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Five blogging tips

5:04 pm by D Kai Wilson, editor in Issue 2, Issues, non fiction

By D Kai Wilson, Publish Hacks

Blogging is one of those things that everyone that’s been doing it for a while claims they are good at, and its really easy, after about three months to believe that those claiming they know it all, actually do, especially if they teach you a couple of neat tricks.

I’ve been blogging since 2002 - since before it was ‘cool’ and part of the mainstream internet, and I teach blogging on a regular basis, so I thought I’d share some of THE most important tips I’ve picked up along the way.

One - be authentic.
If you are authentic, people will relate to you better, and more importantly, your language and tone will match your message.  Putting that into plain English, if you use your own voice, you’ll have people responding before you’ve finished posting

Two - post as regularly as you can.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but most of us at the Writing Mother try and post once a week, schedule permitting.  So if you’ve got a blog, post to it at least weekly.  Give your readers something to look forward to and check back for, at least weekly.  If you can manage more than that, go for it!

Three - don’t get TOO personal, but don’t be too impersonal either
If you’re too personal, people will RUN for the hills screaming ‘TMI! TMI!’.  Sometimes its funny, and can be done well, but most of the time, people will be seriously put off by sharing the WRONG things.
That’s not to say that if you do share something, that its a problem - like I said before, when done right, it can stir up people into responding.
On the flipside, if you’re not sharing enough for people to get a feel for your voice, they won’t feel happy commenting on your blog - which means they probably won’t come back.

Four - Content is gold - commenters can be platinum
Your blog posts ARE your bread and butter - if you do well with them, you’ll get lots of comments - which makes your commenters some of the most worthwhile people to get to know on your blog.
Commenters tend to tell other people when they’ve found GOOD blogs.  And while you can purchase advertising, and undertake link exchanges and lots more, you will ALWAYS find that getting on the blogroll of someone ‘big’ in the blogging community is gold dust.  Better yet when they talk about you in their main posts.  So make sure your content is what your regular commenters want.

Five, and finally - you CAN make money from blogging, but that doesn’t mean you should.
Most new bloggers slap up a blog, insert Google ads, and then spend the next six months complaining that they’ve made five cents a month.  Nine times out of ten, they’ve put their blog up, they do the ‘bog standard’ and expect that it will make them a small fortune, just for being there.  Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that, so my next post on blogging will talk about the five most important ways you can maximize your time investment and actually make a little bit of money from your blog.  Probably not enough to retire on, but since when was writing easy in the first place

 D Kai Wilson is a blogger, editor, writer and student with Gloucestershire University.  When not writing essays and blog posts, she can be found crafting fiction and poetry, running around after her children, ranting about the inconsistencies of Vista, and playing World of Warcraft and the Witcher.  Information on her books can be found at Books by Kai, or stalking her on Facebook.

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Ten Zen Seconds, by Rahul Prabhakar

9:00 am by D Kai Wilson, editor in Issue 1, Issues, non fiction

TEN ZEN SECONDS interview with Eric Maisel

Rahul: What is Ten Zen Seconds all about?

Eric: It’s actually a very simple but powerful technique for reducing your stress, getting yourself centered, and reminding yourself about how you want to live your life. It can even serve as a complete cognitive, emotional, and existential self-help program built on the single idea of “dropping a useful thought into a deep breath.”

You use a deep breath, five seconds on the inhale and five seconds on the exhale, as a container for important thoughts that aim you in the right direction in life—I describe twelve of these thoughts in the book—and you begin to employ this breathing-and-thinking technique that I call incanting as the primary way to keep yourself on track. (more…)

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Five tips for the perpetually disorganised

3:41 am by D Kai Wilson, editor in Issue 1, Issues, non fiction

The five top tips for the perpetually disorganized (cue chart count-down music)In at number five - Make a to-do list - It might seem odd, but you’re not going to be able get organized and plan your time without looking into what you’ve got to do. So, work out what you’ve got to work with, and then you can handle the rest more effectively. (more…)

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