I had the awesome opportunity to listen to a presentation from Erin Blaskie (@erinblaskie on Twitter) at WordCamp Chicago 2009. Erin ran an interesting social experiment just by doing something she loved, gaming. She made videos and blogs, and even twittered her activities… and became a success in a few months.
Having a successful blog is not easy. It DOES take work. Sometimes it takes a lot longer for some people, than it does for others, but if you are true to yourself and your following, as well as determined to succeed, you will. The tools for bloggers to use are easy and the great thing, easy to find. It is a matter of taking the time and using them. According to Erin, here are some tools that you can use in your methods of blogging and being social:
1. Video : This is great for those really comfortable and if your topic could easily be conveyed with this particular media. I just wanted to mentioned that Erin said that when she put her videos to Youtube, people just watched her play games. Yes, just watched her click the mouse and look at her computer screen while playing!
2. Social Networks (Twitter, Facebook, etc…): Connect with people other than the mundane things in life. Re-tweet information, have meaningful conversations. Hey, this is something I covered months ago in another article!
3. “Blog from different mediums” : If you are on a bunch of different networks, you do know there are blog tools with some of them. Use them and get your message out to the people.
4. “Interweave Your Efforts” : If you blog, then tweet about it or put it in your Friendfeed or Facebook. Post a bulletin in MySpace… just do something. No one will know about what you want to say if you do not share it with them first.
5. “Live streaming video” : You can do webcam sessions and allow your visitors to ask your things. Sometimes a face and voice is a great addition to those words you have been writing for months.
6. Guest Bloggers : These people are great in helping to convey your message. They are not you, but they are experts in their own right because you chose them to write on your site.
7. “Interaction & Interactivity” : Activities are great. Freebies and giveaways are awesome too. In the case of web design sites, freebies are awesome attractions.
8. “Get out of your bubble.” : It is pretty self-explanatory. As I already said, you cannot attract people to your site if you do nothing. It is awesome that you have written content, but if you have no drive to work at convincing others why they should read what you have written, then why bother? Go out there and mingle!
Sound simple? What tools to you for your blog?
You know, I need to do some research to put ‘How to start a weblog’ as one of my columns for the newspaper. Of course, then it will add to the obscene percentage of abandoned blogs I’m sure. Tough call…
Well, you do have a blog and know how to start one technically. It is finding a focus and keeping with it that is huge. As for all the articles out there on How to Start a blog… they are all written by people of various experiences. If one person were to be encouraged by your post, then awesome…. you have influenced them (which is going to be another topic I will post soon.)
The searching is simple, but I think you should choose from places that you are influenced or trust. This will help you believe in your topic. 🙂 If you do, I will be interested in reading it.
Thanks for sharing this. I didn’t take notes so this is great. Check my site shortly for a photo of you and Lisa.
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No problem. A lot of what was said is very relevant to a part of what I have been trying to convey all these years with my articles.
I am eager to see the pic. Amy took better notes, so I really owe it all to her as they are a great refresher. 🙂
yeah
you can make a channel in youtube
for video things