This is Day 4 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, a group project 60+ of us bloggers are doing together in an effort to help each other become better bloggers. You can read an overview here.
Today’s assignment is to spend some time on a successful blog in your niche. That sounds easy enough. But I think this is a lesson and assignment many bloggers are going to have a difficult time with for several reasons.
1) Some bloggers don’t know their niche. For some the issue is similar to Day 1 where you’re still trying to figure out what you’re blog is about and find focus. Others of you are probably bristling at the idea that your blog could be in a nitch because you don’t like to be labeled.
1.5 (Added 5 PM) Some bloggers don’t know what blogs are in their niche. If you don’t read other blogs that touch on the same topics you do, you may not know what blogs to analyze. A couple of places you can search for blogs by topic are Technorati.com and PostRank.com.
2) This sounds like copying. When some of you read the assignment, “Analyze a top blog in your niche” you heard “Watch what the popular people are doing and copy it.” This assignment is not about mindlessly copying anyone or losing your identity. While part of the assignment is to learn things you can incorporate into your own blogging. It’s just as important to identify how you’re blog is unique and how you’re going to differentiate yourself from other the blogs in your niche.
3) Golden nuggets are easy to miss. Chances are you’ve been to the top blogs in your niche. You know what they look like. You know what they write about. It’s going to be real easy to skim over this assignment and not find anything meaningful. When panning for gold, first you’ve got to dig, and second you’ve got to look real carefully to avoid missing the valuable nuggets.
Today’s lesson identifies some good elements to observe on other blogs – topics covered, posting frequency, which topics/posts are most popular, things you like & dislike about the design, etc. Here are some additional suggestions…
- What modules does the blog have in the sidebar(s)?
- Specifically, what features does it have to facilitate sharing and social networking?
- Read the comments. When people say they like a particular post, what specifically do they like about it?
Discussion
- What is your niche?
- What site(s) did you analyze?
- What did you notice about them that you may want to incorporate into your blog?
- How is your blog unique? How are you going to differentiate it from the rest of the pack?
Don’t forget, if you’ve posted a new post to your blog today, you’re welcome to include a link to it in your comments.
The Extra Mile
A few other things you can do to take your blog, other bloggers, and this project even further today…
- Reply & give other bloggers feedback on their analysis.
- When other bloggers include a link to a new article they’ve posted today, click, read, and comment on it.
- Check previous posts in the series for new comments.
- Tweet, share, & bookmark this post. (You could win a $25 gift card!)
Because several people asked for suggestions on where they can find other blogs in their niche, I edited today's blog post adding this:
1.5 (Added 5 PM) Some bloggers don’t know what blogs are in their niche. If you don’t read other blogs that touch on the same topics you do, you may not know what blogs to analyze. A couple of places you can search for blogs by topic are
http://Technorati.com http://PostRank.com.
Because several people asked for suggestions on where they can find other blogs in their niche, I edited today's blog post adding this:
1.5 (Added 5 PM) Some bloggers don’t know what blogs are in their niche. If you don’t read other blogs that touch on the same topics you do, you may not know what blogs to analyze. A couple of places you can search for blogs by topic are
http://Technorati.com http://PostRank.com.
Because several people asked for suggestions on where they can find other blogs in their niche, I edited today's blog post adding this:
1.5 (Added 5 PM) Some bloggers don’t know what blogs are in their niche. If you don’t read other blogs that touch on the same topics you do, you may not know what blogs to analyze. A couple of places you can search for blogs by topic are
http://Technorati.com http://PostRank.com.
Because several people asked for suggestions on where they can find other blogs in their niche, I edited today's blog post adding this:
1.5 (Added 5 PM) Some bloggers don’t know what blogs are in their niche. If you don’t read other blogs that touch on the same topics you do, you may not know what blogs to analyze. A couple of places you can search for blogs by topic are
http://Technorati.com http://PostRank.com.
What if there are little to no blogs in your main business niche on Technorati or Postrank? And I've never heard of either site. Can you or someone else expand on them?
I'm just curious, how has everyone gone about finding the top blogs in their niche? Has it been by simply searching a popular name? Have you simply been reading that particular blog for awhile? Word of mouth? Or is there a better way to find who is really a top blogger?
I started with a search on Technorati.com for running and fitness blogs, but wasn't real excited with what I found.
The next option was to look at blogs that I have already been reading in the area and see who they link to in their blogrolls.
Any other suggestions for find great blogs?
You could try postrank.com. Specifically…
http://www.postrank.com/topic/Running
Thanks Paul, that was VERY helpful. You know everything we have been doing so far has made a big difference on my blog. I hope others are having the same success. I realize that part of numbers is the fact that people who are a part of the group are going to each other's sites, but looking at my analytics I can tell that people are coming from other places as well. Thanks again for organizing this for us.
JD, that's fantastic! Nothing could make me happier than that.
By the way, I just clicked over to your blog again and I couldn't find an "about" page. Did I miss it? If not, I strongly recommend you add one and put your elevator pitch on it, being able to read about who you are and what the blog is about will help visitors get to know you and want to come back.
JD, that's fantastic! Nothing could make me happier than that.
By the way, I just clicked over to your blog again and I couldn't find an "about" page. Did I miss it? If not, I strongly recommend you add one and put your elevator pitch on it, being able to read about who you are and what the blog is about will help visitors get to know you and want to come back.
Thanks, just got that done. I didn't quote my elevator pinch exactly, I beefed it up a little more. I think once I get a few more posts going I'll go back and add a section called "Start Here" that will hopefully help people get a good overview of what the blog is about and hopefully help me get more readers to drill down into the blog.
I like it. It gives new visitors a quick overview of what the blog is about, tells a little about yourself, and includes a picture which helps people connect even more. Great job!
I suppose one possibility that we haven't considered is that the top blog hasn't been written yet. or that the top blog isn't necessarily the best one out there simply the best marketed. personally I'm having the same difficulties you are.
Exactly – which is why I have a built-in dislike for the Top 100 this or Top 100 That or anything subjectively determined by the likes of Technorati or Alexa.
Me, I prefer word of mouth and a good old google search
I had a similar experience while searching on Technorati, I need some suggestions too! I was given this link by fellow 31DBBB'er that I've begun following on Twitter @hmx5, it's a listing of blog directories:http://www.google.com/Top/Computers/Internet/On_t…
After spending some time with this list, I hope I find a site that brings me better & more expected results in my niche (genealogy, family history, organizing and preserving photos).
I can't see where to comment – have you got comments auto disabled in your wordpress backend?
Well, I'm posting for Day 3 here because I wanted to write a post yesterday. By the time, I finished everything, I knew it would be too late to get any feedback. So, I'm posting Day 3 and later will post Day 4.
I sent individual messages to groups of friends on Facebook and sent out a group email. I'll say this went out to probably close to 50 people all together. So far, I have gotten 2 responses–one only posted to my FB message site. The other one left a post on my blog. I need help. I have a hard time drawing people in to read my blog. I've posted it on my facebook page in general, and friends will just leave comments on the pictures on FB. I don't know how to do Twitter, and I don't know how to add the share button to my blog so that it can go out to different media.
As I posted late last night, I'm still holding out hope for more comments. Here is the blog post. However, I should let you know, this post is much longer than I normally write. You might want to look at others as well.
Looking forward to your comments:
http://openmyearslord.blogspot.com/2010/5/submiss…
Thank you,
Janis
Janis – if you do FB then twitter is easy by comparrison. Just think of it as sending text messages to folks you likely don't know.
The how of it is easily googled.
Janis, for the sake of staying on topic it would be better to post this as a comment to the Day 3 post. Some people use the Subscribe to All New Comments option, so they'll get an email notification of your comment and may reply.
But as you alluded to, you do get the benefit of more replies and more people clicking through to visit your blog if you post your comment on the day of the post. (And the earlier the better too)
Let me know if you decide to join twitter and how to do it.
Hi Paul,
Thank you for your direction about the daily comments. Sorry I got off topic.
And, yes, I would like to join twitter.
Janis
It's been a busy day. I wrote my post during lunch, but then didn't get a chance to post it here, so here it is:http://trainingcrucible.blogspot.com/2010/05/5-bl…
It's been a busy day. I wrote my post during lunch, but then didn't get a chance to post it here, so here it is:http://trainingcrucible.blogspot.com/2010/05/5-bl…
It's been a busy day. I wrote my post during lunch, but then didn't get a chance to post it here, so here it is:http://trainingcrucible.blogspot.com/2010/05/5-bl…
It's been a busy day. I wrote my post during lunch, but then didn't get a chance to post it here, so here it is:http://trainingcrucible.blogspot.com/2010/05/5-bl…