I’ve started a couple of drafts to answer frequently asked questions emails that Joe and I get.
The incoming email we get everyday is for a lot of different reasons, but one area we get quite a few questions about is Outdoor Blogging itself.
I’d like to post a FAQ page here in the Blogging Tips section that I can direct people who need guidance that will be helpful to all those seeking new blogging advice.
This is where you seasoned Outdoor Bloggers come in:
In the comments below, share your advice for new Outdoor Bloggers.
What lessons have you learned?
What do you wish you knew then that you know now?
If you were helping a friend get started in blogging, what would you tell them?
What did you struggle with when you first started blogging?
And so on…
If I use your suggestion, advice, wisdom, I’ll be sure to quote you (and link to your blog) in the FAQ page I’ll be publishing soon.
Example of questions we get: “I just started an Outdoor Blog but no one reads it, what should I do to get traffic.?” and so on…
Thank you for sharing! I know the new Outdoor Bloggers will really appreciate it.
Rebecca
About Rebecca
Matt from The Functioning Fishaholics
River Mud
McTage
Home Skillet
The Bearded Boar
healthyoutdoorsman
Hi Rebecca, I love blogging, but since I write about hiking and walking I never share my blogging tips. I will answer the question about getting readers:
You need to actively promote your blog
1. blog often (2-3 times a week)
2. get a twitter account and participate with others (comment, share posts of others, and share your blog posts)
3. comment on other blogs and respond to comments on your blog
Be true, be persistent, and be kind.
Have a super day!
Great advice Traci and I agree 100%. Participating with others really seems to be key to having an interactive blogging experience. Thank you!!
My advice: Write about topics that interest you, but always write about them in a way that will benefit your reader. Examples would be how to’s, educational pieces and personal posts that turn the focus back on the reader. Imagine your reader is asking you, “What’s in it for me?”
To get readers, you must be a reader. Read and comment on other outdoor blogs and help promote other outdoor bloggers. We are all in this together.
Be patient. Readership is not built overnight. Consistently publish good content and always enjoy what you do!
I definitely echo what Traci and Tiffany said. Gotta have good content and participation!
Don’t be afraid to ask for comments, likes, etc. It’s almost like asking for a referral in business, if you can do it in a way that is cool and not sound like you are begging, participation can really soar.
It also helps to build an email list. Email marketing is pretty simple, and utilizing sites likes aweber, constant contact, get response, etc. can be excellent(and cheap) ways to connect with your readers and keep them engaged.
I also found that SEO is pretty powerful, especially in a niche market. People who are actively looking for advice or entertainment usually turn straight to Google to find it. If you come up as one of the top listings, your traffic can increase ten fold. I’ll use keywords in my post titles, tags, and meta descriptions. Also, Youtube videos are en extremely powerful way to up your Google search rankings. Putting your keywords in the title and description of your Youtube videos is the best way to do it(as far as I know, anyways).
Just my two cents.
Write from your heart and be honest and transparent, no agendas. I agree with the above mentioned input too, blog often, comment on other blogs that interest you, offer reciprocal links and be kind.remember that no one likes a know it all, we can all learn from each other . Also offer to do interviews with blogs that you enjoy.
Write about topics you are passionate about and your passion will shine through in your writing. Play the Google game and spend the rest of your time hanging out on OBN! Good luck.
From a technical standpoint, I’m in the process of building a couple of more sites in WordPress. If you run your own WordPress site, Google “parent/child themes in WordPress” immediately and start implementing it ASAP. I wish I would have saw that a year and a half ago.
From a creative standpoint, I’ve been telling people for 15 years that nobody reads my stuff. So I write like nobody reads my stuff and entertain myself. Now and then I run into people that tell me how much they enjoy what I write and they’ve been following me for years, how they really enjoy my photographs. I don’t have to fake being shocked at that info.
As for audience, I put more emphasis on those not in the outdoors industry. They don’t have outdoor blogs. They’re just people that like to be out or I can convince to get out. I’m trying to make an effort to get on local things, Patch.com, Triblocal, stuff like that. Other outdoor writers, as much as I like them and would appreciate them stopping by, are a very limited audience. I’m currently reaching out to all the Forest Preserve Districts and Park Districts in the Fox River Valley. Get people out.
As for reciprocal blogroll links, I’m a bass guy with a trout mentality. My blogroll is made up of a bunch of links to trout guys that have never bothered doing the same for me. Cause they’re a bunch of fish snobs sitting around at their little desks tying tiny little flies.
Except for Roderick Hawg-Brown, I like him.
1. Know why you’re writing. If you don’t know why, make every (or most) of your writing exercises at least a little bit about why you “might” be writing. But if you don’t know why….you’ll forget, which means you’ll forget to write at all.
2. Don’t compare yourself to other blogs or bloggers. Some have been around a long time, some are run by people with actual marketing or writing backgrounds, and some are run by people who seem to have an endless supply of cash, gear, and/or free time. That’s them. Be you.
3. If you really do want people to find and read your blog (many bloggers don’t care – and that’s fine, too!), be conscious about the titles of your posts, names of your photo files, i.e. “trophy brook trout.jpg”, and watch your stats. See what people react to. See what goes viral. See what gets stolen. Learn from it. Hint: the winners are usually witty, obvious, and succinct. I struggle will all of those.
I’m happy to share my top 5 tips…
1. Let your personality shine through and write about whatever comes in to your mind.
2. Don’t let inhibitions restrict what you write about – Don’t think “Oh no, people wont want to read this…” People that follow blogs or write blogs themselves sometimes prefer irreverence.
3. Make sure what you write gets found by Google, Bing and Yahoo by using some basic optimisation techniques and blogging tools
4. Spend 50% of your time writing and 50% of your time using social networks to get as many people as you can to read it!
5. Make your blog content rich – include lots of photographs and video. If you have too many photographs then link the article to a photo sharing site or YouTube for video.
*** Help others to be successful ***
I’m a big believer in paying it forward (with no agenda) in the blogging world. Helping others achieve their goals feels good and is a great way to see how big things get done. It also helps you to make great friends. Although you could think of other sites as “competition” it would be the wrong way to go.
In my niche (fishing) I realized that there really is no competition, only REALLY good online friends with common interests.
It is all about community. If you are only doing this to make money give up and start a “how to make money blogging” blog. Trust me you will spend more on gear (and invested time) than you will ever make blogging about outdoor hobbies.
*** #2 write often, write short ***
Blogging is a huge time commitment. Keep things short (a failure of mine) and writing often (another failure of mine) are two critical factors of success for ALL bloggers.
With about 6 years of hard nose blogging under my belt, I would say don’t start blogging unless you like blogging and writing….a lot. While some may claim fame and fortune from blogging, I think for most of us it is a chance for self expression, and an opportunity to have a few people, other than our families read what we have written, nothing more.
Having said that, for new bloggers, I suggest a self hosted wordpress blog. I have blogs on Blogger and on WordPress. While Blogger is good, WordPress is better, just like the pros tell ya. It just takes a little time to get used to things like “plugins”, but it isn’t rocket science.
I also believe, although I am guilty of not doing this on my own blog, that a tight, focused niche is very important in terms of traffic. That can be more difficult that it sounds. You need to choose that one carefully and make sure it has enough substance to enable you to write numerous posts about different facets of the same thing. Too tight a niche and you run out of fresh material, too loose and you risk readers and good indexing.
If you intend for your blog to be commercial, that is, potentially earn you money, you have to write differently than if you are only seeking to be read, or entertain. Commercial blogs are really marketing tools, and as such you need to write as a marketer. Non commercial blogs are easier to write, but after awhile many blog writers want to be paid for all their efforts. So you need to pick a niche that allows for both, marketing and pure blogging, and you need to adjust your writing style depending on the nature of the post you are writing.
I agree with the commentor before me, The Functioning Fishaholics, write short and write often. However, to get good link from other sites and google rank, you need to throw in the occasional linkbait article, and some longer posts about something useful to your audience.
There is an enormous amount of competition in the blog business these days, and yet, there are still a lot of folks who don’t really understand what a blog is, or remember to read it regularly. You need to remind folks of your existence using social media, like Twitter and Facebook, emails to your subscribers, and commenting on other blogs in the same niche as you.
And finally, (I am trying to wind down, sorry) You need to learn something about SEO, Search Engine Optimization. That is the behind the scenes business of blogs, but it is important if you want traffic and search engine rankings. Ideally, before you put your first words down in a post, you will have learned something about keywords and post titles, title tags, meta descriptions, and file names for pictures etc. It isn’t difficult to learn, but it is important that you do.
Those are my off the cuff thoughts for new bloggers.
Thanks
Rob
Some startup hints for a blogger blog:
1) Set it up as a custom domain from the beggining. This means that you purchase your own domain name instead of having .blogspot in your address. It isnt really that expensive and is extremely easy to do IF you do it at the beggining. The longer you wait the more painfull it gets and for various complicated reasons it is both beneficial and feels good to have your own domain.
2) One of the coolest things about Blogger is that new blogs are free and instant to start. As you go along eventually you will probably want to tinker with the look and feel of your blog but will be intimidated that you will screw something up and in all liklyhood you will once or twice. There is no need to be intimidated or mess up your blog! Because it is so cheap and easy to start a blog start a seperate test blog and try out all your tinkering there before you move it into your real blog!
The most important free tool of the keyword research to know what’s hot on your niche
1. Google ad-words keywords research
2. Google trends
3. Google insights
I hope so these tool really help you find topics to write and give a new height of your blog.
I’m not a blogger (yet) but I’ve helped a few people with their sites and I would echo what the others have already said with one addition. Spend a little time on the design of your blog. If you are running WordPress there are hundreds of good themes out there that are fairly easy to set up. Studiopress, WooThemes, Elegant Themes, the list goes on. I like Studiopress myself because it’s the easiest to customize.
You could have the most compelling content out there but some people just won’t want to read it if it’s not pretty. Just my 2 cents.