Successful Blog

2.5 Queen Ellen’s Advice

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Interview with Ellen

Interview with: Ellen
Her Blog: The Reign of Ellen
URL: thereignofellen.blogspot.com
Her audience: easy-going, funny, non-judgmental readers–moms; dads; college-aged women
Things to note when you visit: the open spirit of community; the royal gallery, the blogroll; the multiple kinds of interactivity; the connection between Ellen and her readers; how the open, friendly, design supports the concept; the special features and unique ideas

2.5 Queen Ellen’s Advice

Ellen Flipped

Ellen has been building blogging expertise since May 2003. Her background in design and graphics also brings an additional dimension to the conversation. She shared some of her experience with the highs and lows of blogging.

What was the biggest mistake that you made?

I wrote some critical comments about one of my sisters on my old blog. . . . None of my family even knew that my blog “diary” existed, so I never thought that she’d ever read it. But search engines are tricky little things, and she . . . found my blog and read every archived post. She was very hurt and angry. I don’t regret writing my true thoughts and feelings on my blog, but I’ve learned that you must be willing to accept the fallout if you choose to do so. Needless to say, I don’t write about family anymore. I don’t know who is reading.

What change made the greatest improvement?

Besides the obvious switch from my boring old “Sugar” blog to “Reign,” I think that the addition of the “The Court of Ellen” cartoons bolstered the community on my blog. People love to belong and love to feel special and unique.

What do you wish you could do for your blog?

To be honest, I really like my blog the way it is. But I do wish I had more time to respond to all the emails and comments that I receive from readers. However, being a working mother with several personal hobbies outside of blogging, this is impossible right now.

What was the best advice anyone gave you?

“If you delete that blog, I will beat you, woman.”

Not really advice as much as a threat. Said to me by my husband after I received my first attacking comment from a “troll.” I get my feelings hurt easily, and I was about to delete my entire blog. Thankfully, I listened to him and have toughened up a bit.

What advice would you give a beginner?

Surf the network of blogs. You can learn a lot about blogging from other bloggers�the good, the bad and the ugly. And as the saying goes for writers, “if you want to be a good writer, read good books,� so it goes for bloggers . . . “If you want to be a successful blogger, lurk on a lot of blogs.�

Finally, make your template–“your template”–something you like to return to time and time again. My personal preference for my template is to keep “clean and uncluttered.â€? It’s about the only place in my life that is “clean and uncluttered.â€?

“Hey, you try having a baby, working part time, and pumping out artwork every week,” added Jason, Ellen’s husband.

In what ways, have you made your template your own? Stand back. Take a look. Does your blog reflect what happens there?

Is your blog a place you want to come back to time and time again?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

TWO Simple Keys to Success

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I was a VP in an executive meeting at a publishing company. The people around the table had the most solid core competencies I’d ever seen in one room. We’d been working together for five months. Our quest was to turn around a failing company. We had about six months left to do it.

“How do we grow the company?” they said.

Three reasons made them turn to me with the question. I had the applicable experience in that industry; I came from a high-growth company; and I was the product person who knew the customers intimately.

How do we grow the company?

Sometimes I get lucky, and the words that come out make me look smart. This was one of those times. My answer became the company’s guiding statement. I’ll adapt them slightly to apply to blogging.

All successful publishers do two things consistently.

  • Give readers what they want–quality content to read that informs, entertains, and makes their lives easier or more fun.
  • Give readers more opportunities to find what they want easily–posting with frequency, writing clearly and consistenly, keeping tags and archives understandable and organized, pointing to other blogs that answer questions and needs.

We give them more of the content they want and more opportunities to find it.

It’s not rocket science. It’s not even particularly clever. It’s simple, respectful, and elegant. Readers know what they need. If they had time to, they could find it themselves. We are the value-added. Those two simple keys–more great content and more ways to get to it–define their reason for reading us.

Our task is to come to agreement with our readers on the definition of quality content and never stray from delivering it.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

PS That little company I spoke of went from $9M to $35M in 3 yrs. At the same time the industry grew 3%, and the dot.com bust occurred.

2.4 The Stats of the Blogdom

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Interview with Ellen

Interview with: Ellen
Her Blog: The Reign of Ellen
URL: thereignofellen.blogspot.com
Her audience: easy-going, funny, non-judgmental readers–moms; dads; college-aged women
Things to note when you visit: the open spirit of community; the royal gallery; the blogroll; the multiple kinds of interactivity; the connection between Ellen and her readers; how the open, friendly, design supports the concept; the special features and unique ideas
Google Page Rank: 5/10

2.4 The Stats of the Blogdom

Ellen uses Site Meter to keep track of what’s going on in the blogdom.This blog is a team enterprise. Ellen keeps her focus on the needs of her readers. Jason, her husband, keeps an eye to what the trends and the graphs might reveal.

What do you do and how much time do you spend these days to build up readership?

To build up readership I usually spend most of my time focused on my writing and the artwork during the week. I also invest time in conversing with my readers by responding to comments and emails that are sent to me. I used to spend about 20-30 min writing a post, and that was the extent of it. Now days I’m spending 1-2 hours of the day dedicated to my blog.

What is your most visited day of the week? Does readership change through the year?

Right now it looks like Wednesday is the busiest day of the week, and I’m not sure how my readership changes over the year since my husband just started tracking visits in June of this year. We’ll see what happens.

What stat totals can you share?

Ellen Stats

The site meter summary chart tells the story better than words.

Honesty, humor, creativity and a genuine relationship with her readers has made The Reign of Ellen a place where people come in large numbers and return again and again.

Are these stats where you guessed they would be? higher? lower? If your numbers need a boost to get to this level, how might you reconstruct some of Ellen’s ideas to make them work for your readers?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

2.3 The Audience is Royalty

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Interview with Ellen

Interview with: Ellen
Her Blog: The Reign of Ellen
URL: thereignofellen.blogspot.com
Her audience: easy-going, funny, non-judgmental readers–moms; dads; college-aged women
Things to note when you visit: the open spirit of community; the royal gallery; the royal blogroll; the multiple kinds of interactivity; the connection between Ellen and her readers; how the open, friendly, design supports the concept; the special features and unique ideas

2.3 The Royal Audience

Ellen's Queens and Kings

Ellen’s relationship with her audience shows up everywhere. The Royal Gallery, The Royal Blogroll, the Coronations, the interviews, the reader comments on her posts, and particularly the way her readers open up to her.

Who is your audience, your readership?

I suppose that I am a dreaded and oft ridiculed “Mommy Blog.� Most of my mom readers, though, are an easy-going, funny, non-judgmental lot. I also have a few men who like to chime in, as well as quite a few single college-aged women.

How do they find out about you?

BlogExplosion, BlogClicker, Technorati, links from infertility blogs, FreeKatie.net (they posted a link to my site awhile back and I got about 3,000 hits one weekend from other people who think Tom Cruise is psycho nuts), and of course your standard weird Google searches (“larva pickle Ellen baby�.)

What do they like best about your site?

Gathering from the emails and comments I get, people seem to respond to
(in no particular order): my cartoons, “The Court of Ellen,” “Lost” Discussion Thursday, stories and pictures about my fantabulous daughter, and the downloadable book on depression.

Ellen offers a consistent order of activities and fun. It’s in some ways like the regular television schedule or the features of a favorite magazine. People know what they can look forward to and when and where they will see it.

What consistent features do your readers have to look forward to? Are those features your readers could find anywhere? Do you offer some features tailored to your readers that could only be done by you? How do you give your readers a value-added experience?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

SEO-OSE-SOE–When an Alternate Spelling Is Optimization

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SEO misspelling article link search image

When I do a link search on MSN for my personal blog, I always get that starred question Were you looking for . . . ? The same thing happens on Google, Yahoo, and most search engines.

I find it useful when I mistype a word, fun to follow when I’m on a link search, and funny when it’s unconnected to what I’m searching for. I didn’t think much about it, except to notice the number of listings under misspelled words.

In an October post written by Jamsi at Workboxers, The Overlooked Optimization Technique, Jamsi tells how with the Overture Keyword Tool, he used an alternative spelling as Search Engine Optimization. By removing a space and a capital letter from a keyword, Jamsi achieved a top three rank in the listings at Google, Yahoo, and MSN for an obscure blog.

The logic is simple and compelling.

It’s the big fish in a small pond strategy. Choose the less preferred spelling, and you’ll get more attention. Use the Overture Keyword Tool to make sure that you still have an audience. Then tag your post with keywords that will get you a higher rank in a shorter listing.

–ME “Liz” Strauss aka My Lis Straus

2.2 A Reign with Purpose

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Interview with Ellen

2.2 A Reign with Purpose

Interview with: Ellen
Her Blog: The Reign of Ellen
URL: thereignofellen.blogspot.com
Her initial purpose: to share her cartoons and to connect with other media junkies
Things to note when you visit: the open spirit of community; the royal gallery; the multiple kinds of interactivity; the connection between Ellen and her readers; how the open, friendly, design supports the concept; the special features and unique ideas

Ellen had been blogging for almost two years, when she decided it was time for a new beginning. That’s how The Reign of Ellen came to be.

How did you decide on a name for the new blog?

I’ve actually been blogging for several years. My former blog was Sugar In The Raw. After I had my daughter last February, I decided that I wanted a fresh start. On my old blog, I had just written a post about taking over the finances from my spendy husband. I was calling the new financial regime, “The Reign of Ellen.” One of my readers suggested that would be a good name for a blog, and so I yoinked the idea.

What made you start the new blog?

I feel like I’ve had two eras of blogging, each with a different focus.

Sugar In The Raw was simply an online journal of my life. I’ve probably filled up about fifty journals since I was 16 years old, and blogging was an extension to that habit.

With The Reign of Ellen, I wanted to create an “Ellen playground” I wanted a place to share my cartoons with other moms, to get feedback . . . and crack jokes with other media junkies.

Ellen Cave Cartoon

From Sugar in the Raw to The Reign of Ellen, Ellen’s purpose for blogging shifted. It went from maintaining an online journal to sharing her cartoons and her sense of humor with other moms and media junkies.

Do you think that Ellen is meeting her purpose of making a playground to share with like minded readers?

Like-minded readers . . . what do you have in common with your readers? Is your purpose their purpose? Should it be? When should you and your readers have a common purpose? When should you have a purpose different from your readers?

–ME “Liz” Strauss