New to blogging - a few questions

[MittensKittens]

I've taken on a new blog from someone else, and am excited about giving blogging a go. I'm a journalist by profession, but it seems like that experience does not actually go a long way with blogging. I don't think blog readers like news stories .

The blog that I am taking on has been up for a while now. It has informative articles, which are quite good, but nothing personal about the blogger and their life. The blog has a fertility theme, if that matters. Personally, as it is, I wouldn't stop and read the blog because the layout is terrible, but that's easily fixed .

Anyway, if anyone has the patience to read this, I'd love some input .

1) How do you get the right mix between informative posts that are useful to the people reading the blog, and personal stories to show that you are a real person with knowledge and experience on the subject? Do you have to tell your life story to be interesting to people? Are there any good blogs that only have information, and no personal stuff?

2) If you blog, how often do you post? What do you think is a minimum? Is there such a thing as too many blog posts? How much time do you spend blogging?

3) EVERYONE seems to be blogging now. How do you stand out from the crowd?

Thanks for any replies at all!

[rabbitmum]

I don't know - but I want to find out!

[Jael]

The best advice that I can give you is to tune into a pro who makes seven figures through blogging and learn how he does it:

http://www.problogger.net/

He gives an awful lot of information for free (click on the blog section) and he also has paid communities that you can join for actual training.

Hope this information is useful in making your blog a success.

[MittensKittens]

Thanks! That problogger site is quite good, with quite a few useful tips on how to make money blogging. Do you think he really makes seven figures? I guess when you add up his three blogs, perhaps he even does. I saw that he charges $6 for a month access to his forum on problogger .

Mind you, at the moment, I am not so interested in how to make money blogging, but more in how to create great content. What are the differences in writing for a blog and writing for a newspaper? I have to say that those blogs that read like newspapers put me off, unless they are news blogs of course. How do you find the right mix between being informative, and adding a personal touch to your blog? That's something I really struggle with.

[Jael]

Yes, I believe Darren does make that much from his blogs. I've followed his career for a while and his reputation is quite honest. Of course, do keep in mind that he also is invited to speak (for pay) at conferences and he engages in joint ventures with other bloggers, so I imagine he's well into seven figures with the help from each of these. However, I believe his story tells of being at seven figures or close to it even before he became something of a web celeb. He's not the only one, either. There's another site (I believe it's Dumb Little Man, but I'm not entirely sure) where a blogger touts seven figures and there are a good amount of six figure bloggers out there, as well.

I'm not a blogger, per se, but I think the mix comes just from being yourself. Write from your heart...your passion and be sure to include any relevant facts. Give supportive evidence for these facts when and where you feel it's necessary (or are asked to do so in your comments). From my understanding, a blog is more of a personal angle on a topic whereas a newspaper article would be straight facts. Just my opinion.

I really think that studying high traffic blogs within your area of interest is the way to go. What is it that attracts readers to their pages? What makes you want to tune in, bookmark them or subscribe by RSS? Are they entertaining? Informative? Then, ultimately, I think it's important to inject a little of your own personality and your own voice. Know what I mean?

All the best to you!

[MittensKittens]

Eh... how do I find high traffic blogs in my area of interest? I did a search (on google) and came across a variety of websites, but some of them were spam, and I didn't find any great blogs that way. Are there any other ways of getting info about other websites? Through Alexa perhaps?

I saw you recommended warrior forums in another thread - I had a look and found great info. Thanks!

[dogmom327]

Originally Posted by MittensKittens

Eh... how do I find high traffic blogs in my area of interest? I did a search (on google) and came across a variety of websites, but some of them were spam, and I didn't find any great blogs that way. Are there any other ways of getting info about other websites? Through Alexa perhaps?

I saw you recommended warrior forums in another thread - I had a look and found great info. Thanks!

I think Alexa can be helpful. It's not perfect but it's helpful. What's your general area? Maybe some of us have some ideas?

ETA: Sorry, must reread the original post and am seeing it's a fertility blog. No ideas personally but I'd imagine there are probably some big ones out there.

[MittensKittens]

Originally Posted by dogmom327

I think Alexa can be helpful. It's not perfect but it's helpful. What's your general area? Maybe some of us have some ideas?

ETA: Sorry, must reread the original post and am seeing it's a fertility blog. No ideas personally but I'd imagine there are probably some big ones out there.

It is an existing web address that I am taking over from someone else. The web address is great. No adverts an so on yet, but I do want to play around with that later on.

Right now, I am starting with the basics - some informative writing, news, etc, and changing the design of the blog. The original owner had a bottles and pacis theme . I'm really looking forward to starting blogging, but I am also a bit intimidated. Any tips would be great!

[Jael]

Finding high PR links can be a task, for sure. First, if you're using Firefox, I recommend getting their PageRank extension, which includes Alexa. With this tool, each time you visit a site, you'll see the site's page ranking at the bottom of your screen. Also, Google has one for their toolbar, but I don't think it shows an Alexa ranking. Sorry, I don't have the exact link, but if you can't find it on your own, let me know and I'll see if I can help.

You may also buy a list of high PR sites. However, I don't know how reliable these lists are, as a lot of the lists I've seen will advertise a site's ranking as one thing only for you to arrive at the site and find out it's ranking is much lower. I've mostly seen this on free lists, but who's to say that it doesn't happen on paid lists?

Here are a couple of sites that may help you manually find a few high PR sites in your niche:

http://dropmylink.com/

http://www.freebacklinklist.com/index.php?c=1

Other than that, frequent forums and social networks within your niche and find out which sites are buzzing.

Sorry, wish I could be of more help here. If I think of anything else, I'll add it.