March 12, 2007

Mini-Session 8: Blogging Beyond the Blogosphere

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 3:01 pm

Guest Speaker: Wendy Piersall

We build our traffic and subscriber base primarily from other bloggers – but in doing so, are we unwittingly excluding non-bloggers from our sites?

We started our blogs to reach others with the value we can add to their lives. But we may not reach our goal if we stay too focused on each other in the world of blogs.

What can we do to ensure the welcome mat is out for all of our site visitors, not just our blogging pals? And how can we add value beyond the Blogosphere?

Thank you, Wendy!
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Wendy blogs for eMoms and eDads on the life of work-at-home parent. You can find Wendy at eMoms at Home. –ME “Liz” Strauss
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Let’s open the Q&A . . .

I’ll go first. Wendy, what can a blogger do to attrack non-blogging readers?


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36 Comments to “Mini-Session 8: Blogging Beyond the Blogosphere”

  1. March 12th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
    Wendy Piersall :: eMom said

    Hey Liz! I’m just beginning to address that question on my blog. First of all, I’m rethinking whether or not to call it a “blog” or a “site”.

    Secondly, I’m working on putting together a welcome area… with beginner articles, navigation tips, blogging etiquette tips, etc.

    Lastly, I’ve been giving a lot of attention to SEO traffic, knowing that’s our biggest and best source of new site visitors.

  2. March 12th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Those are great ideas! I wish I had your design skills to make them happen for me. :)

  3. March 12th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
    Steli said

    …and how can a blogger help to make his blog more coherent for non bloggers. Think about rss, trackbacks, tags, bookmarks, etc….all this terminology must be very intimidating for non-savvy blog visitors.

  4. March 12th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
    Steli said

    Ups…I guess you already answered those questions! Cool tips!

  5. March 12th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
    Wendy Piersall :: eMom said

    Specifics on SEO traffic:

    We really need to write to many audiences, not just regular blog readers. So occasionally I put up keyword-heavy reviews and resource pages. Regular readers don’t really comment on them - and kind of skip over them.

    But interestingly, some of these posts are the highest trafficked on my site because of the natural traffic they get.

    A good example of this is my tax write off posts:

    http://www.emomsathome.com/blog/2007/02/06/blogging-tax-deductions-what-can-you-write-off/
    http://www.emomsathome.com/blog/2007/01/18/can-you-write-off-your-dog-as-a-home-office-expense/

    They were kind of a dud with regular readers (we all kind of are bored with taxes, eh?!). But the first one is the third highest visited post on my site thanks to April 15th being around the corner.

  6. March 12th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
    Easton Ellsworth said

    A question for Wendy - What are some things veteran bloggers can do regularly to write for non-blog-savvy readers? One possible answer might be, ask for feedback from a non-blogger. Family and friends who don’t blog can be great sources of this kind of feedback. Just want to get your take, Wendy!

  7. March 12th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
    Wendy Piersall :: eMom said

    Steli - I have a “What’s This” link underneath my RSS button, so that people new to RSS can get the “newbie overview” of what it is and how to subscribe.

    You bring up some other good terms - if I had the bandwidth, I’d put together a blogging glossary.

    I think for now, I’ll just find one to link to. ;)

  8. March 12th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
    Ellen Weber said

    Great tips Wendy - I’d like to hear more about the many writers we write for. How do we know who they are?

  9. March 12th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
    Wendy Piersall :: eMom said

    Easton, that’s a really great question! Let me think about this for a second…

    I think one of the ways is something many of us do, but perhaps if we do it a little more consciously, it would garner better results:

    Writing in an “approachable” voice.

    But we can’t alienate our experienced readers by always explaining everything either.

    Darren Rowse had a great idea (I think it was Darren) which was to create a few separate feeds for our sites - ones with beginner content, ones also for advanced content.

  10. March 12th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
    Wendy Piersall :: eMom said

    Ellen - the way I try to figure it out is really through web statistics, and really analyzing the search terms people use to find the site, the terms they use for local searches, and by where they come from.

    Analytics kind of give us a peek into the minds of people who don’t leave comments - by watching traffic patterns, by studying which pages get the most views, these kinds of things tell us what people want from us as writers.

  11. March 12th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
    Easton Ellsworth said

    How often should we link to non-blogs?

  12. March 12th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
    Wendy Piersall :: eMom said

    Easton, another idea I just had brings our content outside of the blogs, by starting up more traditional newsletters, or joining sites like BlogBurst.com which will syndicate our content.

    It’s not just what we write about - it’s how we deliver it. If we work to make it easy for people to find and read our content, it makes it more accessible for everyone…

    Not that any of these are easy to implement, but depending on your business model, it makes sense.

  13. March 12th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
    Wendy Piersall :: eMom said

    Man, Easton, you are on a roll. :)

    I don’t really know - but I do try to do it more frequently, now that I kind of realized my site was being a little insular. Since non-blogs tend to not send much traffic back, we really have to balance our needs to grow the site within the community as well as stretch every now and then outside of the commmunity.

    What do you think about that one?

  14. March 12th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
    Joe said

    Hey Wendy,
    I used to always write thins like RSS (Really Simple Syndication) so readers would have an idea of what all the abreviations were.
    I got out of the habit somewhat.
    Do you think that could aleviate some of the newbie angst if I restarted doing it?

  15. March 12th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
    Easton Ellsworth said

    Good point about traffic, Wendy. IT’s funny because non-blog vs. blog is sometimes hard to tell. But I think a lot of us bloggers tend to link almost exclusively to blogs because of the greater likelihood of getting a traffic or link popularity boost from that. I guess the best approach is to mix it up. Readers probably would like that too - e.g. link to the NY Times AND to a couple of blogger opinions while offering ours as well.

  16. March 12th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
    Wendy Piersall :: eMom said

    Joe - it’s hard to say, not knowing your audience as well as you do, of course. Personally, I hadn’t thought of that, and I think I’ll start doing it more often. Great idea!!

    I think those kinds of things are a smart strategy. If experienced bloggers read “RSS (Real Simple Syndication)” they will probably just scan it, whereas a newer blogger would probably appreciate the extra info.

  17. March 12th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
    Steli said

    Killer tips! Great :)

  18. March 12th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
    Easton Ellsworth said

    Well plus we do things like say Liz or Wendy and assume everyone will know who we’re referring to, and maybe even sometimes do that to show people that we’re on a first-name basis with tha t blogger. Maybe i na lot of cases it’s best to say something like “Liz over at Successful Blog (a blog about etc etc.)”. At least from time to time.

  19. March 12th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
    Wendy Piersall :: eMom said

    Personally, I’d love to brainstorm some ideas on how to generate links FROM non-blog sites. Most blog linking strategies don’t focus on reaching beyond the blogosphere. Admittedly, that’s because they are harder to locate and sometimes harder to get (like from traditional press).

    Any ideas, anyone? :)

  20. March 12th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
    Wendy Piersall :: eMom said

    Actually, here’s another tangent (hopefully not to get off of the one @ #19)…

    Something I’ve been trying to do lately is join social networks and start up blogging groups. I haven’t had the time to really bring the strategy to fruition, but it’s been a way for me to reach outside of the blogosphere and into my other niche - specifically moms.

    The groups are a way of educating and opening channels to blogging for people ‘on the outside’.

  21. March 12th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
    Joe said

    Wendy,
    I used to frequent a Work at Home Forum which always included a link in the Signature.
    I haven’t been there in ages, but I still get traffic from some of the threads I participated in.
    If the site you visit allows links in a sig, and you add value to their conversation, the traffic will follow. :-)

  22. March 12th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
    Carolyn Manning said

    Easton at Business Blog Wire is right that we should connect writers with their blogs. I look at it as if I’m writing an article for a newspaper. The reference needs to be complete.

  23. March 12th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
    Wendy Piersall :: eMom said

    Joe, you’re so right about that one. I even preach that one myself, yet have a harder time following through on it. Social networking is a double edged sword - it’s time consuming, yet it really offers long-term rewards and results!!!

  24. March 12th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
    Wendy Piersall :: eMom said

    Carolyn, that’s an excellent point - to put it in the framework of a “newspaper article” automatically makes me think a little differently about composition. I think we would tend to ensure our posts can stand on their own a little more rather than assuming background knowledge.

    And an interesting thing I just realized is that when we write like that, the posts get more SEO traffic….

    Perhaps not so coincidental? ;)

  25. March 12th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
    Joe said

    Carolyn from Thought and Philosophies,
    I agree with you and Easton Ellsworth from Business Blogwire. When I refer to someone in one of my posts, I always try to reference the Blogger, Blog AND a link so people have an idea of the expertise of the person.

  26. March 12th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
    Wendy Piersall :: eMom said

    Ah, yes, and I don’t know if I can keep up with all of you on THAT one!!

    :(

  27. March 12th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
    ME Strauss said

    You would think that websites at least would be interested in a good blog link or two.

  28. March 12th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
    Wendy Piersall :: eMom said

    Well, since we’re almost out of time, I just wanted to share the post that got me thinking about all of this in the first place.

    And the comments from visitors on this post were astonishingly insightful and quite in-depth.

    It’s definitely a hot-button, and important to not let ourselves get too cliquey. :)

  29. March 12th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
    Carolyn Manning said

    Ok, so now the key is go recruit non-bloggers?

  30. March 12th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
    Carolyn Manning said

    I’ve already linked to websites. Got a couple of favorable responses.

  31. March 12th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
    Wendy Piersall :: eMom said

    I think it’s always a balance, Carolyn. But considering I haven’t really recruited any non-bloggers, it’s something I just recently realized I was being short-sighted on.

    And yes, Liz, with the PR that a lot of blogs have, you’d think a lot of sites would want our links! :D

  32. March 12th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
    Wendy Piersall :: eMom said

    Carolyn, how did you target the sites you linked to, and did you get a ‘favorable’ response that is unique to a non-blog site?

  33. March 12th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
    Carolyn Manning said

    Wendy, they were sites that I’d used to research a few posts. Gee, I didn’t consider the degree of unique in the response.

  34. March 12th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
    Wendy Piersall :: eMom said

    Well, if you think of any tips that are unique, let us know! :)

  35. March 12th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
    Carolyn Manning said

    Most definitely!

  36. March 12th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
    Roy said

    This is a subject I preach about all the time. I think the future for blogs is people who today don’t even know what a blog is.

    On getting links from different sites. Many major newspapers now have blogs within their online sites. These guys are like anyone else, they want traffic, and they want links. I regularly link to them when it’s absolutely appropriate and it would add to my discussion.

    I’ve had emails from them thanking me. Before you know it you have a link from the Washington Post, or New York Times, to one of your posts.

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