There are many aspects to web building, but arguably the most important is having a strategy.
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What it means to have a strategy
Having a strategy allows a blogger to create a self-atmosphere. By doing so, a blog creates anticipation, preparedness, and a vision for the future.
A blogging strategy is the type of style you wish to create and how you go about it. What elements do you wish your blog to have and what future does it hold?
Be consistent - Finding consistency between articles is a must. Layout and writing style are only part of it. Consistency allows visitors to know what to expect from future articles in terms of value and information.
Be adventurous - Find a strategy on when to be adventurous. This includes linkbait attempts and plans for advertising. As well as how far will you “bend” your blogs topic? Know when too off-topic is too off-topic and when it is innovative.
Be prepared - Know how to take advantage of a situation when it presents itself. This includes templates for review and new information for the industry. If you know there is an announcement coming, follow it closely.
By finding a strategy you will be able to set a precedence on future articles and create a future for your readers to look forward to.
Written: Oct 3, 2008
Tags: blogging, Web Development
Harish
October 3, 2008 @ 9:12 am
Hey great post Gary.Probably every body starts a blog after planning it
Pam Hoffman
October 3, 2008 @ 9:08 pm
You Wrote:
“Having a strategy allows a blogger to create a self-atmosphere. By doing so, a blog creates anticipation, preparedness, and a vision for the future.”
Would you please explain the term ’self-atmosphere’ to me? I really don’t understand what you mean by that, it’s really got me wondering.
BTW, Harish, my blog was started with absolutely no plan whatsoever. April’07 I was in a call, someone mentioned something like what I’m doing, Nathan Anderson said ‘that would be great’ and I went and created the site.
I DID work out the total makeover last March!
There still isn’t any real ‘plan’ other than the post-it-note-tape on my computer which says “I Gotta’ Work it ’til it Works” which is a sort of strategy and maybe I need to come up with a better one.
I’ll be reading this post a few times I think Gary!
Thanks,
Pam Hoffman
Gary R. Hess
October 3, 2008 @ 11:32 pm
@Pam Hoffman What I mean is, it allows your visitors to know your writing style, your purpose, and know what to expect out of your writings. If you consistently write about cars, then all of the sudden post an article about your uncle Sammy who owns a dog and farted, it doesn’t fall in line with the rest of your posts. It goes outside your ‘atmosphere’. The same can be said with how your posts are styled. Consistently style your posts the same way, don’t change them up or it will confuse your readers.
Pam Hoffman
October 4, 2008 @ 8:10 pm
Hey Gary!
That helps me a lot and I think I do that well at IMSLS. When you get to my site, you find out pretty quickly what it’s about and I stay within a pretty narrow type of post.
I see so many blogs that say like “Music of the Spectrum” and all the posts are about computers, technology and the like all I can think is ‘where’s the music?’ and I pretty much get very little out of my visit to their site.
And some blogs are seriously just all over the map! What is remarkable to me is that some of those sites have a great PR and Alexa Ranking. All I can think is ‘how?’ and I go away baffled.
Thanks for taking the time to write your point out. I really appreciate it!
Pam Hoffman
Dennis Edell
October 4, 2008 @ 11:17 pm
Excellent article Gary. I try o follow it as best I can and hopefully getting better.
Lyndi
October 5, 2008 @ 3:59 am
You are absolutely correct. I have noticed that these things go even further. The readers on my blog seem to have got used to the times on which I post new articles. If I am late for whatever reason, I start getting queries as to what is going on. It would appear that the timing of things should also form part of this strategy. I do suppose this forms part of the ‘consistency’ as mentioned in your post.
Kelly
October 5, 2008 @ 10:55 am
Hey, those are some great ideas. I agree that it is very important to be adventurous when considering your blogging strategy. Thanks for posting your article.
Joanne
October 6, 2008 @ 1:09 pm
Very informative article. As a new blogger I need all the tips I can find so thanks for posting this.