Sunday, February 22, 2009

Blogging... what makes a blog-site worth a look???

What is a blog site and what draws people to certain sites time and time again? Blogs can be anything we want them to be. Many times they are a diary or chronology of peoples daily thoughts and/or actions. They can be impersonal and business like or they can reach into the very depths of ones soul. Often times, a blog site offers a person a place to put thoughts and feelings down in type that they would never feel comfortable writing or revealing any-where else... and certainly never face to face with someone. It is a place to even be controversial and confrontational at times without the anxieties of looking a person in the eyes as you argue. Something many people have trouble doing. The subject lines often dictate what the contents will be. Many use their sites for poetry and lyrics. Some use it as a "sounding board" for new projects they are working on. They may be writing a novel or a song or poem and want to see how others think it is sounding. It allows them to get a feel of where they are at with writing before they allow their publisher to see the works. It also can be a chance to vent some feelings and see if they are on-track with the rest of the world.
But what brings a person back to a certain site? What characteristics make it appealing, sometimes even alluring to the roaming eye of the Internet world? After-all, there are 20 bazillion bloggers out in the cyber world and twice that many readers. The subject matter is I think the biggest draw. A person is often looking for articles or poems pertaining to a specific subject. For example, if you are looking for a new diet or recipe or even new knowledge concerning an illness, blogs are a great place to start. People's personal experiences will often give way to a more compassionate and deeper understanding of an issue than the "matter of fact" answers given by a medical or professional site. That is NOT to say in any way that the direct sites to medical or for that matter any subject is not to be read as well. It simply means that there are times that people need a gentler more family or friend orientated answer to a question.
Tags or labels are also used to help a person find sites and/or articles on a certain subject. The tags guide the searcher quicker to what they are looking for. Again, the tags will help to increase traffic flow {readers are called traffic} to your website. But getting back to the original question, I think it is a mixture of things that draw people back to a blog site. There needs to be a feeling of connecting to the blog and the person writing. The blogs need to be something that captures the readers interest. Give them a REASON to want to come back and see what you have written. Give to the reader the feeling that they are important to you and that you want to write about things they are looking for.
The talents of writing on-line are fabulous and there are so many sites a reader can choose from. YOURS needs to be a little bit the same and a LOT of different or unique to keep the people coming back. Here, on-line, just like anywhere else, word of mouth is a powerful tool.It is also a sharp sword. It can cut you if you aren't careful and the traffic to your site may drop. The things you write about may seem offensive to some or be confusing at times but to others it may be exactly what they were searching for.
To keep people coming back for more, the site should offer something that is intelligent or gives a new out-look on an old subject. It can be informative and it can be silly and fun. People are always looking for something that tickles their sides or expands the things they may know about.The truth is, sometimes you just have to find a niche, write and hope that people find your writing, no matter how silly, how strange, how scary or deep from your heart it is. It's your blog so write... and do it from your heart. That always gives reason to come back for another look. Always, Darrel


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