It's the Cycle!
The Cycle of...Blog! (Thanx and a hat's tip to The Lion King!)
Everything I've read about successful blogs indicates that they should be thematically centered around a narrow range of topics, and fill a certain niche on the blogosphere so that people know they can go there and find something on the topic that interests them. It could be aimed at people in a certain career (CPA Facts 'n Tips - zzzzzzzzzzzz), those who like a particular hobby (Glue Guns and the People Who Love Them), those who like cooking or a particular cuisine (Cookin' With Twizzlers!) , those who want to see progress on their project or projects (Gazebo Gangham Style), and other blogs of focused interest.
The Strait Line fails that test....big time! I serve way too many masters and interests. So even as my traffic builds, I am aware there are limitations. I have no interest in sticking to one topic, I enjoy writing about many things. So inevitably, for those who do visit this blog, they may find some things that interest them and other things that have no appeal.
Two things to help with that -
1) Look at the labels at the end of posts...when they are clicked on, they will pull up the stories that I have done on the same topic. That way you can see all the things that you like from that topic.
2) I do have a general pattern that I follow in posting different types of entries. It is as follows -
Monday Musings - posted on Mondays (hah!) this is where some of my more personal commentary is, where I share more of what's going on in my life and general topics that are of interest to me. You are most likely to hear stuff about what's going on with my family and work hare than in other posts. There is also likely to be multiple topics in the same post.
Ripping Good Yarns - a post devoted to fiction-based movies. TV or books. It generally is posted on Wednesday or Thursday, but it can vary a bit. I like to run contests and awards in this sometimes, and interaction is very, very important.
Thursday Night Pseudo-Poetry - I try to do a poem every Thursday night. I'm not a poet, and I know it. Nevertheless, they are a fun literary exercise for me, and the topics are varied enough that if you do like poetry, you may find something of interest.
History of the Trap - every Friday I try to post a new chapter part of this continuing story...kind of an old-fashioned serial for those interested. If you fall behind, this is where clicking labels can be very, very helpful.
Saturday Political Soap Box - this is where I post topics of a political nature. The hope is to engage in discussion of important political topics. Although these are usually some of my highest page view posts, I have been disappointed in the amount of comments it generates. Hopefully that will improve over time.
Additionally, I try roughly once a week to post a story about local children's and/or community theatre. Right now there is also the Glenwood Restoration project for those who lie to see the progress of rebuilding projects. There is periodically other fiction, including my desire to write more stories and poems in the fantasy world of Pazoria, and to set more stories in the more folksy environment that Dark Days and Barn & Stars are set in. and, sigh, there are other topics as well.
Speaking of writing, I am in the process of helping start a Writer's Guild at the Okefenokee Heritage Center. We are aiming to have an organizational meeting the 2nd Tuesday of February/ If you are interested please let me know!
Until next time,
T. M. Strait
I think the lack of comments on the political blog is due to "political flu"...so many are just so sick of it all, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteCould be...still getting about the same page views, but I get what you're saying.
ReplyDelete