The big day arrived, and I headed out to the South Australian Writers’ Centre for the Just what is blogging? workshop. It was an interesting and well-structured evening that provided a number of blogging resources to bring home. And it stimulated some critical reflection about Destination: denouement. It turns out there are a number of blogging principles that I have been very nonchalantly ignoring since its inception. (More on that another time).
Much of the two-hour workshop was aimed at people with much less blogging experience than myself. However there were some pointers worth attending to:
· Regularity - prunes aren’t just for nannas*. Readers will lose interest if you don’t turn up up regularly.
· Scheduling - use the scheduling function in your platform to release posts at a time that works for you and your readers. Louise posts on a Thursday and then has the weekend as social-media engagement time.
· Use your key words in a targeted way – The language in your URL, post titles, first paragraphs all counts. (Uh oh. Multiple infractions by Destination: denouement).
· Social media is your friend - (I really need to get across the twittosphere).
· Content, content, content.
This last point was not explicitly stated, but it coalesced in my impressionable brain as the most important idea of the night. Louise, Jane and Sarah all talked about how they started their blogs and attracted readers, and it was obvious from their stories that content is everything. It’s what attracts a readership and causes it to flourish. Each of them has a readily visible niche to write to. Each of them understands exactly what it is they are giving to their audience. And crucially, they know what value it has to their readers.
*Nanna Jean was an enthusiastic advocate of the power of the prune.
Thanks for sharing your workshop notes. Good read for us beginners :)
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure, Ms McDang. I do love a workshop! And I always take reams of notes so it's nice to be able to pass some of it on to an appreciative audience. :)
DeleteI already knew how to set up a blogging site so didn't bother attending, thanks for passing on what you learned.
ReplyDeletethanks so much for giving us a heads up, it was not something we had presented before, and we thoroughly enjoyed it!
ReplyDeletemindshare team
I am so glad you were still able to take something away from it. Blogging is not rocket science but there is still so much we can learn from each other.
DeleteI really appreciated the pointers ( not having been to said workshop or anything like). Not sure if my posts measure up but hopefully replies - or lack of them - will give me a clue.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I've cracked it completely, either. But it's a learning process and there's no use-by-date for learning by doing.
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