My first blog. A few questions

[Zhara]

OK, so I hope to make a blog for the visually impaired. I have never made a blog / website / anything of the sort before, so advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I have decided to use Wordpress.com (the free one!)

Questions:

1) I want to have two sections of the blog. They both focus on the same overall subject but are of two different categories. I know I can get cracking at one section of the site first because it is easier, and will help me with the other section. Just need to know whether to make two separate blogs and then link them together somehow or to make one blog and have the two categories. The thing is the target audience is different for the two sections.

2) I know what content I want on my blog, and have made a list of what I want it to consist of. I need to write up the content and because I have free time at the moment, and soon won't have as much time, I am thinking of just writing up a few (5/6) posts on word and then just copy pasting them at regular intervals over the next few weeks, when I am busier. Does that sound good. What intervals do people usually leave between each post?

3) After posting the initial introduction and 'setting the scene' of my Blog, how can I get as much interest as possible on there? I know I need to research this further and have come across some good websites.

I have a lot of questions. :/

[The Envoy]

Hmm, you're past Part 1 and Part 2 on the guide I've written (on my blog) for newbies so I'll just answer your qs directly
2) It varies by the blogger. As frequently as possible if you're just looking for views (although as in any rushed job, this isn't so good). Quality of posts>frequency of posts. I used to update twice a week, but now only once a week.
3) Take part in forums/communities and comment on blogs pertaining to your niche Use social bookmarking/social networking sites - Digg, reddit, Facebook, twitter etc.

[Katalina]

If you have never had a blog before my main advice to you is to just have fun.
As far as one blog or two, that all depends on you. Overall I think it is better to have fewer blogs that you focus on. But I don't follow my own advice. I have more blogs than I can keep up with and for the most part they are terribly neglected, but I enjoy them and I make enough money to support my habit!

As far as writing posts in advance... you can write them directly in Wordpress and then just set them up to publish in the future. That way you don't even need to think about it.

Good luck and happy blogging!

[brandonconnell]

If you are using the free one, make sure you get your own domain name for an easy switch over to a self hosted blog in the future. You will find it hard to have full control in the future otherwise.

[Melody]

I recommend posting two to three times per week, but it absolutely fine to post more or less - Some blogs are successful with fewer posts, and if you have nothing to say than it's better not to post a junky post. I will say that posting about 2 to 3 times a week has helped me develop a readership, so that's the bias that I have.

You didn't mention it, but if you haven't already, install some analytics. I use Google Analytics, but there are lots of popular analytics tools. Find one you like and make sure it is giving you the kind of data that you need (bounce rate, traffic sources, time on site, unique visitor counts, page views, over all visits, map of where traffic comes from etc ...)

In terms of getting "interest" in your blog - Wow that is the challenge for everyone! I don't have any great answers. I have been using twitter to promote my blog. Some people use facebook. Some people use StumbleUpon.

I agree that participating in other bloggers' blogs _can_ be helpful: If you are building relationships with others in your same niche, and leaving some quality comments, you can ultimately help build your own credibility. In the end, your blog has its foundation on your own credibility.

Good luck!

[LloydBurrell]

Hi there,

to answer your questions:

1. Definitely no. This is exactly what categories are for. Two different blogs would split your targeted surfers more than you want.

2. You don't need to do that. Update them and use the calendar in your dashboard to schedule the publication of every post. Three blogs / week should be fine.

3. This is extremely complicated. First, you should use Twitter. Set up a profile and connect it to your blog. Then comment on others' blogs, on forums, tag as much and adequate as possible etc. Hope this helps.

_________________________________
Lloyd Burrell
Publisher
Office Desk Reviews

[ChickenFreak]

If you have two different subjects and two different target audiences, I'd recommend having two different blogs. Even if your blog's organizational scheme makes it easy for your readers to get what they want and ignore what they don't, I suspect (I don't know for sure) that it's better for Google to be able to figure out exactly what your blog is about. And if I were going to add someone to my blogroll, and had to debate whether to add an explanatory note ("Click the Widget tab; ignore the Gadget tab.") that might be what made me decide not to bother adding it at all.

I generally feel that you should post at least once a week. That doesn't mean that a blog can't possibly be successful with fewer posts, but that is the point where I start wondering if the blogger's abandoned the whole thing, and I debate whether I want to clutter up my bookmark or RSS lists with an entry that I'll just be deleting again soon. Two or three times a week is even better, but it's important to avoid the risk of running out of content and skipping more than a week, so until you have a good record of regularly writing, and a good backlog waiting to be posted, I'd suggest keeping it to once a week.

By the way, rather than storing your backlog in Word, I think you should be able to enter your content in WordPress and get the post all formatted and ready, then schedule it to automatically post at a later date, or just hold it to post when you're ready. Blogger can do this, so I can't imagine that WordPress, which has more features, wouldn't have the same capability.

If you post less often than once a week, I'd suggest being predictable, so that people can scroll a few posts back and see that, for example, you always post once a month on the first of the month, or something like that.

Also: Even when you're busy, budget time for responding to comments. You may not get any for a while, but if and when you do, jump on them and respond to every non-spam comment within a day or two. (Delete the spam comments, if you get any.) Someday you may have so many commenters that they're having conversations among themselves, and this will be much less important. But for now you don't want your commenters to feel that they're talking to no one.

On getting interest, I'd suggest finding the blogs and forums in your niche and becoming a useful member, posting and commenting. Don't do this just to drum up interest in your blog - do it to make yourself a part of the community. And when you find good blogs and forums, put them in your blogroll and link to them in your content when appropriate, without worrying about any sort of "link exchange" deal.

This is how most of my traffic eventually came - I pointed to other sites my blogroll, I listed other people's reviews in my Review Roundups, and I linked to other people's articles when I had something related to say. Many of those sites gradually did the same for me, and now those links are responsible for about half of my traffic. (And they're probably indirectly responsible for most of my Google traffic, because Google would be less likely to point to me if other sites weren't vouching for me by having those links.)

One last comment. You say " I know what content I want on my blog, and have made a list of what I want it to consist of." This suggests that you plan to have a fixed body of content, and then you'll be done. Is this accurate, or will you be able to keep on adding material for a long time? I ask because if you have a specific fixed set of material, that's generally more appropriate for a website than a blog. If you will still have plenty to say at intervals for a long time, then, yes, a blog should be fine.

[Eduard]

Originally Posted by Zhara

3) After posting the initial introduction and 'setting the scene' of my Blog, how can I get as much interest as possible on there? I know I need to research this further and have come across some good websites.

Go to where the people you want to be your readers are and get involved: comment on other blogs on the same topic and on forums, write guest posts etc.