Tag Archives: 31DBBB

Well, we've reached the end of the line for this series of posts, based on <i>31 Days to Build a Better Blog</i>. And I wrap it up with a look at a plan for the future.

I've worked in television now for more than twenty years, and it's hard not to realize the importance of ratings. And it's equally hard not to allow that to translate into blog stats.

Nearing the end of a month's worth of exercises to build a better blog, it's time to plan ahead for what comes after the daily duties are done.

Should you be writing reviews on your blog? Today's reading says they're a great way to build an audience. So why am I not going along?

Is your blog stopping readers in their tracks with dead links? Today's reading deals with the importance of dealing with dead links.

Today's exercise that is designed to improve your blog focuses on ways you can improve someone else's. Seem like an odd idea? Keep reading.

If you've ever read advice from the so-called experts of blogging, you already know what this topic is all about. And yes, it's advice that I hate. Glad they didn't suggest this one on Day 1!

This is the kind of exercise that has the potential of getting new media folk in an uproar, because to be successful, it relies on "old" media. But give it a chance.

In marketing, it's known as a "call to action." It's a message designed to make readers exert a specific effort to accomplish something. My challenge is to extend such a call to you; your challenge is to respond. But don't worry: it's easy!

The next reading focuses on the importance of promoting each other in this vast blogosphere in which we find ourselves. I have no problem doing this, and frankly, one of the suggested methods for doing so is one I've been doing for almost as long as this blog has been around.

Yes, when I read "policy review," my eyes immediately glazed over. But upon thinking about it, I realized that this was something I really should do. So I set out to make it fun.

"A comment is like a mini-resume." That line jumped out at me in today's text, which focuses on leaving comments on other peoples' blogs, a critically important way to attract them to your own blog.

Write an opinion post. That's the exercise for today's text, and frankly, I'm ready to protest. Maybe they should have planned for a <i>30-day</i> month, because I think this one could easily be tossed. The reason? It's very simple...

Today's exercise involves creating a "Sneeze Page" for your blog. You do know what a sneeze page is, right? No? Don't feel bad. I'd never heard of it, either.

I have to admit that this suggestion for improving your blog was a lot more effective than I expected. The idea is to find a relative, friend or colleague who has never read your blog before, then turn them loose on it for a few minutes...

There's a long-held belief in the world of blogging, held primarily by so-called blogging "experts," that blogs are supposed to do specific things to make readers happy.