Blogging

Blogger

 

Over the years, I've tried a range of websites and blogs. This is my most current and most up-to-date blog.  Over the past two years I have had various different blogs & websites. These are listed below:

 

Mar 2012 to Current	Blogger	http://allyaldridge.blogspot.co.uk/
Jan 2012 to Feb 2013	Webpage	https://sites.google.com/site/aldridgeally/Blogger/blog
Dec 2011 to Jan 2012	Webs	http://www.alisonaldridge.webs.com/
Mar 2011 to Dec 2011	Wordpress	http://redfae.wordpress.com/
Jan 2010 to Mar 2011	Weebly	http://redfae.weebly.com/

 

Blogging Advice

Tip 1: Write about what interests you, that way if nobody else wants to read it then you've at least enjoyed writing it. In addition, if you are writing about what interests you then when you do get followers it'll be easier to maintain their interest as it'll be the same as yours.

Tip 2: Blog frequently to show that your blog is maintained and up-to-date. This also provides your readers with fresh news and will encourage them to check back more frequently.

Tip 3: When relevant, promote your blog. For example, you could direct someone to an article in your blog that you think they'll find of interest. This will be recieved much better than if you spam forums or social sites. You could tweet when you have a new post and what the post about to enable people to find you.

Tip 4: If you find another blog that is of intererst then share it. Bloggers tend to be supportive of each other so by promoting someone else there is a good chance that they'll promote you back to their readers.

Tip 5: Take you're time to check that your blog is well written. Check and amend any spelling, grammar or punctuation mistakes. If it doesn't make sense then people will be instantly turned off and not take your seriously.

 

Blog Site Reviews

Blogger: I currently use this site and would recommend it. It alows a wide range of sharing options for your readers (email, facebook, twitter, blogger, google+). There is a mobile app so you can blog on the go and you are able to email posts to your blog. It is very easy to use and shows you how many views you've had.

Tumblr:I currently use this site for personal use and would recommend it. Tumblr has a strong community of "follow back" so you can obtain a good number of readers and find people with similar interests. The site allows people to share posts (reblog) meaning your article can be read by their followers. There is a mobile app so you can blog on the go and you are able to email your posts to your blog. It is very easy to use and very social.

Webpage: Writing a blog as a webpage is very cumbersome, I would not recommend it. It basically meant I had to edit the website. This did mean the blog was nicely intergrated into my website, however, it was not easy to keep up-to-date. It did allow RSS feeds.

Webs:I created this as a free website after Weebly. However, I did not like the appearance and the free ads all over my site. The ads were part of the freeservice but seemed to take over. It also wasn't very user friendly either.

Weebly: I loved this website and it was free too (the ads were not that bad). The blog was easy to use, update and I like the way it looked. The only problem is that I got a few hits from "robots" placing odd comments on my posts. Otherwise, I would have happily stayed here forever.