Blogging Advice and A Few Shout Outs

I wrestle with giving blogging advice. I have been blogging for 3 years this month, but I don't feel like I'm good enough to give advice. Lately I have been asked more and more for some advice from people who are just starting to blog. I started thinking that since I am being asked I might as well post about it. So here is my best advice...

• If you want to blog then you have to blog. A lot of people love the idea of blogging but after a few weeks they stop blogging. They add to the junkyard of un-updated blogs. I once heard a blogging expert say that the best advice he could give to bloggers is to blog. Even if your content stinks, blog. There are people out there that will enjoy your stink'n blog.
• Don't feel like you have to hit a home run with every post. Even the best baseball player strikes out...and they strike out a lot. The point is that if you want to homer you have to get up to bat. In other words it's better to try and hit consistent singles than to wait for that home-run post. Eventually you will get a home-run, but don't wait for it.
• Track your stats. When I first started blogging I couldn't buy a comment. Even to this day sometimes I post and when I look at the comments I hear the sound of crickets. Stats tell you if someone is coming. Even when I don't get a comment I can tell that someone is reading the blog.
• Read lots of blogs. I have learned a lot just by looking at other blogs. I see what I like and don't like and then attempt to make my blog better.
• Make time to blog. I write two to four posts every Monday morning. I get to go into work at 9:30 instead of 8:30 on Mondays. I use the extra hour to blog. A lot of times I write out a blog and I hate it. I save it for later in the week and tweek it when I have time.
• Use bullets. A lot of people don't like to read long posts. You can fool those people by making short bullet points in your posts. I still try to not have too long of posts, but I have heard that people like my site because I do a lot of lists and bullet points.
• Write down your ideas. I now see the world through a blog. Every adventure, mistake, or funny occurrence can become blog material. When I see something funny happen to a person without a blog I think, "sucks for you." If they only had a blog they could turn that funny story into blog gold. The problem is that I often get ideas for posts and then I forget them. Because of that I write down ideas when I have them. I have a notebook in my car, house, and office. Now because I have a smart phone I also take notes on it. It helps for days where I have writer's block. I go to my list and then write from one of the ideas.
• Write for a bigger audience. My blog has decent stats. It now consistently gets over 200 unique visits a day. It's not huge but it's still growing. When I started I was lucky to get 20 people to read. When I had 20 people I would write like I had an audience of 200. I try to remove insider language, I explain things for first time guests, and I wrote as if I had 200 people reading. In other words I wrote everyday like my blog was a big deal. Even when no one cared I kept writing. Now that my blog has 200 readers I am thinking of ways to write for a larger audience. This includes changing up my blog host, adding more guest posts, and changing my blog's look.  These changes are hopefully coming soon.
• Take a break. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. I have found that by taking most weekends off I am re-energized by Monday morning to blog.
• Leave comments on other sites and link to blogs you like. If you want comments then you need to leave comments. Also when you link to a site that you like the writer will notice and they might even visit your site.
• For the best advice I've found go to Blogrocket.com. Bryan Allain is a blogging ninja and you can get a lot of free advice from his site. He also posted 10 Tips For Beginning Bloggers on his site. Check it here.

Recently I have discovered a whole slew of new bloggers. I kept seeing their names in the comment section of a couple of the blogs that I read. I decided to click on their names and it has opened up a whole new level of blog fun. Here are some recent blogs that I have enjoyed reading...

• The Seeking Pastor. This is my favorite new blog. It's not new to the world, but it is new to me. He also leaves great comments on my site so that doesn't hurt my love for his stuff. He's funny, engaging, and a very consistent blogger.
• Wes Draws. I found Wes' site because he gave one of my posts a shout on his blog. When I was a kid I wanted to be a cartoon artist. It never panned out for me so I live vicariously through his blog. He puts great cartoons to his posts. I love his site.
• Stuff Christians Like. This is the mothership of all Christ Followers who blog. Jon Acuff's blog is funny, challenging, and he gets a tra-zillion comments. His site is three years old but I didn't start reading it until this year.
• Tyler Tarver. WesDraws.com gets the assist for me finding Tyler's blog. He was featured on Wes' "Friday Faves." I went to Tyler's site and I laughed. Not at his site but at his content. He not only blogs but he also loves movies. Speaking of movies...
• Educlaytion. I don't remember how I found Educlaytion's blog. I do know that he loves movies. He did a post asking what the best movies of all time where. I put down Die Hard, The Dark Knight, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Next thing I know I was entered into March Movie Madness. Unfortunately my movie, The Dark Knight, lost to the Matrix in Elite 8. Oh well. He has a great site.
• Tyler Stanton. Ok if you are a regular at robshep.com then you know that I didn't recently discover Tyler Stanton's blog. I pimp it out with some frequency. His blog is where I kept seeing a lot of the names mentioned above. It's my blogging goal to one day have Tyler do a guest post for me.