Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Blog Tips

I'm still wearin the damn hat.
I love this hat.
It suits me.

874b


I've been absent lately.
The minute I say I don't have much to say,
you can pretty much guarantee a good ramble.
I think I found something to say.

I've been asked a time or two for advice on putting together a blog.
I'm no pro.  But I do have a few thoughts.  They probably won't be popular.
Trust me I've been there and done it, made all the mistakes.
I've even gone back to earlier posts from my humble beginnings, edited the hell out of them.
Deleted photos, that at the time I thought were brilliant, so brilliant ...
I posted 3298454332 million per post.
[in hindsight I wonder what the hell was I thinking]
I've taken my years of experience, gone back and rewritten content
from circa 2001. I probably should fix a few more.
[yeh back then it was funnier in my head] most of the time it still is. 
.



Keep it Simple
If your background is so busy with "stuff ",  your content gets lost.
I know you think it's cute. It's distracting.
And not in a good way. It's like chotsky hoarding.
No one likes clutter. Not in your home, not on your page.

 Less is More
You may be a great photographer, you might not be, 8 million pictures
of the same thing at different angles, or 8 million pictures
from a trip on one post ... too much.
I understand, you have talent, and you like hearing people tell you so.
Don't get me wrong, great photographs/art should be shared.
If you're good you don't need more than a few per post,
more than a few, now you're just showing off.
If your pics are blurry and composition is lacking,
well ......it gets embarrassing, especially if you think you're skilled.
A few pics at a time gives me the reader a chance to really
take in what you've shown me.  Don't overwhelm me. Please?

We're Not Groupies 
or fans, kiddos or lovelies or any other name you want to give us.
We're your peers, so don't refer to us as anything but ...
If you refer to me, your reader, as anything other than a peer,
I won't read you,
I don't care who you are or how good you are.

Music
Don't do it. Don't ruin the music I'm already listening to
by forcing yours on me with those instant players.
Use them sure, but adjust the settings so your readers
can choose to play it.  Auto play sends me for the hills.
There's nothing worse than surfing blogs, listening to my own music,
 landing on a page and suddenly I'm knocked out of my chair
by some song I don't know where it came from clashing horrifically with my tunes.
Ruins my groove. Who am I kidding it's irritating and a pain in the ass
to have to stop what I'm doing turn off your player, and I'm usually using
ear plugs so I've been blasted deaf because you have the volume way
up on the player.

Blog Fame
I've seen some great blogs go what I call commercial.
By that I mean all of a sudden
they get hungry for comments, for more readers,
a ton of advertising I never click on.
I know you are hoping to make the list.
Make some money. I get it.
You want to be noticed.  You're going to be the next great blogger,
with readers in the hundreds, thousands, how good for your career if not your ego.
I shake my head. Usually that means a bunch of guest bloggers
going back and forth, groups that offer up an I'll follow you if you'll follow me,
I'll comment on yours if you'll comment on mine.
Spend a little time on blogs you like, comment,
the rest will follow.  People will check you out.  Yes they will.
 La Table De Nana is a wonderful example of quality writing,
food and photography, and because she's good, she has a great following.
Let me ask you this, what was your intention when you first started?
Is it the same now?
Listen, just do you, Be you.   If you're good they'll come.
If you're really good, they'll stay.

Guest Blogging
A guest blogger every once in a while is great.
Variety is the spice of life, you bet it is.
But remember I come to read YOU.

Quality over Quantity ...
 wins every time.
Over posting.  It's not twitter.
Who can keep up with every single thing you do.
I can't. And I don't want to.  More than one posting a day is a bit much.
Believe me the most important things you do in life, you do away from the computer.
Remove your fingers from the keyboard slowly, c'mon you can do it, I know you can,
you won't miss a thing, it'll all be here when you come back.
Life happens when you turn the damn thing off.
I promise.

Keep it positive
No one likes a whiner.
If you sit in negativity that's all you're going to get.
We all have bad days, we surely do.  It's life.
Unless its truly tragic, or catastrophic ... suck it up.
A lot of people have it worse than you do.
Most days I want to see the good in people, the good in life.
If you sit on the toilet every damn day complaining about no toilet paper,
I'm not reading you.  I know right, nice analogy Kathleen.
[note to self, you couldn't come up with anything better than that?]
 
Roll and Scroll
I like to.
I like to roll and scroll right on down
to the bottom of the page, and click 'older posts'.
I'm seeing these new templates, that give bloggers the option to post mini feeds. You know
those squares with a picture and one sentence.  I'm lazy. If I have to click to read the rest of
your story. I probably won't, especially if I'm looking at ten of those squares on your page.
There is one blogger who says "jump for more butter". For her I will.
You all know who she is, and if you don't check out  USE REAL BUTTER

Comments 
Pop out comment boxes. Love them. They don't take you away from
the main page.   That's all I have to say about that.

Sharing is Caring
We have the opportunity to learn from each other, inspire one another,
share laughs, share hearts, share compassion,  it's the better part of this blogger world.
Share the best of you, not the worst of you. 



I think that's about it for now. 

Take it or leave it ...
This is just one readers view.
I was asked. I've answered.















One Love. One Peace. Always and all ways.

10 comments:

Savira Gupta said...

Great feedback... I am guilty of the music.... so I will give my PEERS the option! By the way you look gorgeous with the hat.keep it on

La Table De Nana said...

As I looked at your pretty face and thought Jennifer Aniston watch out:)

So cute she is too..
I soaked in the words about having a nice blog..trying to learn..thinking many of your same thoughts..

Then saw what you wrote.
I am surprised as I always find mine so ordinary.
You are absolutely delightful to me.
Always.

Kathleen Bade said...

You are so far from ordinary....

Don't you know? You my lady set the standard, and you've set it high. You are a class act.

Kathleen Bade said...

YogaSavy, ultimately it's your page you do as you like. What I think is what I think, one person. It's like any piece of art, it's subjective.

opinions are like ...... [fill in the blank ] and everybody's got one.


I love your writing ....

Kathleen Bade said...

And girls .....thank you ... I'm keepin that hat!

Anonymous said...

My gosh your beautiful Kathleen and so up front and honest..I like that about a person!

~Sarah

Kathleen Bade said...

omg I'm blushing Sarah. I'm not trying to be right about anything. Its what I see when I visit blogs and my personal feelings about what I like and don't.

I like the bottom line. I like that people know when they ask me something I won't hand them a bunch of bullshit. I mean what I say and I say what I mean. And I want the bottom line given right back to me. I wouldn't have it any other way. Don't sugarcoat, just tell me how you feel and what you think. Yanno? Simple like that.

Kathleen Bade said...

I guess when I think about it ... I really don't hate anyone. There are behaviors I hate, or don't like.

But even at that I stand by my original thought that not every behavior I hate/don't like in someone else is not a behavior or something I don't like in myself.

I believe there are times that # 7 applies, and is a valid truth. Most of the time it is not my truth.

Jenn said...

ummm...yeah...definitely on the blog fame...been there a bit, done it, woke up and changed my goals.

Kathleen Bade said...

I hear ya. I do.

Organic yanno, if you build it they will come .... I know it takes a little effort, some networking but ...when we started why did we start?

I started because I wanted to document my life, for me...

hey if people want blog fame so be it ... nothing wrong with that. I'm not into it.

my list was solely based on my personal preferences. And I realize they won't be for everyone.

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