blogging » geniwate.com

push that blog

Networked Media Comments Off

Sep 172012

So you’ve got your blog going, you’re developing your personal voice, you’re doing a couple of posts a week.

But. Not. Many. Hits.

Have you thought of pushing your blog out to your Twitter feed? You can do it in Hootsuite, under Settings/RSS/Atom.

Plugging your blog into other social media is a great way to encourage traffic. Some tips here by Liz Borod Wright: 10 Social Media Tips for Bloggers.

Display your social media icons prominently toward the top of your website.
Every blog should have its own Facebook Page.
Generate traffic with StumbleUpon.
Import your RSS feed onto your LinkedIn profile using its Blog Link application.
Pinterest is the hot new frontier for bloggers.
Use link shorteners even when you don’t have to.
Use your blog name as your username whenever possible.
Join blogger groups on Facebook.
Be on social media — even when it’s not driving traffic.

I’ve started using my blog RSS feed as part of the content marketing strategy for the new Grad Dip, so I have my blog going to the Grad Dip Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn pages. The main problem is that the blog posts don’t get hashtagged, so they’re not particularly ‘searcheable’, compared to ordinary tweets which are hashtagged. I need to automatically convert my blog’s keywords into hashtags – something, surely, someone has dreamed up a way of doing.

Because I’m doing all this marketing, I’ve got my blog posts pushed from one service to another, then to another – depending on what service has relationships with which social media – it’s completely Byzantine. I can’t push my blog to Google+ at the moment, because they haven’t released the API. (I think I could do it through Hootsuite, but I’m too cheap to pay for the pro version and have exhausted my free options!)

[Post written for Networked Media, a course at RMIT University]

TS2012, week 11

Transient Spaces Comments Off

May 142012

Ts2012, week11

View more presentations from Jenny Weight.

Transient Space 2012, week 10

documentary, Transient Spaces Comments Off

May 042012

Ts2012, week10

View more presentations from Jenny Weight.

blogging: just do it

Networked Media, This working life, Transient Spaces Comments Off

Jan 252012

The Right-brain Thinker’s Guide to Beating Blogger’s Block, Austin Kleon encourages you to stop being sensible and just dive in:

Sometimes it just helps to get your ideas down on the screen. That’s usually what I do once I’ve gathered enough information about the topic I want to write about. And don’t forget: just write as quickly and carelessly as you can! Tell that editor in your head to “shut up,” and just write.

Another way to break writer’s block is to draw.

Among other good tips …

Creative coach has more general advice:

But, how does one feel this creativity? What’s the secret? The magic potion? All of my students always seem to wait with baited breath when this question comes up in a class or workshop. I always smile and simply say, “There’s no secret. Only you and your environment. That really is the whole trick. To allow yourself the time, patience and desire to revel in your own creative energy field.”

Yeah, creativity is a mindset. And not caring too much about the opinions of other people.

Shaggy blog story

Networked Media, resources, This working life, Transient Spaces Comments Off

Oct 032011

Best new blogs, according to Eloqua and Jess.

Would you buy a used car from a shaggy man? Only if he was your uncle. This is a really effective visual metaphor introducing the Principles of Effective Blog Design on Problogger:

The content of your blog is always more important than the design, but you need to woo people with your design first. You draw them in with design, and keep with content.

The principles that spoke to me from my non-marketing perspective are:

Make it easy to find stuff

Less is more

Rule of thirds (You should never publish a blog post without an image)

Clarity matters

Readability and typography

Take heart, novice bloggers! A little pep talk from Syed Farhan.

Great stats on social media and blog use from Neilsen.

on yr blog, mate

Networked Media, resources, Reviews, Transient Spaces Comments Off

Sep 192011

Want to get more traffic to your blog? Jon Morrow is launching BoostBlogTraffic.com on this very issue.

Peter G. James Sinclair believes you’ve got to know what you’re talking about before you can write a blog. Sounds like what they always say about that first novel, write from experience. I dunno, there’s also a role for imagination, if you happen to be so blessed. And humour. You don’t need to be an expert to be funny, now do you? Or you could be an expert about… going to the post office. I haven’t personally read the ijustwenttothepostoffice.com blog. But its probably out there. Or waiting to be written.

So many things waiting to be written.

Not to mention, those waiting to be read.

But the image is more powerful, speaking of which, have a look at Jux, a new blogging platform. Seems very image-centric. Reviewed by Jux” target=”_blank”>readwriteweb.
Ahh, images. Been watching Game of Thrones. Its bleak, but it’s not Australia 2011. Lots of palace intrigue. I’m guessing the author of the original books didn’t know too much about palace intrigue, first hand. But he knew about psychology and character and he worked it out. Well, there’s knowing and knowing. You’ve got to take the little bit you do know then spin it out believably.

It’s not what you know, it’s what illusion of knowing you can create. True in many fields, not just fiction!

OK, gotta pop off to the post office now.

Overcoming blogger’s block

Networked Media, Transient Spaces Comments Off

Sep 052011

You’ve got to keep those blog posts coming… and they’ve got to be about something good… blog stress has settled on your shoulders. Me, I’ve come up with my solution – for now. Most of my blogs have an image. A fair number of those images are by me, and those are my headline entries. Everything else gets published to an inner page. Yeah, its about how I’ve set up my blog to be a magazine, which sorts my posts by categroy to display in different ways. It privileges the ones i’ve done an image for. and we all know that an image = 1000 words.

But there are other strategies. Here’s some from problogger: 52 Types of Blog Posts that Are Proven to Work.

52! Oh my cotton sox!

your writing voice

Identity and community, resources, This working life Comments Off

Aug 192011

Oh, I do get a bit tired of everything coming in ‘three steps’ or ‘five ways’. Its. so. neat.

However, its great to have neat things! Easy peesy! For example, 3 Steps to Finding Your True Writing Voice from Copyblogger. Not saying it isn’t true. Or important. You’ll be happier after you do it.

changing my identity, the cloud way

Identity and community 1 Response »

Jul 192011

Recently I decided to renovate myself. I’ve dumped my old blog, my old email, my old contact list and my old calendar. In one way or another, these things were all supplied by my job at RMIT University.
Now I’m freelance (at least in attitude), and I’m radically on the cloud. A lot of it is Google, but some of it, like this blog, aren’t. I’m doing more twittering, more LinkedIn, more Facebook. And because I’ve uploaded myself to Google, a lot of it is now interoperable.
Even the content of my blog has changed – it’s more personal, without being deeply private. It used to be strictly about my teaching, but that’s only a part of it now. I’ve changed my attitude to what I do online, and with that, it would seem I’ve changed myself.
I think it’s good. But who knows? Can I keep up the momentum? But I like it. I like this more poetic me, it seems more honest.
Doing this seems to validate this new me, even if nobody reads it, or nobody knows. All this stuff, all this publishing … on the surface it seems to be about communicating to other people, but maybe that’s not really important.
Oh, did I mention? I’ve got a new business card. It doesn’t say RMIT. The business card is also trying to be interoperable.
Interoperably yours, geniwate.