Changes To The Blog Part One
Posted 4th June 2012
Category: The Worm Hole Genres: N/A
7 Comments
You may have noticed, and indeed you may have realised my plans from the posts I’ve been writing recently on RSS feeds and the best days to blog – I’m in the process of making changes. Many are yet to be implemented, as I have a long list but not much time, but a few have been and I thought it might be an idea to talk about them.
The first change is to my blogging schedule. After a lot of thinking I have decided to go for the proposed Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as it makes the most sense. As Ana confirmed for me in a comment two weeks ago (second link in the paragraph above), Saturday is a slow day. Therefore my every-three-days former schedule was a bit silly, especially as I knew full well that anything I was posting on the weekend was rarely viewed. People want to relax at the weekends, and while I know that many count reading blogs as relaxing, a lot of people also leave blogging until Monday and posting some of my best-written posts at the weekend against my better judgement is ridiculous when I’m all for discussion.
Unless I happen to have an offline issue going on, Monday Wednesday Friday it will be from now on.
Secondly, The Worm Hole has a Facebook page.
Thirdly, I have re-written and re-formatted my about page. I noticed recently that the page is the one with the most hits, which makes a lot of sense given it’s nice to know about the writer behind the blog – and my about page had been sorely neglected. So gone are the piddly few sentences and in its place a good thoroughly informative page.
And finally, most importantly, I’ve changed how I reply to comments. I don’t know whether anyone noticed how I used to do it, because there was no way to notify readers, but I’ve always been editing your comments in order to add a reply at the bottom of them. I did this because I don’t like how replying on one’s own blog gets counted as a comment in number terms, but something needed to change because it wasn’t obvious enough. So now I’ve a new method. I will reply to everyone via one comment, and if a reader posts a new comment after I’ve posted my reply I will copy my comment, delete it, and repost it with the addition of a reply to that new commentor. So if you return to my site looking for my reply, you’ll always find it at the very end.
What do you think, are these good changes?
June 4, 2012, 5:53 pm
Sounds like a good plan! I very rarely post on the weekends (yesterday being the one and only exception in recent memory!). You’re right: those posts are rarely viewed, as I think many of us log into our favorite blogs while on break at work (don’t tell!). I hope your new changes work well for you!
June 4, 2012, 7:40 pm
Hi Charlie,
That schedule is good – I think you’re right about people taking weekends off. I’ve found that once a week is all I can commit to, and I sometimes do more if I have the energy or time or a particular thing I want to write about. But there’s something to be said for regularity. On the email signup, I use Aweber, but you have to pay for that, and also Feedburner (free). Another good free one I used to use is Subscribe2 (a WordPress plugin). There’s also a WordPress plugin for keeping your own comments from being counted, but I’ve never used it so can’t say if it’s any good: (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/comments-count-filter/). I like the about page – lifted something from it already for your guest post bio (subject to your approval of course!)
June 5, 2012, 9:23 am
Once Dutch Lit Month is over, I think I may change to a one post in two days schedule, though I could not commit to certain days before hand. I noticed that Sunday can be a very busy day for my blog, but it often spills over into Monday, so I think your base feelings are right.
Good luck on all your changes! I’m going to look at your about page now. I recently changed it and now I worry that it is too long!
June 5, 2012, 4:09 pm
I think those are good changes! I do post on the weekends, but that’s mostly because I do the Sunday Salon. I usually just use a review as a Sunday Salon post, though- I find that linking to that on the Salon FB page gets many more hits than if i just post it generally. It’s hard for me to visit a lot of other Saloners, though. I am finding more bloggers through Armchair BEA, but I think that is dangerous because my Google Reader is already way too big…
June 11, 2012, 5:37 pm
Congratulations on all the changes! I know how long it takes to do all the behind the scenes stuff so you must have been very busy. I really need to update my about me page. It is nice to know so many people want to look at it, but I’m struggling to write 3 posts a week at the moment so don’t have the free time. I should probably prioritse. If only there were more hours in the day. :-)
June 14, 2012, 10:58 am
Jessica: I actually feel silly for posting so often on a Saturday! Having a Sunday post once a month is a good idea though, especially as people do The Sunday Salon. Email is a good suggestion. I’m not sure how to implement it so I’ll look it up!
Meg: Yes, I get the feeling from Twitter that a lot of people use lunch breaks and such. The changes are working so far, a proper routine was what I needed, I see that now.
Andrew: You only blog once a week? I could have sworn you wrote more often, you’re obviously on to something good there! Thanks for the info on the email, now Jessica’s mentioned it it’s something I want to implement soon. And that WordPress plugin sounds just the ticket. I suppose we should appreciate how our own comments bump up the numbers but it doesn’t feel right to me. If you want to quote from my about page for the bio that’s of course fine.
Iris: If I recall correctly you’re part of The Sunday Salon? I think that’s a good way of getting views over the weekend and I admire everyone who takes part because coming up with a regular and interesting “life” post is a daunting prospect! It sounds a good idea to wait until Dutch Lit Month is over because your schedule is different right now.
I have a tendency to write long pages, which is partly why my about page was so short previously – I wanted to be strict with myself. Reading other people’s though, I reckon as long as it’s not all in bullet points, the longer the better because it really gives you a good idea about the person (yeah, I say that now…)
Aarti: Despite more and more people saying Twitter is the way to go, it does seem that a lot of traffic overall comes from Facebook. I like the idea of the Salon, but I can see where you’re coming from on the visiting back issue – posting is one thing, finding time on a Sunday to comment on lots of blogs another. I was looking through the Armchair BEA list for blogs (I’m not taking part but am interested in it nonetheless) and thought the same, my RSS reader, recently tidied, would take a hit. My preferred way now is just to read comments and if something someone said really catches my eye I’ll click their link. I guess that sounds strict and therefore mean, but there are so many bloggers and limited time.
Jackie: It takes a lot longer than you think it will do, doesn’t it? Regarding the about page, I’d say it’s definitely one of the top pages viewed on any site (from my stats, other’s about pages, and the fact I always view other people’s when I first view) but at the same time it’s more important to keep writing new posts if you want your blog to stay fresh. Maybe you could make your about page one of the three posts one week, and link people to it in place of a new post? I’ve always wondered what the world would be like if we didn’t require sleep! Busier, definitely, and stressful, but also better lived.
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June 4, 2012, 10:07 am
All sounds good to me. I also post on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with a Sunday or Month reflection post on Sunday as well. Saturday is the worst day to post. My only suggestion might be to add a way to follow your blog via email.