This last weekend I attended Story@Home story telling / family history conference. (http://www.cherishbound.com/blog/storyathome/ ) I found the conference to be very good and had valuable information. The story teller Kim Weltkamp is a very talented teller.  (http://www.kimweitkamp.com/)

 

The thing I didn’t expect was to have so many presentations dedicated to blogging. But with hindsight I now understand the reasoning. The internet is a new way to communicate about our family stories and thus blogging is a part of that. I attended some very useful panels while there. For today’s Rock Soup segment, I’d like to share my knowledge. What better way to support the motto: A rising tide raises all ships.

 

Blog Your Passion: My notes from a presentation by Leigh Anne Wilkes. (http://pinkpolkadotcreations.com/)

These are my notes as she shares advice about blogging. She presented some useful points.

– find your niche / passion. How can you find this out? Ask yourself some questions such as: Q: Is there an area or part of your life where good things happen?

Q: How would you spend your time if you had a free day?

Q: What can you do easily?

Q: What are you good at?

Q: What could you teach?

Q: What brings you joy?

Q: What works do you do when you’re procrastinating?

– Keep your niche narrow. Blog on everything you loved.

– Be yourself. Read come back to your blog because of you. If you’re not authentic to yourself readers can tell and will become disinterested in what you have to say.

– Not everyone is going to like you or agree with your blog.

– Research indicates that many people read about 10-15 blogs a day.

– Readers start establishing a relationship/friendship with you the blog/you.

– Be authentic and people will be supportive.

– What kind of atmosphere/environment do you want to establish with your blog?

– Provide quality content a. Have content that is fresh, relevant and consistent information and readers will want to hear from you.

– Know your readership. This can be learned by reading the comments of readers of your blog.

– Keep it simple

– Once Leigh had five different blogs that took up a lot of time and effort. She eventually combined them all into one blog. Don’t allow yourself to become unfocused by all your ideas.

– Community is King. People come back for you and other responders to your blog. You’re content will attract your community.

– Readers will start interact with you. Learn to listen to your community.

– Respond to your community and their questions.

– Social media can build your blog community.

– Create a Facebook presence for your blog.

– Keep the blog fun.

– Have something on Facebook that you don’t have in your blog. Maybe ask your Facebook visitors questions of information you need.

– Pinterest has increased traffic on Leigh’s blog.

– Establish a community of other bloggers who match your interests. Your blog peers is a good place to ask questions. Be supportive, an abundance of others success doesn’t interfere with your success.

– Leigh did a survey of her readership to find out why people stopped blogging. These were some reasons:

a. Not enough in the blog (too short)

b. Too much / too long of a blog.

c. too many blogs in one day. Leigh suggests doing one blog a day.

d. Not like bad language

e. Print in blog was too small. Want big print for easy reading

f. No music that automatically triggers when you load a site.

– Leigh asked her readership what drew people to blogs.

a. A pretty web site,

b. Nice content

c. Site inspires the reader makes them want to be a better person (So be genuine in your posts).

– Start a blog because you have a story to tell not for earning money.

– Tread your blog like a job

– If you get a 25,000 readership a month then add ads that match the theme of your blog. Feature products you would use. Don’t apologize to readers for ads.