, blogging is a mongrel form of communication. In the olden days there were pamphlets and books, which we read. Newspapers and magazines came next, with their shorter précised articles. These were (are) one-way forms of communication. They are written and we read them. We can sometimes contact the author of the article but in the main they are one-way communication forms.
Two-way communication was in the beginning face-to-face talking. Inventions brought about radio, telegraph, telephone and video, which are in the main for the spoken word.
Then along came modern technology - Email, messaging, texting and then the big brother of them all - social networking. This does allow for two-way written communication, but not for commentary.
In my mind, blogs allow commentary and two-way communication. I think that a blog writer who interacts with his or her audience will have the greatest success. Indeed it is probably imperative to their success.
Which brings me back to why blog in the first place? Am I trying to enlighten you or am I unsure as a writer and looking for answers and/or a different point-of-view?
So. If I enlighten you then replies are unnecessary. But if I’m looking for answers then YOUR replies and comments are a mark of my success. What do you think?
Please post your comments in the comment box. You can find this under the tab named ‘contact’ under the ‘more’ tab.
Have a great Sunday and following week. Now for a spot of Sunday lunch – see below recipe.
Faithx
Ginger, Prawn and Mango Stir-fry. (For 2-4 persons)
Oil
4 carrots cut into matchsticks
Small bunch of spring onions
2 green chillies
2 red chillies
40g fresh root ginger, cut thinly
3 garlic cloves, crushed
10 plum tomatoes, diced
Salt
12 large prawns, heads off, shelled, deveined and cut along the back
2 mangoes, skinned and cut into small wedges
4 tablespoons rum
Heat oil in wok. Add carrots, stir-fry for 30 secs. Add onions and fry for a minute. Add chillies, ginger and garlic, stir-fry for 30 secs. Add tomatoes and fry 1 min. Season and remove from pan and place on a warm serving dish.
Sear prawns, (they’ll open like butterflies). Add mangoes. Splash in rum and flambé.
Arrange prawns, ginger and mangoes with their pan juices on a bed of the stir-fried vegetables. Amazing!!
Earlier in the week, I pondered the art of blogging and why I (and many other bloggers) although having many hits on their blogs rarely received comments –or if they did they were sporadic in number.
So I did a bit of thinking and a bit of research, checked out which blogs were successful in terms of followers, regularity and contained interesting material.
Following one friend’s advice I added a side bar to my own website with all those nice easy little buttons to click on for tweeting, Facebook, Delicious etc. as, although I have a RSS feed this would make it so much easier for the reader.
And do you know what? He was right! Overnight – no, within minutes comments, re-tweets, sharing and liking went up by more than double. Thanks Tim Ellis, fellow author.
Following on from this I’ve come up with a few good (well I think so) ideas on how to raise the numbers of comments on your blog. Remember these are only my suggestions; you’ll have plenty of your own I’m sure.
1. Have a comment box and make it visible. This box will send comments directly to my email box, making it easy for me to reply to you, the sender. All comments are thus private and will remain so unless you wish me to make them public.
2. Make sure that your blog post is interesting enough for people to make a response, and that you have made an open ending – there must be room for people to express themselves. If you write a blog that is so perfect in every way then there is nothing for readers to respond to. The blog must be left ‘open’. Thus leave your posts a little unfinished.
3. Write with authority on a subject you know well; give advice, as in a ‘niche’ subject. This could even be visual – beautiful colourful photographs, amazing animal pictures, geographical beauty.
As I said just a few ideas…At the end of the day maybe there are too many people saying the same thing, hence the ‘heads-up’ posts.
I think my blog should contain my thoughts and be of just my voice.
To me, blogging is a mongrel form of communication. In the olden days there were pamphlets and books, which we read. Newspapers and magazines came next, with their shorter précised articles. These were (are) one-way forms of communication. They are written and we read them. We can sometimes contact the author of the article but in the main they are one-way communication forms.
Two-way communication was in the beginning face-to-face talking. Inventions brought about radio, telegraph, telephone and video, which are in the main for the spoken word.
Then along came modern technology - Email, messaging, texting and then the big brother of them all - social networking. This does allow for two-way written communication, but not for commentary.
In my mind, blogs allow commentary and two-way communication. I think that a blog writer who interacts with his or her audience will have the greatest success. Indeed it is probably imperative to their success.
Which brings me back to why blog in the first place? Am I trying to enlighten you or am I unsure as a writer and looking for answers and/or a different point-of-view?
So. If I enlighten you then replies are unnecessary. But if I’m looking for answers then YOUR replies and comments are a mark of my success. What do you think?
Please post your comments in the comment box. You can find this under the tab named ‘contact’ under the ‘more’ tab.
Have a great Sunday and following week. Now for a spot of Sunday lunch – see below recipe.
Faithx
Ginger, Prawn and Mango Stir-fry. (For 2-4 persons)
Oil
4 carrots cut into matchsticks
Small bunch of spring onions
2 green chillies
2 red chillies
40g fresh root ginger, cut thinly
3 garlic cloves, crushed
10 plum tomatoes, diced
Salt
12 large prawns, heads off, shelled, deveined and cut along the back
2 mangoes, skinned and cut into small wedges
4 tablespoons rum
Heat oil in wok. Add carrots, stir-fry for 30 secs. Add onions and fry for a minute. Add chillies, ginger and garlic, stir-fry for 30 secs. Add tomatoes and fry 1 min. Season and remove from pan and place on a warm serving dish.
Sear prawns, (they’ll open like butterflies). Add mangoes. Splash in rum and flambé.
Arrange prawns, ginger and mangoes with their pan juices on a bed of the stir-fried vegetables. Amazing!!
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