Seeking Feedback on my "First" Blog

[anthony]

Here's my blog:
Beautiful Altona

There's also a youtube video that I had just created and embedded in that blog:

YouTube - Picturesque Altona - Home to Julia Gillard, first female Prime Minister of Australia

YouTube - Picturesque Altona - Home to Julia Gillard, first female Prime Minister of Australia

It is about the place I live - Altona, a suburb southwest of Melbourne CBD in Victoria, Australia. It is also where my same street neighbour, Julia Gillard, the current Prime Minister of Australia, lives.

Please give constructive feedback and suggestions as to how I can improve the blog, promote it, increase its popularity and viewership and to make some money from Google Adsense. What other potential new content, media can I post and blogging techniques can I use?

I don't think blogs which focus on a specific location will have international appeal. What do you think? My target audience that I hope to attract will be more the people living around Melbourne or in Victoria.

Thank you.

Best regards
Anthony

[Melody]

Hello Anthony,

I'm going to give you a mini blog review, and I hope you will visit my blog also. (Link is in the signature).

First off, your blog seems to load kind of slowly. I happen to be at a slower computer right now than usual, but still it seems slow. I would love to know if others are experiencing that too. It really seems sluggish.

One good thing I notice right off the bat is that it looks like you've picked a topic you care about. Being passionate about your blog is infectious, and your readers will see that. With a few short sentences, you explain why you're blogging - You've fallen in love with your city. Lots of people will understand that. Good job.

You've done what I call 'rapid fire' content posting, which I would never recommend. You've posted 47 blog articles in one month. This is not a good idea. Your blog will steadily grow with your steady attention to it. It's like having a puppy. You cannot feed the puppy one huge meal and think it will grow big. There are lots of reasons to slowly, regularly, post content over a long period of time. Look at the threads in the content forums or blogging basics about how often you should post content.

Also your niche is fairly narrow, and you want to make sure you can slowly post content for years of blogging to come.

I'm really struggling with your blog - It slows my computer down. You've got some very large images - I would suggest creating thumbnails of the images that are clickable to make your blog more user friendly for even visitors with a slower computer.

You've got way too many ads all over the place. Your blog is just one month old.

Also make sure you've got some good analytics on your blog too. Get rid of any widgets that are not adding value to the reader. I'm not even totally sure what widgets you have because I'm so struggling to move through your blog.

I recommend poking around lots of other blogs at this site. It helps to see what seasoned bloggers are doing. And we learn by learning from others.

Good luck!
Melody

[anthony]

Originally Posted by Melody

Hello Anthony,

I'm going to give you a mini blog review, and I hope you will visit my blog also. (Link is in the signature).

First off, your blog seems to load kind of slowly. I happen to be at a slower computer right now than usual, but still it seems slow. I would love to know if others are experiencing that too. It really seems sluggish.

One good thing I notice right off the bat is that it looks like you've picked a topic you care about. Being passionate about your blog is infectious, and your readers will see that. With a few short sentences, you explain why you're blogging - You've fallen in love with your city. Lots of people will understand that. Good job.

You've done what I call 'rapid fire' content posting, which I would never recommend. You've posted 47 blog articles in one month. This is not a good idea. Your blog will steadily grow with your steady attention to it. It's like having a puppy. You cannot feed the puppy one huge meal and think it will grow big. There are lots of reasons to slowly, regularly, post content over a long period of time. Look at the threads in the content forums or blogging basics about how often you should post content.

Also your niche is fairly narrow, and you want to make sure you can slowly post content for years of blogging to come.

I'm really struggling with your blog - It slows my computer down. You've got some very large images - I would suggest creating thumbnails of the images that are clickable to make your blog more user friendly for even visitors with a slower computer.

You've got way too many ads all over the place. Your blog is just one month old.

Also make sure you've got some good analytics on your blog too. Get rid of any widgets that are not adding value to the reader. I'm not even totally sure what widgets you have because I'm so struggling to move through your blog.

I recommend poking around lots of other blogs at this site. It helps to see what seasoned bloggers are doing. And we learn by learning from others.

Good luck!
Melody

Hi Melody,

Thanks for your comments. I have a brief look at your blog and will post when I look at it in more details.

I think my blog will need a broadband internet connection to load as it contains a large amount of embedded media. I have no problem loading it on my internet connection but I suspect for some connections, the loading may be too slow.

I am thinking of the following way to overcome this problem for slower connection but I don't know how to implement it.

Whenever, someone types in the url: Beautiful Altona
Instead of loading Beautiful Altona which will take a long time because it is loading the entire blog, will it possible to redirect Beautiful Altona to a page such as an index page which just gives a directory of the posts? The reader will then click on each post, which will not take a long time to load as it is not the entire blog.

Can someone teach me how to do this?

I am not going to cut down on the media use as these are all meant to highlight the attractiveness of Altona. If you take away all the beautiful pictures, videos, huge information resources, the appeal will be greatly reduced.

Also another question - will it be more suitable for this to be in a blog or as a website? This blog is more like a tourism promotion site for Altona - there is not going to be indefinite amount of things to write about Altona so unlike other blogs where you can have regular posts each week, it may not be possible to do likewise for this content.

There are also certain posts that I will like to be always at the top e.g. the youtube video on Altona, the Interactive Map, the Quiz and so on.

Thanks.

Best regards
Anthony

[ChickenFreak]

Things that you could do to speed up loading of the blog include:

- Show fewer posts on the first page. You could show just five posts per page, for example, instead of the twenty or so that you're showing.

- Insert a jump, with a "read more" link, rather than showing the entire post on the first page.

I would also recommend eliminating the directory of posts that's showing as your first post. People want to see the latest post front and center when they got to the blog, not a directory of posts. The "blog archive" widget in blogger can give you a directory of posts off to the side, or you could create a static page that contains the directory. (Oh - you already have one. In that case, you absolutely don't need this post.)

You could do the same for the other things like the video and map - if you put these at the top, people will get bored with the blog, but you can add them as static pages.

[anthony]

Originally Posted by ChickenFreak

Things that you could do to speed up loading of the blog include:

- Show fewer posts on the first page. You could show just five posts per page, for example, instead of the twenty or so that you're showing.

- Insert a jump, with a "read more" link, rather than showing the entire post on the first page.

I would also recommend eliminating the directory of posts that's showing as your first post. People want to see the latest post front and center when they got to the blog, not a directory of posts. The "blog archive" widget in blogger can give you a directory of posts off to the side, or you could create a static page that contains the directory. (Oh - you already have one. In that case, you absolutely don't need this post.)

You could do the same for the other things like the video and map - if you put these at the top, people will get bored with the blog, but you can add them as static pages.

I have changed the setting to show only 5 posts to speed up the loading.

A very crucial purpose of this blog is to attract people to visit Altona. Hence, I think the video and interactive map will be very important. As this will make the first impression on people who have not been to Altona before.

To me, first time visitors to this Blog will be considered more important to repeat visitors, hence the need to impress them. If you don't have a directory as the first post, the youtube video, interactive map, suggested itineraries for touring Altona & its various attractions will get buried as old posts and archives that may be overlooked by first time visitors.

As I have said, the nature of this blog is such that it will not be possible to add new content/posts very regularly, e.g., several posts per month.

But I will be constantly updating what had already been posted both in terms of content and photos/videos/links. E.g. the post "Upcoming events in Hobsons Bay" will be constantly updated and can't be archived.

While I say first-time visitors are most important, I will also like to attract repeat visitors. How would you suggest that I can achieve this?

Thank you very much.

Best regards
Anthony

[bkpkgene]

Originally Posted by anthony

While I say first-time visitors are most important, I will also like to attract repeat visitors. How would you suggest that I can achieve this?

Repeat visitors are from content, meaning new and fresh content updated consistently. The way you have described your site, you probably are not a true blogger, as you're site is not being developed with the repeat visitor in mind. You are essentially providing a static one time visit.

Based upon what you have stated, a blogging platform may not be the best choice for you. My suggestion, based on what you have said in this post, would be move away from blogging and into a full website based on one of the CMS systems widely available out there.

[anthony]

Hi ChickenFreak & Melody,

Can you revisit my blog? I have made a series of changes.
Does these improve the blog and help to solve some of the problems both of you have highlighted?

[anthony]

Hi bkpkgene,

I am doing this blog because of my interest and passion. This blog is not meant for one-time view. It will be constantly updated. But due to the nature of its content, I must be realistic that there are limitations on the supply of posts. I can still add new posts but not to the extent that other blogs can.

For example, the physical sites in Altona will not change. Of course, I can take different photos and videos at different times for the same site and post it in a new post.

What can a website do that a blog cannot do? I don't need e-commerce functionalities as this is not a business blog. I am not earning any money from this interest/hobby so do you think it is worthwhile to pay for a domain name and convert this blog into a website?

Which will actually attract more viewers? Blog or website?

The purpose of the first post is to categorize the various posts so it is actually organized very differently from the Blog archive. I intend to make this sticky. By doing this, I hope to achieve the following:
- I can add new posts without worrying about the order of the posts to new visitors
- First time visitors will not lose sight of/overlook important archived posts
- Repeat visitors can easily go to the sections they are interested as this will still be updated e.g. Current Events Calendar.
- By making the list collapsible, this first post is kept short
- Some posts e.g. daily talks may not necessarily be listed in this first post.

What do you think?

[bkpkgene]

Originally Posted by anthony

What do you think?

Honestly Anthony, what I think is this --

1. that you contradict yourself in each post you make; and
2. if you don't get validation for your ideas, you dig your heels in and try harder to justify your vision

I don't necessarily have a problem with #2 - if you have a certain vision for you site and are bound and determined to carry out that vision, go for it. Just don't come looking for us to validate and tell you it will all work out for you, o.k.?

Wordpress has the tools you need to do what you want. In the Quick Edit of a post, you can make posts sticky. WP also has options for making an individual Page the front page and alternate page the Blog page. This will allow you to use a page to stick your posts or content in the order you want to your front page. I will say this even though you don't want to read it -- sticky posts that are not updated or contain the same media will make your home page stale and obsolete. It's just the nature of sticky posts that stay up forever.

My advice stands - your idea is better suited for a website than a blog. If you don't want to go a full website, then you need to get a theme that is CMS oriented, and I would suggest to you the good folks over at PageLines who have a great series of CMS themes. One will set you back $79, but if you are serious about a site, my opinion is that it needs a serious theme.

And I don't think visitors visit based upon whether a site is a full website or a blog. It's the content that brings in a visitor.

And with that, I bow out of further discussion with you on your blog.

[anthony]

Originally Posted by bkpkgene

Honestly Anthony, what I think is this --

1. that you contradict yourself in each post you make; and
2. if you don't get validation for your ideas, you dig your heels in and try harder to justify your vision

I don't necessarily have a problem with #2 - if you have a certain vision for you site and are bound and determined to carry out that vision, go for it. Just don't come looking for us to validate and tell you it will all work out for you, o.k.?

Wordpress has the tools you need to do what you want. In the Quick Edit of a post, you can make posts sticky. WP also has options for making an individual Page the front page and alternate page the Blog page. This will allow you to use a page to stick your posts or content in the order you want to your front page. I will say this even though you don't want to read it -- sticky posts that are not updated or contain the same media will make your home page stale and obsolete. It's just the nature of sticky posts that stay up forever.

My advice stands - your idea is better suited for a website than a blog. If you don't want to go a full website, then you need to get a theme that is CMS oriented, and I would suggest to you the good folks over at PageLines who have a great series of CMS themes. One will set you back $79, but if you are serious about a site, my opinion is that it needs a serious theme.

And I don't think visitors visit based upon whether a site is a full website or a blog. It's the content that brings in a visitor.

And with that, I bow out of further discussion with you on your blog.

I just did a Google Search on CMS - found that it stands for Content Management System.

So Wordpress is a CMS rather than for blogging? Is it free to use?
Do I need to redo everything if I transfer to Wordpress?

To clarify, just the Content Categorization will be sticky. Other posts will not be.