Postcards from the Funny Farm

I posted some weeks ago about how and why I was changing my blog to a personal blog format. Prior to that I had just experimented with a few niches, never really knowing what I was doing or what I was doing it for . . . you might say I was “playing,” yet learning at the same time.

As have shared with Marcia recently over at [MeeAugraphie], “you learn so many things about blogging through play.” That’s an important axiom in blogging and in all aspects of life, I think.

*Note, this is the last post in this series. Any future posts on what I have learned about blogging, if included in a series at all, will be included in some new series (ie; after 8 months of blogging . . . etc.)

Since becoming a personal blog, I have had a lot less stress about what to post. Because this is meant to be a sounding board and diary of my life, anything goes. I get to read the news, comment on it as it affects me, post pics of my hometown (though my wife has , undertstandably so, requested that less of family and other personal ID information be broadcast), recommendations of things I discover, and of course . . . general points that I like to make and see go out there into the great nothingness. This is much easier than when say I was a strictly “language” oriented blog. I had to come up with a language slant on all the above mentioned things. It was tough. My hat goes off to great language blogs out there! In a way, I am still a language blog because I have a degree in language and language excites me. For these reasons, language slants are there in everything I write. Here’s something you can quote me on:

In the personal blog genre, readers seem drawn to someone who has a personality and shows it across an array of subjects. In a way, the personality and CV of the blogger becomes the niche within itself.

A co-worker who I have never told about my blog said she read it the other day through an email link and said she was impressed. This meant a lot because she is a very educated person who didn’t even know what a blog was until she happened upon mine.

I am very happy with this blogging hobby nowadays, whereas there have been times since December of 2006 that I felt exhausted and defeated about it. I think I just needed to find my comfort zone and now, as it were, I have it! Since blogs are famous for lists, here’s a list of Things I do Differently to Enjoy Blogging More. Remember, these are just MY preferences . . . yours may and probably will differ but I offer mine just the same. I wish somebody would have told me this stuff when I was starting! But hey, as Robert Frost says: “I took the road less traveled by and that has made all the difference.”

1. Use “save as draft” function to always have surplus topics.
2. When I have no ideas, surf the web and save interesting sites/stories/posts as future untitled links in drafts.
3. Add a small number of amazing blogs to my Google Reader RSS feeds. Read them multiple times daily and enjoy the comment interplay. Add the exceptional ones to my blog’s blogroll.
4. When I find not many updates are showing up on Google Reader, visit the blogrolls of my small number of amazing blogs on Google Reader and add a small number of amazing blogs from that collection of blogs. Add the exceptional ones to my blog’s blogroll.
5. Delete stupid blogs. (for me, this means ones that are just gratuitous in their personal woes etc. But you may like ones like that. For you, ones like mine may be stupid - who knows. People blog for different reasons . . . load the word “stupid” however you wish.)
6. Opt out of all social bookmarking malarkey (excepting stumbleupon). These are mostly all PRETENTIOUS and rarely get your blog exposed to any real potential fans. Plus they clutter up the display.
7. Spend the time on getting your blog perfect. This may mean days, weeks, or even months. Define your desires. Write them down. Make them happen. You will never enjoy blogging until you are happy with the look of your blog. It’s taken me 8 months to get here with my interface and there’s no syaing I am not 100% done yet! I’m a lot closer than I was though, that’s for sure.
8. Get a digital camera and photos integrated into your blog. Intregrate Gallery2 (like I have) or other photo service (Flickr is good) into your blog posts and sidebar. This is immensely more enjoyable than just text.
9. Comment back on your blog when people comment. This is not only polite but it initiates a relationship that will produce more good blogging down the road.
10. Set up a system where it’s easy to link to other blogs. I have a plugin that does this okay, I type the blogs name with brackets around it and it inserts an automatic link. Plugin here. But you can develop another system that suits you better. For example, when I come across a blog’s post I like, I always save it in a future post as a draft. That way later, if I write on that post/idea, I can give the writer a trackback credit. Think of links as the currency of blogging. I also recommend doing “link love” or a Blog Safari once in a while. Linking to other blogs gets them to visit you and it also gives them promotion. With no links in your posts, you are strictly relying on the search engines and word of mouth. Having said that, some shorter posts don’t require links, especially if they are the type of just “meaningless drivel” that only us fortuante enough to write personal blogs get to post!

Those are things I do differently to enjoy blogging more. What do you do?

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