I need advice from bloggers & those who read/follow blogs.

[sk66]

So I've set up an account on 500px and started a blog. I've got a lot of ideas and I'm off to a good start. Well, I think I am (I hope I am).

Anyways, I've been doing one post a day. What I hope are interesting little ramblings from a lunatic photographer...But I'm concerned that it won't take very long for me to run through the ideas I have already and that it will be hard to come up with "new material" in the future.

What works best *for you*?
Weekly "interesting posts"? Daily "interesting posts"? (doubt I'm capable of that long term). Daily posts with occasional "interesting posts" interspersed?

What makes a blog worthy of following and coming back to regularly for you?

All advice and opinion is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

[NicoleScraps]

Originally Posted by sk66

What makes a blog worthy of following and coming back to regularly for you?

I can't help you with the other stuff, but I can answer this one. I have hundreds of blogs in my google reader. I have all kinds of blogs in there of varying intests, photography, crafty things, cooking, humor blogs, etc I mostly skim through them looking at the photos. Honestly to goodness, I ONLY take the time to actually read the post IF a photo catches my eye. So I would recommend that if you want people to actually read what you have to say, to start each post with a very interesting photo.

[Izzy]

I blogged on Myspace when it was worth a sh!t a few years back - quite a few.

My main topic was religion. I wrote daily for 1 year on this single topic. Sometimes I would do 2 a day. I had about 3K subscribers. The point I am making is that if I can blog that long on a single topic the photography should be no problem for you. I can tell you month 3 was the hardest to get through. Once I got into it it seemed that I could continue as long as I liked. When MS went down the toilet because of the religious extremists I decided to finally leave as there is only so much toxic one person can take.

What made my blogs worth visiting? I made things pretty simple. I proved over and over again that it did not take much effort to see the position I was putting out there was easy to understand. Sometimes I rambled and sometimes I was right to the point. Like photography there is no magic recipe for a winning blog.

These helped

1. Make sure it is well written and don't go into college level writing. If you can not put it in simplest term you don't know your topic.
2. Cite anyone that is necessary, make sure you read what is cited.
3. Keep humor in it all. People learn best when they are laughing.
4. Try not to revisit an exact sub topic less than 3 months apart.
5. What you take forgranted as known might not be known to others.

That is what worked on my blogging.

[sk66]

Izzy,
I'm not sure I want to get into blogging "to educate". I *could*, I know plenty and there are a ton of "myths" and other nonsense out there. But there's a lot of that type of stuff out there already. I don't want to blog about a new piece of software, or editing technique, or camera settings.
I just want it to be "fun and interesting".... with maybe an occasional rant.

[sk66]

Nicole,
The program doesn't allow me to "lead" with a picture, but I am including pictures with the posts. I hope that's enough.

[karen_s]

Originally Posted by sk66

I just want it to be "fun and interesting".... with maybe an occasional rant.

Then all you have to do is be fun and interesting.

So what makes me return to a blog? Well written humorous insights from odd perspectives.

What makes me move on and not return? Poorly written drivel that a million other bloggers have already covered.

Daily? Weekly? Doesn't really matter if it's interesting.

I follow a small handful of blogs for different reasons,

• I follow a very good pet photographer because her writing is quite good, interesting, and comfortable. She writes about her shoots and the dogs and peoples she meets. I like dogs and peoples so it works for me.

• I follow a woman who photographs and writes about her adventures with five dogs on a farm (mostly mischievous border collie types) because her tales make me laugh. I have even spit out my drink a few times.

• I follow Zach Aries. I love his photography, his rambles, and enjoy his personable style. I have also learned a lot about the photography business.

• One more is a marketing blog. Tips are short, quick, to the point, useful, and daily.

Personally, I think finding an audience will depend on finding a unique voice, one that resonates with more than just yourself.

Good luck with it.

[sk66]

Karen, thank you. I think that helps.
Now I'll go check out Zach's blog....

[Barbara V]

I found that the best way to get followers is to follow a lot of blogs yourself, and make comments on them, too.

[SwissJon]

Steve..

I'd suggest you don't set yourself a timetable, just say things as you feel like it, like taking photos.. If you take a photo every day, you'll pretty soon run out of interesting stuff to photograph and get bored.. If you carry your camera around and take photos when you want to, you'll get much better photos.. Same with a blog.. Carry a pad around and note down things to say as you think of them,. blog when you feel like blogging ind it'll be an interesting read.. Blog when you're struggling for something to say and it'll come across in your words and people will struggle to read it.

[sk66]

Jon,
Good points. Thanks.