The Secret Diary of a Blogger

Hello and welcome to my first post. This is Yaman, get to know more about me by checking my about page.

True story! I have been obsessing about blogs since I was young. It is my favourite zone in the world wide web ( Yup !). I created my first blog when I was 13, and then a number of other blogs followed. However, I get bored after a while as there were not that many visitors.  So, after number of tries I gave up on blogging and I kind of  Let it go.

What is the purpose of creating this blog?

Through this blog I want to achieve two main goals:

•  The main goal is to introduce Enterprise 2.0 world in an interactive and fun way. That we both can contribute to each other knowledge, and share our thoughts and opinions regarding web 2.0 technologies and how to successfully apply it to real world projects.
   
• The second purpose is to take you with me in a journey to reunite with blogging again. This time following a number of strategies and techniques (which I will reveal in this post). Through my every week post you get the opportunity to see and judge by yourselves if I get to improve and obtain readership for my blog. Therefore, it might inspire you to join the blogging community as well.    

So, join me and let the fun begin !

5 strategies to achieve useful blogs and readership :

1. Understand your readers. 
   The first step in creating useful posts is identifying who is your target audience. If you want your blog to be valuable, you should understand your audience needs and interests. Being aware of your audience will help you to know what time is better to post and what titles would be most attracting. Cohen (2014) in Blog Post Timing: When Is Your Best Publication Time? post pointed that blogs attract most traffic when publishing between 9pm. and 11pm. In my case my readers will be mostly my class mates (IT students) ,and  my family and friends (non-specialist). So the writing style should be quite professional but still simple and understandable. I will be providing links to define any complicated IT terms.
   
      
2.  Read, Read and Read.  Obtaining knowledge from different sources is important in creating useful content. Also, presenting the information in a unique angle makes it more interesting for readers. I will aim to reference at least 3 sources for each post. 
   
   
   
3. Engage your audience in creating useful content.
   Engage your audience ideas will help you to reach better understanding as every person has his own unique way in understanding things. Giving a space to readers to contribute will make the posts more useful. There are many ways to engage with audience, such as opening discussions, asking questions at the end of the post and also by creating surveys.    
      
     
   
4. Be active.   
   They say what goes around comes around (karma honey!). Comment and refer to other bloggers they will do the same to you. Also, share your posts on your social channels it is important to notify people so they can notice you. In fact, there is a recent statistic confirm that companies get 65% of their daily Website visitors through Facebook ( Romeri, 2013). So, lets never forget to share our posts link on our social media.
   
   
5. Maintain  blog style  
   The blog style would make or break your relation with your readers. Nothing more annoying than using harsh colours and messy layout. Believe me the readers will click the x out. 

Here are some blog style tips:  

• Keep your writing neat, short and clear.
• Tell your ideas in a story! A wise man once said that people remember stories better than they remember facts.
• Use listing when possible.
• Support your content with pictures and charts to summarise the main point and make it easy to read.
• Stick to the same format in each post.
• Maintain signature style to stand out among others. 

An example of a successful blogger who has a very signature blogging style is Perez Hilton. His way of reporting the story is so unique and different from other gossip sites. He has a comedy take in reporting celebrity news, also he always create hilarious picture captions. I would never read a gossip without checking how Perez reported it. Also, he is very active on YouTube and twitter promoting his blog. Perez's blog makes about 105 thousand dollar per month according to Metronewspaper (Stevens ,2013). 

Another favour it of mine is Vsauce The channel is famous for its short and very informative videos. It always succeed in blowing my mind with amazing facts about the world and our lives. You can definitely tell he does a lot of research. Although the channel present rich facts and information, it is presented in an understandable way for mostly all ages. The videos titles are interesting and attractive. The channel has more than 7 million subscriber, the net worth of the channel is approximately $1.2 million as reported by  Warner ( 2014 ).

So, these are the strategies I will be following for the upcoming posts. Tell me what strategy do you think is the most powerful?. Also comment below and tell who is your favourite V/blogger and why ?. I would love to hear from you guys.

Thank you for passing by xo

References:

Romeri, M. (2013, May 23). New Statistics Highlight the Power of Social Media Marketing [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/new-statistics-highlight-power-social-media-marketing

Stevens, M. (2013, Feb 11). Top 10 money-making blogs: HuffPo, Mashable, Perez Hilton and more [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://metro.co.uk/2013/02/11/top-ten-money-making-blogs-huffpo-mashable-perez-hilton-and-more-3400833/

Warner, B. (2014, March 9).The 25 Highest Earning Youtube StarsRandom Celebrity [Web log post]. Retrieved from  http://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/celebrity/the-25-highest-earning-youtube-stars/