Blogging Series

Blogger Series Vol. 7 – Should you give feedback to your blogger?

Swathy · March 21, 2013 · 10 Comments

This is not for the bloggers but for the readers! So, you all have your favorite blogs and not so favorite blogs. No assumptions over there. But, no blog is perfect. Sometimes, you might have some readability issues or slow loading issues or some other issues with any blog.

Now, many of the readers don’t even bother to give any feedback. If they like a blog, they continue reading and if they do not, they can just move on! Well, that sounds very practical. But, what if your favorite blogger has some real issues with her/his blog?

These issues can be technical in nature or may be in her/his writing skills or in pictorial representations on the post or may be a lack of detail in the post. The issues can range far beyond what I have stated. So, have you ever thought that by letting the blogger know about your issues, you might help her improve the blog?

Your feedback is extremely important to any kind of blog – big or small. As a reader, you would be doing a favor to the blogger. Now, how the blogger reacts to your feedback is something which lies in their jurisdiction. So, do not take it personally if they do not respond back or do nothing!

Many readers or rather I would say it is a problem in real life that we never think of reporting the problem. We just love to sit back and crib. So, take some action. Go ahead and report your issues. But, yeah, one more thing is do the thing gently and diplomatically because some times your wording may sound very rude, whether you want to or not.

And, whatever the blog, if it is made for the readers, they would DEFTINITELY listen to you! So, do not be skeptical. Aah..let me also add that please, PLEASE do not expect the answer immediately. Very few bloggers are full time and they might also not get time to reply to your suggestions or in general any query immediately. Please give me them time and if they do not, it is quite possible that they have missed your message as much as is possible that they have ignored your message!

So, how many times have you helped your favorite blogger improve her blog?

Blogging Series Vol. 6 – How to design the layout of the blog?

Swathy · February 27, 2013 · 6 Comments

So, layout is something which you would have seen a lot of changes in if you have been reading this blog since quite long. And, I am quite proud to say that I am happy with the current layout.

I have definitely received many comments saying it is not girlish enough or its too bland and not colorful or some other things. So, let me acquaint you with the first rule of design.

Some Pointers

white background, preferably!

minimal elements

ad placements should be not very obvious

font size should be decent (18 is the new 12)

It is good to have a really intricate design but when it comes to blogs, there are varied kinds of people, who would be reading it, with various tastes. And, it is not easy to make everyone happy. But, the least you can do is come up with a design which would be easy on everyone’s eyes.

Readers are fickle. Trust me! If they would not find your blog easy to read, they would happily go to someone else’s. So, try to keep the design layout of your blog as simple as possible with minimal elements.

Also, there is an issue of page loading and page speed which contributes to the user interaction in a major way. If your blog takes forever to load, people would be tired of waiting and not open it again!

If you keep a lot of widgets and gadgets on your blog which might be fun but take hell of a time to load, it can make anyone testy. So, try to keep the elements in your blog simple and as less as possible.

And, also, the design or layout of any blog is not perfect. You can only try your best. There can be thousands of things which can do with bit of improvement. So, always be patient with your blog and learn to play around. And, always remember, things always evolve over time and so will your blog. You wouldn’t get it right the first time!!

Blogging Series Vol. 4 – How am I able to try out so many products and its affects on my skin?

Blogging Series Vol. 3 – Don’t forget to buy the domain first!

Blogging Series Vol. 5 – How to time the posts?

Swathy · February 13, 2013 · 7 Comments

So, I did receive some encouragement for this series so here goes another post. But, I want to say this beforehand that these series are based on my personal experiences and problems I have encountered as opposed to the blogging rules laid down. For such rules, you can google them.

Now, getting back to the post, this is a problem I have encountered in two extremes – posting too many in a single day or not posting for quite a long time. This is not only a problem of writer’s block or lack of enthusiasm but also a problem of not being able to do proper management.

Excess of Enthusiasm
This is a case which generally happens when you start writing a blog or sometimes when the writing juices are continuously flowing. And, you come to a standstill when those juices stop.

Total Blockage
When writing, in general, passionate writing gets influenced by a lot of factors – your mood, your life, pressure of other works or many other things. And, sometimes, you are just not able to think of any topic plainly.

So, how to deal with either of these situations. You get a feature called Schedule. No, I am not telling you about this feature in this post. When you get used to writing for quite a long time, you understand these timing issues and start using this feature on your own.

So, what is this post about? Actually, I have started another blog and honestly I am not able to write for it even though I want to. So, I have decided that I shall start with aiming for one post per week. What if I write 2-5 posts in a day? Then, I shall schedule these posts till the one post per week condition fulfills for the entire year.

And, only then, will I start scheduling for 2 posts or so on. And, writing even 1 post per week for an entire year is not exactly easy. Anyways, the moral of story is that give your readers a timeline to expect your posts. Giving them a barrage of posts one day and leaving them thirsty for another month is a bad option and it kills their enthusiasm.

Yes, you would argue that you are writing for yourself not the readers. But, ultimately it the readers you find your real fulfillment in!! So, remember to time the posts according to your writing capabilities. That helps in keeping you happy and satisfied as well 🙂