Timing Is Everything for Your Blogging Style
When I was in sales management, I made a conscious effort to keep sales trainees away from veterans, or at least limit the interactions. The problem I kept running into - and it’s a good problem to have - was that the veterans were always giving advice to these eager new people. And though the advice was excellent, the timing was off. For instance senior reps would preach relationships, relationships, relationships. Nothing wrong with that. But the senior reps knew the products backwards and forwards. The first thing I wanted new reps to focus on was learning the products. Without a proper foundation, relationships are built on sand.
Same applies to blogging. Timing is everything. Many experienced bloggers like to write short posts, idea fragments if you will, that stimulate conversation. Is that a good writing strategy for a new blogger? I don’t think so. Short, provocative posts that scream for comments don’t work unless there are readers ready to jump in. More than likely, a new blogger taking that approach won’t get much commenting activity. After a while that gets depressing. It’s the right blogging style, but the wrong time.
New bloggers are probably better off writing more compete posts that invite comments but can stand on their own. Longer, more finished posts establish authority. They gives readers, who are mainly strangers to the blogger and each other, a fuller sense of who this blogger is and what the blog is all about.
Have you ever received the right blogging advice at the wrong time? How did it work out for you?
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Maybe you and I can introduce UK slang to Chicago. Brad...
Brad, what a very good point! I think early on I received advice about stats. Well, looking at them was depressing! To this day, I check once every 2-3 months, because sometimes ignorance is bliss!
Karen, I’m with you, though I spend quite a bit of time reviewing client stats. Now that I’m advertising on my blog, I have started, by necessity, to pay more attention to Word Sell stasts.
Brad and Karen,
not that I am not happy about the rising number of pageviews on my blog (still not much to speak about, but they are rising) - but sometimes I get the feeling that stats are overestimated. What I really appreciate is the fact that people come to my blog and comment, even if that number too is low. But there seem to be some people who are interested in the things I write and in the photos I am showing. That motivates me to keep on working on it. And Karen, stats don’t say very much about quality. So don’t let them depress you, please!
Ulla, Thank you for such refreshing comments on a Friday afternoon. You not only know what to say, but when to say it.
Brad,
thanks a lot! It’s Friday night here and I will be leaving my laptop in a few minutes. Another thing: You mentioned that short posts are not very good for new bloggers. Well - I consider myself a new blogger and I think my posts are rather short - am I making mistakes?
Have a nice Friday evening!
Ulla, Have a wonderful evening. No, I don’t think you are making a mistake at all. Your drawings and photos say a lot more than words, and say a lot about you. But your ideas are interesting and if you wanted to write more … I’d read it!
Hi Brad - I hear what you’re saying. I think I make that mistake sometimes. The trouble is, when you know a subject inside out, you forget that many readers just don’t know the basics.
In the past, I really got confused with some blogging advice. I’d read a lot of advice that would have been good, but I didn’t understand it, as technical terms etc just weren’t explained.
Hi Cath, Yeah … somewhere along the line someone told me to break up those longish posts into a series. Readers who aren’t as familiar with the subject matter can take it in manageable doses, and readers who are up to speed with you probably don’t mind doing less reading.
Ulla,
I think your posts are great. I’m a visual person and like posts with a high picture/word ratio. I try to keep my posts short whenever possible. Finding appropriate pictures is one of the first things I do when I start a post.
I just went to http://www.websitegrader.com and received a bad grade because I use too many pictures…search engines don’t like that and pictures are too slow to appear for some people. That bothers me, but the pictures are too important to me to give them up. I’m trying to find some kindred spirits and to engage in some good conversations. So I spend as much time commenting on other people’s posts as I do writing my own. I think the important thing is to be clear about what we want out of blogging and not worry too much about statistics.
That said, you make a good point, Brad. I’ve just discovered your site and am subscribing to it.
Jean, Thank you. I just subscribed to yours and really look forward to it. My daughter, who majored in psychology and is fascinated by the workings of the brain, gave me a book I can’t put down, “The Brain that Changes Itself”, by Doidge. It’s opening up a whole new world for me, so your blog hit me at the perfect time. I assume you’re familiar with brain plasticity - what do you think?
Brad,
I do think the brain is more plastic than we imagined, and I think that’s neat. Thanks for the reference, I’ll have to check it out.
I’m working on next Monday’s blog…it’s my answer to your question Do You Approach Every Blog Post like the First Day of School? Thanks for the suggestion.
[…] Forget the blogging advice - it might be written for someone else at a different point […]
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I tend to avoid long blog entries because I know readers have many blogs to read. Sometimes when we face a long blog entries, we might move on instead of read it as we want to read many blogs in a short time.
If I have one that longer — I’ll break it up into two posts, if possible.
Meryl, Very good advice. Sometimes we have to avoid the temptation of completing our thoughts all at one time, or sometimes at all.
very nice post. this was certainly one of the more interesting posts that i have seen today. thanks for putting it up.
Hi antiques, Well, thank you very much. That’s nice to hear on a busy Monday.