Friday, September 21, 2007

I won't be my blog's only audience anymore...


I find it only fitting to make my next post about my blog...besides, it is a way that our class is getting new information now. Anyways...I started to actually enjoy doing this blog, but of course I got discouraged knowing that the only person who would be reading my blog is Toni (not that I don't absolutely loooove her reading it).
So I was looking around on Amy Gahran's blog and found a really good post that she did in April of 2006. In this blog she wrote about how to reach a new audience by viewing your blog as part of a public conversation. Since a lot of people in our class are new at blogging (including myself) we're all probably a little discouraged that our blog gets about two views a day...and we all know that one of those views is when we preview our blog after a new post. That's sad. But here's one solution to get more readers and I encourage everyone in our class to try this.....
It's called "strategic commenting"
Basically the whole idea of strategic commenting is to build more readers by taking the initiative to comment on a more experienced blog. You should find a couple different bloggers who shares the same interest as you and read their blogs regularly, paying close attention to the comments left. Once you've gotten familiar with these blogs, you should watch for a new post that inspires you to write a new post of your own. Once you find one... immediately write a post in response to the one you just read and create a link to their post. Once you do that you should go to the posting that inspired you and leave a flattering comment that also links back to your post. Voila. You have a new reader. And probably more depending on what other bloggers read your comment on their blog and check out your link.
I'll go ahead and be the guinea pig. Since I got this idea from Amy's blog I'll wait until I see the next idea that inspires me and I'll immediately write my post as if I'm having a conversation with hers. Then I'll try to be the first to comment on the post that inspired me with a link back to mine.
It's that simple.
I dare everyone in our class to do it.
Let me know what you think and how it worked for you!


http://www.contentious.com/archives/2007/08/11/strategic-commenting-no-blog-is-an-island-2/
You guys should reallllly check this out!

7 comments:

agahran said...

Kristina, glad my post was useful to you.

Generally I advise people to divide their blogging time into 3 equal parts:

- Reading other blogs
- Participating in conversations on other blogs and forums
- Writing on your own blog

That really seems to make it work well, IME

Thanks for the link.

- Amy Gahran

confabulatingliss said...

I think this is a great idea. Not only does it expand your readership, but it also expands your idea pool. If you read other blogs and comment on them, you are bound to find a topic that grabs your attention and that you may have a completely different take on.

Erin Venier said...

Haha, I'm definitely going to try this one. I think it's a great idea not only to get more readership, but also to allow others to question your views. A blog is your personal commentary on a particular subject, but I always find it insightful to see what others have on the subject.

Steve said...

Case in point...
I referred to one of Amy's posts in a recent blog post and then decided to add her to my feed list. I found this post via her blog, came here, and here I am posting a comment.
Posting comments to posts that match your own thinking is a great way to connect with like minds. Good luck!

Jamie L said...

Wow, It looks like your little experiment worked! This blog as well as the referenced article were very helpful. As a new blogger, it has definitely given me useful information to really get my thoughts out there and more importantly, have them heard!

Jenna said...

Maybe we should all look into this. Although it puts a little more pressure on our blogging skills...

bathmate said...

Happy new year.
nice link. I like it so much. this link is very useful to every body. very nice posting

Bathmate