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Opinions please?

edited November 2013 in Writing
Thought for the day - it struck me on my morning walk that I have to liven up or give up my blog.

As I am always taking photos of bits and bobs I decided to try a "Show and Tell Saturday" which might shove me into keeping my posts regular instead of spasmodic as they are at present. I get few comments and often none at all, which can be disheartening, but up to 100 page views when I do post, so some people are interested in what I have to say.

So if anyone has time to glance at my blog I'd be grateful for constructive criticism.

http://lizy-expat-writer.blogspot.com.es/

Aythengyu!

Comments

  • edited November 2013
    Fairly regular posts are important, I think. You don't have to post at 3.37 on the dot every Tuesday, but if people visit and see the same post as the last time they visited and that wasn't new even then, they're not going to be encouraged to keep coming back.

    It's common to have a lot more visitors and comments.

    Several people have mentioned my blog post to me on forums, or in person but never comment on the blog. They're all non bloggers and there seems to be a slight feeling that if you don't blog yourself you shouldn't comment on other people's. I don't know how we convince them that all comments (other than those selling viagra) are welcome.
  • [quote=Lizy]I get few comments and often none at all, which can be disheartening, but up to 100 page views when I do post, [/quote]

    That's not uncommon.

    As an example, I know someone who has had over 1,000 views to a posting, yet has had only four comments.



    [quote=Lizy]I have to liven up or give up my blog.[/quote]

    Seems to me you're taking it too personally. What I'd suggest you do is ask yourself why you blog, as I'd suggest to anyone before they start one. There are thousands, probably trillions of blogs around. Why would people visit yours instead of others? Why would they visit yours instead of using that time to write and updating their own?

    I don't blog regularly myself yet do visit one or two now and again. I think if you're wanting a response, the key is to be responsive to others, which you probably are already, but if you want a huge response, as perhaps for example, Patsy, you need to give something out that a lot of people want in Patsy's case, the links to free comps is a huge lure as is her lovely style of writing.

    Whenever I've read your blog posts, Lizy, I have found them interesting, more interesting than a fair few others but as said before, I don't blog regularly so do find it difficult to take time out of my other activities to visit others on a regular basis.
  • Unless I actively go looking for blogs, I don't see them as, apart from one, I don't get any indication by email that there's been an update.

    I don't even look for the comment box any more as so many times I've written something then it's disappeared or I can't sign in with the options given.

    Your post was interesting, Lizy, and well-written and included relevant photos, but if I'm honest, I wouldn't regularly visit a blog unless it gave me really important information or was so entertaining and addictive that it brightened up my day like nothing else could.

    In these days of technology and gadgetry, there is information to be checked on so many devices that it just gets a bit out of hand.
  • I regularly read but rarely post a comment as it is so frustrating getting through all the boxes you have to sign and fill in. I'd rather have a load of spam than have to make someone sign the official secrets act before they can comment... i think this is a common perception.

    And of course your readers are not necessarily writers. Or willing to sign something with their name.

    I've enjoyed the posts of yours I've read but I'd say they were far too long. Succinct is the key.
  • Always write for yourself - if others read and enjoy it, that's great. But blogs, to me, should be about expressing your thoughts.

    I wouldn't say your posts are too long - I've read and enjoyed them. I think it's the subject that's key - even a short post is too long if the reader isn't captured by the first sentence. Because I've visited Tenerife many times, I enjoy your tales of local life etc. I don't often leave a comment - on anyone's blog. Sometimes just commenting 'I enjoyed that' doesn't seem appropriate.
  • Hi Lizy,
    I've read that to encourage visitors to your blog it helps to comment on others (like you do mine, thank you). I blog (sporadically) because I like to put out my thoughts and scribblings to the world and they can enjoy them as they wish … or not. I usually keep things short for the internet.

    As I'm not famous and nobody has any particular interest in me, any visitors are random. Nobody comes looking for my blog, so they find it by search engines finding the 'tags' I add to the posts. If they search for the '1970s', they may find my posts about it. Try a wider variety of tags/labels to hook more visitors. I always include my name in the tags - just incase anyone may be looking for me!

    There are millions of blogs out there, just blog away as you are and enjoy the writing. When you are really famous your agent will expect you to blog and Twitter every hour, on the hour.
  • I don't blog as often as I should these days, and I do like to get comments, but they don't happen every time. You comment, Lizy, for which, thanks, but I don't always unless I have something to add. The length is whatever you want to make it - mine are usually around 600words, which is lengthy, but that's the kind of blog I want to do. I'm writing a commentary, not just an observation. Some people like to keep their blogs short, or full of pictures - it's a matter of personal choice.
    Blogging is part of the writing experience (and can make a difference to you getting an agent/publisher, as a friend of mind discovered) so don't give it up. You have readers who come back, and therefore enjoy it, but as in all forms of writing, you won't get a response from most of them. That's not a negative thing - it's just not a pro-active one.
    There's nothing (apart from time) to stop you from running a parallel blog in a different style, or on a different topic, and seeing how that affects things. The important thing is that you want to communicate, and this is a good way of doing so.
  • edited November 2013
    [quote=scratch]I always include my name in the tags - just incase anyone may be looking for me![/quote]
    I have always assumed that anyone looking for me would find me anyway.
    I Googled myself once and there I was - I even Googled "Images" of something and found a photo I had taken and blogged.

    I always comment when I visit a blog - I think good manners, for one thing, like saying hello when you walk into a room, and on the basis of Do-as-you-would-be-done-by (anyone else read the Water Babies in their youth?)

    I don't blog to bring the world worshippping at my feet, but it is nice to know I'm not writing in a void.

    Mrs Bear - I look forward to your blogs - your wry and affectionate view of life where you live, and the snippets of information about your never-ending remake of your home, are a joy however infrequently you write..
  • I think the style of writing is important. Both Mrs Bear and Lizy write as if in conversation - that's the kind of blog I enjoy reading.
  • [quote=Lizy]I always comment when I visit a blog[/quote] I usually do as I know how much I appreciate people commenting on mine - and it lets people know I'm there. I only don't comment when I don't feel comfortable saying anything because of the subject matter.
  • [quote=Lizy]Mrs Bear - I look forward to your blogs - your wry and affectionate view of life where you live, and the snippets of information about your never-ending remake of your home, are a joy however infrequently you write.. [/quote]
    Thank you for that, Lizy.
    And yes, I do remember Mrs Do-As-You-Would-Be-Done-By, now you mention her. I will take note!
  • And Mrs Be-done-by-as-you-did.

    Hippies would hold up two fingers - I think it was two - and say, "That's karma, man."

    The yoof of today - my four included - say "What goes around comes around." Same difference.
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