Why don't you blog about natural cosmetics and lotions? Why don't you blog about politics? You're a good writer, why don't you blog about art or landscape design or eco-friendly technologies?
These are the things I hear from parents and friends. While I thank them for the kind words and for nudging me along in my writing journey, it's not so easy for me to just start blogging. SilverTonguedLass started out as a very personal online diary; a place where I could write about me and my life with little regard to anyone else reading it. Sure, I figured close friends would read it, and between trans-continental phone calls, it was a way for them to see how I was doing and what I was up to. But mainly, this blog was also a way for me to keep my writing skills sharpened. I was the only editor and these blog entries were up to my discretion; no word count limits; no one editing me or rejecting my pitches. I could write about anything I wanted.
But somewhere, I started wanting to get my name out there. I wanted to write a blog. Amelia has been writing about all things vintage, with a specific bent on vintage clothing, for three months to my three years, and her blog theimportanceofbeingvintage.blogspot.com has already had over 3000 page views. Sure, she's writing about a much broader, and more interesting topic than myself, but I still grow jealous at the thought. Jealous, perhaps also because she's wildly talented as a writer, one more talent to her arsenal. I always thought writing well and engaging pieces was my special talent. Now, I feel often like a jane-of-all-trades and master of none.
Amidst thousands and thousands of blogs written by "writers", I want to be the real deal. I want my blog posts in this digital age to lead somewhere. I dream of a novel or a book. A deal. A web content job. A way to freelance and travel this wide open country the way I want to. Even if it's to learn that road tripping and lonesome wandering isn't as romantic as I think it is. Maybe I won't road trip or travel, but entertaining the idea and a growing savings account are dreams as well.
My issue is that I find too many things exciting and important. I love art and design, whether it's a poster or a well designed landscape. I think solar panels and rain water storage barrels are great technologies that I hope will allow us to use energy efficiently enough to help humans as a species survive into the next century. I love Burts Bees and other lotion/ cosmetics companies that make paraben, pthalate, and petroleum free products and do so using plastic free packaging.
Successful blogs, however, come from one direction, are updated regularly, and discuss one particular topic. My skills and interests have always been scattered, so coming up with an umbrella topic where I can discuss drought-tolerant gardening, efficient, sustainable technological advances, favorite food and alternative country music records in a cohesive way is quite difficult.
Should anyone have any ideas as to how to accomplish this or to narrow things down, please let me know by commenting to this post.
1 comment:
look at the blogs you like best and note what they are doing right. yes, the best blogs specialize in a topic/subject matter and focus almost exclusively on that topic/subject matter. you could create multiple blogs to deal with multiple subject matters.
to drive traffic to your blog you can use google analytics to see who is coming to your site and how did they find it. once you know how people find you you can use search engine optimization to draw more people like them to your site. you can play around with the design of your blog to make it look modern and more relevant. frequently you can see what format is being used on a particular blog or wordpress site. use the same layout and see if you get similar results.
next if you are a member of any forums that relate to your topic, if not then sign up for some, and make your signature a link to your blog. that way when you post something interesting people might be more inclined to see more examples of your work. having your blogs name posted on other sites that relate to your topic will help raise your search result rating in google.
i used to write about a myriad of things on my blog and found when i focused on one topic, motorcycles, i started to get consistently more hits everyday.
one of the best reasons to blog is that writing is a muscle that needs to be worked everyday. stay strong.
Post a Comment