Avid And Goliath

There Are No Limits To Creativity

It's great to see such a vibrant blogging community in India. As a professional journalist as well as an active blogger, I'm particularly heartened to see the mainstream media picking up the vibe in Bangalore. As you can see at Dhivya's energetic blog Coffee Conversation, a recent meeting of avid bloggers in that southern city was even covered by one of the local papers.

It's great to see this sort of groundswell, which was reflected in recent posts on Rambling With Bellur. In particular, Bellur's guest blogger, Anand Balaji, made some pertinent observations in the post Cardinal Rules for all ye Bloggers.

Maybe I can add something here, to encourage newcomers who are sometimes tentative about blogging and who might wonder where the parameters lie. There is a simple answer - the only limit for a blogger is the extent of his or her creativity. In early March, I wrote a two-part series of posts, based on questions posed by other bloggers and these guidelines can be seen at Put Your Blog on the Reader Radar and Bloggers Deserve the House of Lauds. Good luck to all - and remember, there are many of us out there who are always willing to answer your queries.

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FOOTNOTE: For more handy hints on blogging, scroll down to my recent blogposts `Put your blog on the reader radar' and `Bloggers deserve the house of lauds'.

Bloggers Deserve The House Of Lauds

Equating Good Blogging With High Readership

Choosing a blog subject is as multi-faceted as rolling dice.

In the past month or so, there has been a distinct pattern to the advice I've given most of the bloggers who have asked me for feedback.
Most of the advice I've given has related to two subjects: design and readership. You can see where I'm going here. After almost three decades in the media, I can tell you that design and readership are completely inter-dependent on each other.
In most cases, you won't get readers if you don't have a decent design sense; and if you have a lousy design sense you probably won't get the readership you deserve.
But hey, the hard work in blogging is generally done for you. You don't have to be an Einstein (I'm not), a web designer (I'm not) or an html genius (I'm not) to be a blogger. Websites like blogger.com have done all the hard work for you. You want to start a blog? No worries at all. Just jump onto the site, have a quick trawl through the design templates, choose one, publish your first post - and, hey presto, you are now part of the worldwide web. So simple.

It's not really a case of E=mc squared.

The equation really is: Good blogging = high readership.
You don't have to be a Pulitzer Prize winner (I'm not) or a bestselling author (I am) to be a blogger. Anyone can blog, but here comes the corollary. Because there are between 55-60 million blogs, not every blogger is going to have a huge readership base. You need to have something that sets you apart from everyone else.
Do you already have something that distinguishes your blog? If so, well done, but look for another element that reinforces your unique status.
If you don't really have something that sets your blog apart from others, don't despair. If you have great subject matter, you're in with a chance. If you write well, that's a valuable asset. But if you're not a great writer, just stay focused, keep your vision and thought process clear and explain yourself in simple language. Not that hard, is it? Don't be verbose, antagonistic or unnecessarily opinionated - you are trying to get people to read your blog, after all.
Follow the simplest path. Stay attuned to the ``look'' of your blog. Don't always run with the pack. Try and introduce some design or presentation elements that other bloggers don't use. If that's too challenging, then stick with the basic design ideas.
Another question that crops up a lot is ``What should I blog about?'' Blog about anything, but write from your heart. Write without artifice, without bias, without fear of censure. E. J. `Samadhi' Whitehouse asked me a couple of weeks ago how to write a bestseller. I don't know. I don't think anyone knows. But if you write from your heart, then you're halfway there.
As for design, would you spend hours poring over a dull balance sheet? Or would you rather read something that was accompanied by a decent illustration, be it a graphic or a photograph? You'd opt for the latter, right?
Here's a good rule of thumb. Try and ensure that there is at least one of these design elements - no matter how small - on every screen of text.
Another interesting facet of blogging is that the price of digital cameras has dropped, while the price of memory cards has absolutely plummeted. You don't need a bells-and-whistles camera to produce a decent photograph. Empower yourself. Grab a camera and upload pictures onto your blog. See the difference? Now you know what I mean.
You're an artist? Wonderful. You are a couple of steps ahead of anyone else. Put your artwork on your blog. And tell the world about it. Everyone has a story to tell. And if you tell it well enough, people will visit your blog.
I've ``talked'' to several talented bloggers who put photographs on their sites. And I laud their efforts to put a handful of pictures onto a single blogpost, but I always try and gently steer them to the ``single focus'' theory. If you can't decide which is your strongest photograph/ graphic/ illustration, then don't confuse your readers. Spend a few minutes sifting through the batch. Then when you've chosen the strongest image, back yourself and use it prominently.
You want to grab the attention of your readers? Then put your best image at the top of your blogpost. By all means use the others if you must, but the best one must go first. Your regular readers will always return to your blog, but don't you want to grab the attention of first-time trawlers and give them no option but to return to your blog or to bookmark it?
It's a big challenge to try and attract readers. But there are some great forums and blogs that show you how to do it. There are many different approaches and they all revolve around a constant theme - post well and post often.

You'll soon find yourself on the reader radar.
Like I said to one blogger last week, don't give up just because people aren't rushing to your blog. Stay in there. Learn more about blogging. Learn more about yourself. Get better. That's when readers will discover you.

Put Your Blog On The Reader Radar

Tips For Blogging Success (Part One)

Relax, this advice won't make your head spin like Voldemort.

As a novelist, photographer and career journalist, one of the most common questions that I get asked by bloggers is ``how do I increase traffic to my blog?'' Since I started mentoring a group of bloggers from various places around the world, I have answered many variations on this query. I have responded to emails, to comments on my own blog and to public-forum queries at Google Blogger Help and maybe this is the time to address the issues, one at a time, on my own blog.
Everyone wants to increase their readership. Newspaper editors want to. Magazine editors want to. Bestselling autors want to. So it's only natural that bloggers want to. Bloggers are the pioneers of a new media form. Whether your blog gets five hits a day or 125 hits a day, you always want to know how to increase that number and widen your reach.
Straight up, let me tell you there is no ``Excalibur Factor'' when it comes to increasing traffic to a blog. No one is King Arthur here, and there is no all-conquering sword to wrench from a rock. Nothing comes easy. Increasing circulation or market share in any field is the lodestone to which everyone aspires.
Is there a golden rule to increasing traffic? Yes - and it is breathtakingly simple. You must post well and you must post often. Why? Because readers will only come back to a site if they are a) assured of quality and b) aware that you post something every day. You can't post twice a week and expect to get a huge number of hits. (But, hey, if you do post twice a week and you get 1000 hits, let the blogging community know!)
So it's going to need focus. You don't need to write `War and Peace' every day. You can write short posts, long posts, witty posts, pithy posts, thought-provoking posts or emotion-evoking posts - but the bottom line is that people will only read your blog if it's a quality product. Do you enjoy writing blogposts? If the answer to that is ``yes'', chances are that readers will enjoy reading them. If you find that it's a chore, then you readers will sense that very quickly.
If you have a good editorial package and you update it regularly, then you're on the right track. Soon enough, the Domino Effect will take place. Readers start coming back every day. And words starts to spread among the internet community that your blog is a decent product. Ergo, readership starts to increase.
Not everyone is a Bill Bryson or a Wilbur Smith. But if you write honestly and from the heart, you will win an audience. Ask any newspaper editor and he or she will tell you how hard it is to increase readership without resorting to gimmicks. Different medium, same message.

Bloggers don't win any easy points when it comes to maintaining an upward readership graph. Finding the right mix to attract readers is a lot like playing roulette. The numbers can come up when you least expect success. A subject that you are passionate about might not hold the interest of readers - and vice versa. Readership growth happens slowly, in most cases. Be patient. Don't get discouraged. You won't be the first blogger to wonder why people are taking so long to recognise the quality of your work. And believe me, you won't be the last, either.
Blogging isn't a sprint. You, as a blogger, are committed to the long haul, whether you realise it or not. Be honest with yourself and choose your subjects carefully. If you are verbose, pedantic or unnecessarily long-winded, readers will swiftly choose to visit other blogs instead.

One other thing, too. You can ping as many update services as you want, but readers are extremely discerning. They will only come back to a site if it promises them quality. That's the best advice I can give you. Take care of the basics and the rest follows. Give 'em a knock-their-socks-off blog of daily quality that they can't ignore - and they'll beat a path to your door.
I hope all of that makes sense. If you have any queries, you can contact me here. You will always get honest, straightforward feedback - and I will always give you constructive advice on how to improve.
Good luck and happy blogging.