I mentioned in my last post, “Do You Give Your Readers What They Want?” , one way to find out what information your readers want is to ask them to take a survey. There are many survey sites out there, some free, some paid, that allow you to do this. However, I personally use Google Forms to accomplish this and here is how.
Regardless of how good of a writer you are people are not going to stick around unless they are getting the information they want from you and your blog. As I discussed a while ago, it’s important to know your target audience and this is why. If you don’t know whom you are blogging for then how can you give them the information they want?
There are a number of simple tasks you can do to help you find out just want your readers are looking for from you.
Just come out and ask.
This is probably the easiest way to get answers. Just ask your readers. You can create a survey and ask them to fill it out. You could just write a blog post asking people to leave a comment with their opinions about your content. Or if you don’t want the results public, ask your readers to send you an email with their thoughts.
Check your analytics.
Keep an eye on your blog stats. Check which blog posts are getting the most views and which pages people stay on the longest or the least (FYI: this is called the bounce rate). Check which search terms people are using to find your blog.
Pay attention to not only the subject of your posts but also the format. Do you get response from a how-to post or a video? Do you get page views when you write a devotion or if you do a book review?
Once you have a good grasp on the type of information your readers are enjoying, you can plan your posts accordingly in the future.
Of course if you readers want the type of information you are not being led by the Lord to share, then you should start rethink target audience and pray for guidance on reaching the right people for your blog.
The first step in blogging is knowing why you blog. The second step is determining who you are blogging for. Terms like “target market” and “niche” start popping up at this point.
For bloggers, target market is the term used to describe the group of people you want to read their blog. Another word that may be substituted would be to call this group your ‘niche’.
How about an Example?
Let’s consider the topic blogging. The blogosphere has literally exploded. It is still growing and it’s super easy to find a blog on almost any subject under the sun. Due to the popularity of blogging to truly thrive as a blogger, you have to do something to set yourself apart.
One way to help gain momentum and grow your blog is to focus on a specific niche or target market. Rather than saying that you write a blog for bloggers – you introduce yourself a blogger that blogs for Christian bloggers. By identifying clearly with a specific target market, you let them know that you feel you are uniquely suited to meet their needs and this will help you to stand out from the rest of the crowd. Yes, by declaring a niche – you are excluding the wider general market. But really, that’s that’s just fine. If you try to position yourself to appeal to everybody – you won’t specifically appeal to anybody.
Answer a few questions… but I warn you not to answer them too quickly. This takes a lot of thought and consideration to do correctly.
Question: Who would like what you have to offer?
Do not just say 'Women'. That is a gender identification, not a target market. All women are not alike. They have a wide variety of lifestyles, values and interests.
Do not just say ‘bloggers’. That identifies a group of people who partake of an activity but it’s not a target market. Among bloggers there are huge differences. Are you targeting the blogger who blogs for as a hobby or you targeting the blogger who wants to make money online. Be very specific.
If you’ve done your homework well and have chosen a specific target market – you might have nailed an untapped group of people and you’ll be in the enviable position of not having any competition. But for the rest of us – even if we have narrowed our target market down well, we’ll still have others who are attempting to reach and serve the same group of people. Some tight markets are incredibly competitive. Standing out from the crowd is hard work.
Question: How is what you offer different from what your competitor offers?
There are probably a lot of different things that make you unique – but you have to identify the areas that will best resonate with your target market.
It would be a great idea to make a list of what you feel gives you a unique approach to your blog and ask for some feedback from others who have a grasp on your target market.
Whoever you ask for feedback, have them tell you if any of the items on your list make them think 'so what?' Ask them if knowing any of these things about you inspires additional trust or makes them feel drawn to you in a special way.
If you bounce these ideas with a few different people you can narrow it down and start to develop your own unique position – then you’ll be on your way to communicating it to your market and working it into your overall blog brand.
Of course, when determining your target market you should do all the above with God as your reference. If the target market you choose doesn't match up with God's plan for you, then we have a problem. Just remember to pray along the way and ask for God's guidance.
Why do you blog? If you own a blog, it’s a really important question to ask yourself. When I first started blogging back in 2006, I wouldn’t have been able to give you a good answer. I didn’t know the answer. I created my first blog on a whim. No forethought. No prayer. No research. I didn’t even read other blogs at that time. It was such a “in the heat of the moment” type of thing for me. That blog didn’t last very long. As it turned out, the topic I chose wasn’t something I was all that interested in.
When I started I didn’t realize all that went into blogging. How much work it takes, especially if you are hoping to make some money by blogging.
My next blog had more thought. More planning. More research. It was much more successful. I had a large readership, great traffic, and was making a pretty good chunk of change from it each month. But something was missing, I wasn’t enjoying it. I didn’t love blogging or even really like it at this point.
Know what was missing? God. Once I realized that God had to be a part of my online world just as He in my ‘real’ world, everything changed. I sold my second blog and after much prayer, research, and planning started Faithful Bloggers.
Now I can answer that question - why do you blog? I blog because it is the path God has laid in front of me. I blog because it’s fun and it’s something I enjoy. I blog because it allows me to bring in some extra income for my family.
Why do you blog?
P.S. This post is part of the Why Do You Blog Group Writing Project. If you would like to join check out the post here.
We haven't done a group writing project in a long time. I think it's about time for another one.
I have been getting a lot of emails lately from people who want to start blogging but are unsure if it is really the right thing for them. So I thought the topic of "Why Do You Blog?" would be an excellent group writing project. It will allow others to get various view points on the purpose of blogging and help them determine if it would be a good fit for them.
How to Participate
Each blogger that wishes to participate will write a post about the chosen group writing project topic on their blog. Once the post is up, the blogger will need to leave their link in the comments section so that everyone can read it. Once everyone has submitted their posts, I will publish a round up of all the posts with links back to the blogger’s blog.
The entire writing project will then be complied into a special report for the bloggers who contribute to giveaway for free on their own sites. I will also be submitting the special report for download on the Kindle. If you don't want to appear in the special report, please let me know in advance.
Your post can be as long or as short as you want. Anything goes - though I have the right not to include any posts that do not include the chosen theme or are not family friendly. You will have until Thursday, February 7, 2013 to write your post and leave a link to it in the comments section.
Oh yea, there is a prize for participating too. Everyone that participates (those who actually write a post and submits the link) will be put into a drawing to win a free a copy of my report, Creating Christian Content. I can’t wait to read everyone’s posts!
Throughout the years I have been blogging and running an online business, I have had various goals. 2010 - Make a part-time income with my online business - Successful!
2011 - Don’t buy any new domain names! Successful! I broke myself of the habit of just buying a domain name because I liked it. :)
2012 - Maintain! This was an interesting year for me. I had a 5 month old baby when I found out I was once again pregnant so my plan for 2012 was just to maintain my sites. I was somewhat successful. I went through periods would I just couldn’t blog for a couple weeks because I was so tired all the time, or had bad morning sickness, or just didn’t feel like it. But over all, my readership increased so I’ll call it a success.
This year I am focusing on content! My goal is to just focus on content creation such as writing blog posts and reusing the content I create in multiple mediums such as video, audio, Kindle books, etc.
I have already started praying for God’s support and guidance in reaching this goal and I can’t wait to see what can be accomplished with His help.
Have you set any goals for 2013?
Every blog has a RSS feed. It’s just one way your readers can keep up-to-date on the happenings of your blog. Get in the habit of checking your RSS feeds every 3 months or so. Ideally, you should be subscribed to your RSS Feed to make sure it works correctly.
Here are some specific things to check:
If something isn’t quite working with your RSS feeds, you want to know sooner rather than later. A lot people only read blogs through RSS feeds and you don’t want to lose any readers, especially over an issue that can easily be fixed.
Blog Week at MomWebs starts next week and I'm so excited.
Blog week is an entire week devoted to helping bloggers with a free webinar everyday!
Each webinar is held at 1pm EST. Here's the schedule:
I've been with MomWebs for years now and have been super happy with them. It's even where Faithful Bloggers is hosted at. :)
I will be popping in to some of the webinars to answer any WordPress questions people might have too.
I highly suggest you go sign up for access to the free webinars. Even if you are not available at the scheduled time, you can watch the replays later.
Checking for broken links on your site is something you should do about every couple of months.
When you’re blogging actively, chances are you’re going to be sending quite a few links out to cyberspace. The majority of those links will still work even months and years from today. But some of them won’t.
If a page you link to goes down, that reflects very badly on you. Users who click on a broken link on your site will instantly view you as less credible. They might also get frustrated, because there was a resource they wanted to access that they couldn’t get to.
To avoid broken link issues, scan your site for broken links every few months. Whenever possible, replace your old links with new resources. If there aren’t any comparable resources, then just unlink that hyperlink.
Below are a couple ways to check for your blog for broken links:
If you have never checked your blog for broken links I think you will be surprised at what you find. I know I sure was.
Comment moderation is not only an important part of maintain your blog, but a highly time sensitive one.
If you want to maintain a strong relationship between you and your bloggers, you need to moderate your blog comments quickly. People should never feel like they’re being ignored, especially after spending a lot of time to write out a thoughtful comment.
Try to moderate your comments at least every 24 hours, if not every 3, 8 or 12 hours. Never, ever let real comments sit unmoderated for more than 48 hours, or you’re either going to lose that reader for good, or they’ll stop commenting and become a passive participant.
If you are using WordPress you have some different options when it comes to moderation.
However you decide to handle comments on your blog just make sure that the real comments get shown and the spam comments get trashed.
As with any website, it’s important to keep your blog up-to-date. At least once a month you need to invest some time into doing some simple maintenance. This will help keep your blog secure and give you access to any new features that are available. Blog maintenance involves everything from software updates to monitoring your content. The next several posts will show you some important thing you need to keep to keep your blog running smoothly. #1: Update Your WordPress Installation
Updating your WordPress installation is the most important task on this list. If you’re running an old version of WordPress, there’s a good chance you’re running a version of WordPress that has known security vulnerabilities and is easier for hackers to get into. Updating your WordPress install just takes a few seconds. Just make sure you update it whenever you see WordPress prompting you to do an update.
#2: Update Your Plugins
The second most important thing on your checklist is updating your themes. Though the WordPress core installation can pose a security risk, the reality is that the vast majority of WordPress hacks come from compromised plugins.
Most people don’t realize that a single compromised plugin can not only result in their entire WordPress installation getting hacked, but having every other WordPress installation on their entire server getting hacked as well.
Updating your plugins is easy. Just go to the plugins panel and click on “Update Available.”
Then click “Update Automatically” under the plugin you want to update.
Update your plugins to their newest versions whenever possible.
In this podcast I interviewed Pamela from Christianity Every Day. [display_podcast]
Links Mentioned:
I get asked all the time what plugins I use on my WordPress site. So I thought I would just share them with everyone.
These are the WordPress plugins I use and love. Some are free and some are premium plugins but they all add some great features to WordPress and make my life a little easier. Of course, depending on my current needs on a particular site, I may use other plugins as well but these are the ones that are a must for me.
The premium plugins listed below may contain my affiliate links. If you purchase through that link, it just means that I may get a commission from that purchase.
Akismet – Used by millions, Akismet is quite possibly the best way in the world to protect your blog from comment and trackback spam. It keeps your site protected from spam even while you sleep.
Backup Buddy - Back up your entire WordPress installation. Widgets, themes, plugins, files and SQL database - the entire package!
Shareaholic - Adds an attractive social bookmarking menu and related content widget to your posts, pages, index, or any combination of the three.
Contact Form 7 - Contact Form 7 can manage multiple contact forms, plus you can customize the form and the mail contents flexibly with simple markup. The form supports Ajax-powered submitting, Nar du spiller amerikansk roulette , vil alle bet du gjor, bortsett fra en, gi huset en fordel pa 5. CAPTCHA, Akismet spam filtering and so on.
Formidable Forms - Formidable Pro makes it dead simple to build any kind of form you want within seconds. With pure, drag and drop controls and in-place editing you don’t need to know the first thing about HTML or CSS to create extremely effective forms immediately. Restrict forms to logged-in users, allow them to edit previous responses, and display the user-generated or admin-generated posts and content.
MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate - Automatically convert keywords on your blog into money making affiliate links. Also manage, track, cloak and shorten unlimited number of affiliate links from one central location of Maxblogpress Ninja Affiliate.
S3Video Plugin - The S3 Video Plugin allows the embedding of video media stored on Amazon"s S3 storage into a WordPress blog post or page.
CommentLuv - Reward your readers by automatically placing a link to their last blog post at the end of their comment. Encourage a community and discover new posts.
Yet Another Related Posts Plugin - Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP) gives you a list of posts and/or pages related to the current entry, introducing the reader to other relevant content on your site.
PodPress - podPress adds a lot of features designed to make WordPress the ideal platform for hosting a podcast. You can also use this plugin to embed regular audio files.
If you use WordPress as your blogging platform what are your favorite plugins?
As bloggers we often get in the mindset that once we get started, we can’t change the topic or theme our blog – especially if we already have a good following. That just isn’t true. Sure, you may lose some traffic and readers, but if you are making a change that the Lord lead you to make, then you can be rest assured that He will make up for that lost one way or another.
Here are some tips if you feel led to change up your blog:
You are not the first blogger to ever change topics and you will not be last. Just create great content, interact with your readers, and give God control and you can’t go wrong.
In today's podcast I interviewed Juliana from SimplyJuliana.com. [display_podcast]
Links mentioned:
In today's podcast I chat with David Bergsland from The Skilled Workman about books he has wrote, how he got started blogging, and why he continues to blog.
Read More
The most important thing you need to have a successful blog is content. The second most important thing is for you to know your blogging software. Even if you don’t handle the technical or design issues, you need to at least understand how things work and here’s why.
Get the most out of your blog
In order for your blog to be successful and used to its full capacity you have to know what it can and cannot do. If your blog software cannot do what you want it to do, can you use a plugin or addon to do the same thing? Know what you want out of your blog and do your research on blogging software so you are not caught unaware when things don’t go the way you want.
Troubleshoot Problems
You need to know how to troubleshoot problems with your blog. You don’t have to know how to fix it, but you really should have some basic troubleshooting skills. How else can you explain to someone else what is going on. If you can’t hire someone to fix it for you, having basic troubleshooting skills will help you in a Google search when looking for solution.
Theme customizations
Even if you are not a web designer or have an eye for color, you should be able to make simple changes such as changing out a header graphic, adding a graphic or button to your sidebar, etc. It can get expensive if you hire someone to do every little thing for you, even something that just takes a couple minutes to do.
You don’t have to be a blogging software expert to get the most of your blog but you do have to some idea about what’s going on. You can either take the time to teach yourself by trial and error or you can take a class to learn. Just remember that taking the time to learn will only help make your blog more successful.
If WordPress is your blog platform of choice, then come join me starting November 5 for for a live workshop teaching you how to use WordPress and to get the most out of it for your blog. Check it out at Learn WordPress Fast.
In response to my post, Be a Witness Online By Teaching, I got a couple emails asking how to teach online. So I’ve compiled a list of some tools that can help you. Online Webinar/Conference Room – You can use a webinar or online conference room as a meeting place to host a Bible study or prayer group. I host the Faithful Bloggers prayer meetings and all of my workshops in an online conference room. Most options give you the ability to share information, communicate with other participates and even record the session.
Teleseminar – If you are just hosting an informative class you could actually hold a teleseminar. Everyone just calls in and you have the choice of allowing other callers to participate or not.
Record Audio/Video – If you don’t want to do a live class, you can always record the lesson in audio or video format and then share it with others.
E-Course – E-courses are great if you just want to send lessons out to your class members. You can create an entire course and have it sent via email.
Online Course – Of course, there are also sites that allow you to create a virtual classroom. I don’t have much experience with those but it is an option as well.
Teaching is simply sharing information and with today’s technology there are hundreds of ways to do that. You just have to find the best way for you and your readers.
We are told numerous times throughout the Bible to teach. To teach and preach (Matthew 11:1). To teach the nations (Matthew 28:19). Not only that, but Jesus spent a majority of His time on earth teaching.
“And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.” Mark 4:1“And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing [him] were astonished, saying, From whence hath this [man] these things? and what wisdom [is] this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?” Mark 6:2
“And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.” Mark 6:34
I could give a lot more examples but I think you get the point. In order to be an effective witness online, we much teach others the Word of God and about the love of Christ.
How can you do this online?
These are just 3 examples of how you can be a witness online by teaching but there are many more. Are you teaching online?
In researching information for the last several posts about writing your testimony online I found some great articles and wanted to share them. I hope these articles will further help and encourage you in writing your Christian testimony.
Do you have any resources we can add to the list?
Connecting and Equipping Christian Bloggers and Business Owners to reach the World with their message. We also provide resources, courses and writing opportunities for Christian bloggers.
