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Thursday 26 January 2012

Blog-o-sitting

Read an interesting blog article by copywriting titan Bob Bly, in which the intrepid wordsmith discussed one of the dilemmas of blogging.

Mr Bly was worried about the time he'd been away from his blog and how, by not posting for several months, fewer people were now commenting on his blog posts. He was asking if you should blog frequently, even if you have nothing to say, just to keep people coming back to the blog. Hmmm...

Content is...

King. We all know that on Planet Wordsmith. To keep people returning to a blog you need to create content that people enjoy. (It optimises your site as well because people link their sites to it or share it with their friends, and if you're skilful enough they'll do both).

Lousy content drives people away, whereas good content attracts loyal followers who frequently return for more. One of my favourite bloggers hasn't posted for six months, but I still go back to it, hoping a new post will crop up. One day she'll grant me my wish, though!

What are you going to do about it?

My advice is don't worry. Think of the cinema and literature trilogies we follow. J.K. Rowling may have taken a while between Harry Potter novels, but people still clamoured to read them. Lord of the Rings fans hadn't found something else by the time parts two and three came out on the big screen.

Don't forget how disappointed we feel when a novel feels rushed or robs us of a good ending. There's nothing worse than a spy novel, detective novel or thriller which wraps up with a cavalry-coming-over-the hill-style finale. Aaaargh!

That said, don't neglect your blog for too long. Keep your eyes and ears open for blog-worthy material. Everyday thoughts, statements, things we read and events can all trigger good content. Just a question of being observant and being creative.

Oh and don't forget to throw some keywords into your posts. They'll help you take care of the blog by attracting new followers in searches while you're away.

We can do that. We're bloggers and that's what we're here for!

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