Classic Revisited: The Blog Review Checklist

Filed Under Blog Review, Checklists, Successful Blog | 6 Comments

Look at Your Blog as Readers Do

In my first week at Successful-Blog, I wrote a Blog Review Checklist. It remains one of the most popular, most linked to, and most visited documents. As I work on the new design for this blog, I’m reminded that we all should be thinking about the points I defined way back then. . . . So I’ve dusted it off complete with the text that introduced it. ________

Look as Readers Do

When was the last time you looked at your blog the way your readers do? If you write only for yourself, you look at it that way every day. . . . You are your audience. You’re done.

The rest of us are looking for an audience a little bit larger than one.

Humans have unconscious tendencies. We do lots of the things we like to do and ignore the things we don’t. This makes for a blog that looks great from our point of view, but can leave gaping holes–holes that our readers see, holes they probably won’t tell us about.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s okay to leave things out, as long as we know that we’re doing it. Not every blog has to do everything. In fact, most really shouldn’t. But walking around with a hole in your blog could be embarassing, especially if you don’t know about it.

Blog Review Checklist

Here’s a checklist to make sure your blog’s (ahem) vital parts are covered.

Audience: What words would your readers use to describe your blog? What do they like best about your site?
Purpose: What is the purpose of your blog? Why does it exist? Is the purpose stated plainly where your readers can see it? How well does your blog meet that purpose?
Content: How well does the content support the purpose? Is the content readable, interesting, accurate, entertaining, and appropriate for your audience?
Design: How well does the look of the blog communicate the kind of blog it is? Is navigation easy and intutive? Do items flow naturally from the first to the next? Do the color palette, image, and type choices support the content or call attention away from it?
Posts: Do you post on a consistent schedule the information readers came to find? Do your posts reflect the unique purpose and style of your blog? Do they offer variety and interest within your blog’s purpose and theme?
Comments: Do you read and respond to comments to form a sense of community? Consider which posts get most comments and which get none. How does that effect the topics that you’re posting on?
Technical Issues: Have you checked lately to see whether and how fast your blog loads in other browsers? Have you overdone the use of plug-ins and gadgets, making the experience more confusing than fun?
Writing: Is your writing clear and respectful of your readers? Have you established a writing voice that lets readers know who you really are? Is the blog essentially free of errors in grammar, usage, spelling, and punctuation?
Organization: Have you set up your categories to draw readers into your backlist? Do you feature “Golden Oldies” that new readers would have interest in? Do you name your Categories things that readers can understand?
Marketing: What are you doing to let readers know that you are here? Are you listed in the right directories? Do you read and comment on other blogs within your readership? Have you included feeds?

Sure it takes time to review your blog. It takes even more to make tweaks and changes. But you invest so much time blogging. Doesn’t it seem worth it?

A rule of good publishing says,

Spare the reader not yourself.

In the end, you won’t be sorry.

What will you be doing for your readers today?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

PS Thank you for your patience with the sidebar issue. Fixing it is more complicated than it might seem.

Blogs Aren’t Books, But Revising Is Still Revising: 6 Gating Questions to Make Revising Easier

Filed Under Checklists, Customer Think, Successful Blog | 3 Comments

How to Decide What to Change

So, you’ve looked at your stats, and you’ve found the entry pages where readers frequently land. Now you’re checking them out to make sure that those pages are fresh and welcoming.

How far do you go? Some were written way back when. Do you edit the content? Do you change the design? Scott of 99 shades of grey asked those very questions this morning.

Those are the money questions. I can’t help but note the irony in the name of Scott’s blog, because these decisions are about as far from black and white as decisions can get.

The money answer is

Change what makes a difference leave what doesn’t.

Not much help is it?

That’s why I’m going to give you 6 gating questions to ask yourself about the landing pages you are looking at.

Using them, you can decide quickly and feel confident in what you decide. Take a look.

The Mic Is On — It’s Halloween!

Filed Under Checklists, Comments, Links, Marketing, SOB Business, Successful Blog | 316 Comments

It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

Here’s how it works.

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME
The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.

Tonight it’s Halloween!

We might also talk about

Halloween costumes and parties
Urban legends and childhood beliefs
trick and treats and childhood pranks
Haunted Housed and ghost stories

AND THE EVER POPULAR,
Basil the code-writing donkey, and Milton the Moose.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Even the Margaritas Were Leaking Links!

Filed Under Checklists, Comments, Links, Marketing, SOB Business, Successful Blog | 10 Comments

It Was Beverage of Choice

It was Margaritaville on Tuesday Open Comment Night. We were celebrating being alive for another week. The Margaritas were BJ’s fine idea, and the margarita glasses were elegant to say the least. Still we made sure everyone had their beverage of choice. So things started out very nicely.

Then Link Leak Virus seeped into our discussion of what we would drink. — The Link Leak Virus is a special strain of the indie virus with blogtipping mutations that occur in threes at Open Comment Night they become a link free-for-all.

Welcome to Mike. It was great fun having you!

Delicious links were shared.

The Conversation Was Salty

How could the conversation be anything but interesting with a cast of characters like you find on open comment night here?
Read more

Open Mic Tonight 7pm Chgo Time –What’s Hot? What’s Not?

Filed Under Checklists, Comments, SOB Business, Successful Blog | 13 Comments

Everybody is Hot, Hot, Hot!!!

YES, the mic will be open again tonight. So start collecting your thoughts. Remember, you get to bring what you want to talk about.

The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.

Tonight we’re talking about what’s bloggy hot and what’s not!

We might also talk about

what the cool bloggers wear when they’re posting
hot blogs, hot bloggers, hot ideas for bloggers to blog about
spam, weird search strings, off the wall comments
what cool things you wish someone would come up with

AND THE EVER POPULAR,
Basil the code-writing donkey, and I heard Milton the Moose might show up.

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Thinking, writing, business ideas … You're only a stranger once.

Look at Your Blog as Readers Do

Look as Readers Do

Blog Review Checklist

How to Decide What to Change

It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

It Was Beverage of Choice

The Conversation Was Salty

Everybody is Hot, Hot, Hot!!!

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