Jun 03 2008
Do I have an audience?
I’ve been blogging since 2005. Over the years I’ve run a personal blog, a professional blog, and some gaming blogs. I got tired of blogging in so many places that if you are a reader of my blog you know that about a month ago I merged everything “under one roof” so to speak. Now that I’ve merged so many of my different blogs into one place, I am now forced to ask myself… do I have an audience? Has the merging of my content into one blog helped or hurt my ability to advertise and get comments on some of the things I blog about?
I originally made my blog for my own memory keeping purposes, but I wonder if this has changed. Do people care about the things I’m blogging about? I’m sure my guild cares about some of the guild blogging I do, but does the general public care about some of the leadership blogging that I do or general gaming blogging. Should I blog about game reviews more? I’m not sure anymore.
So in an effort to answer the question “Do people care?”, I head out to WarhammerAlliance.Com to ask the writers out there for feedback. Maybe people do care and I just haven’t ever bothered to advertise my blog. Maybe I should. I await their comments.
So if you’re reading this. What’s your opinion of my blog and should I bother advertising it?
2 Responses to “Do I have an audience?”
This is a question we all ask ourselves at one time or another (us bloggers, that is). I’ve run two completely different types of blogs: 1) general and 2) niche. In my experience, the niche blog wins out in terms of reader feedback because you’re hopefully writing content that inspires readers to leave a comment.
The only posts that garnered any kind of feedback on my general blog that were targeted to a niche using very specific keywords to gain search/blog engine traffic (UFC reviews, WoW shadow-priest guides, mixed martial arts training, etc.).
In terms of whether or not you should advertise your blog, I find that you shouldn’t be afraid of push marketing in the early growth stages. Your goal is to build a community and that community will grow by word of mouth. Ideally, you want your community to be open (like your average WAR fan) instead of closed (like your immediate family or gaming guild) because your message has a greater chance of spreading. Obviously a recommendation from another blogger who shares common interests with you is going to be more helpful than a recommendation from your mom (no matter how genuine it is).
Linking out to other content is the best way to get your blog known and it really helps to add weight to your arguments if they’re backed up by other sources.
My site is by no means “huge” but it’s quite healthy in terms of people sharing the love by linking my content and commenting onn it, and I still need to rely on push marketing from time to time. Eventually, once you build a reputation and the industry begins watching your site, you won’t have to pimp your articles anymore. People will come to you.
If you’ve been blogging since 2005, most of this is probably elementary for you. You just need to apply it and watch the magic happen.
One minor piece of advice is to not fear being controversial on your own blog. Speak your mind and I’m sure you’ll find like-minded individuals out there – and a whole bunch of people that disagree, which sends traffic your way too!
LOL, my one pet peeve of blogs… you can’t edit your comments!
To clarify paragraph 1 – I mean that you’re writing targeted content, so your targets will be more likely to respond. Picking a niche targets people who are usually more passionate about that niche, and therefore, are more likely to respond via a comment.
I also apologize for the typos and ignorance of several grammar rules. I’m typing this with two sprained fingers (curse you Softball) and I’m rushing through the pain!