the last thing you want a new reader of your blog to do when visiting your site is to roll their eyes at the volume of text on your post.
the average time someone spends on my site is one minute and thirty-three seconds (if you do not have google analytics, it can really help understand your audience).
before i publish..i ask myself these questions:
- does the text visually represent what i think is most important? meaning have i used punctuation, line breaks, hyper-links, etc to draw the reader’s eye to my best content?
- is my best stuff at the end? often i flip the last sentence or paragraph with the first, as it usually contains my best analysis/thought on whatever particular topic i’m blogging about.
- can someone with limited knowledge of myself and the subject legitimately comment on the post? if it’s too wordy or unfocused, i go back and edit.
when you look at your blog content, where would you say you need the most work? i could develop on keeping my first paragraph focused and engaging.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
great tips! thanks! nice Run DMC reference in the title by the way…
Hi All! Question for you: why would someone prefer to follow this blog on twitter when they can set up an RSS feed and follow the blog that way? I’m trying to figure out why to twitter. I can only see it really useful for following a conference (like @csu09ccc) or for following a major sporting event if you are a real fan (like I am with tennis) and living in a blacked out area. Any other ideas about why to twitter would be appreciated. Cy
I agree with what Brian said below. I would also add that Twitter can be a vital tool for connecting with the people that you’re ministering to as well as those who support you.
hey mike–i actually had that run dmc album. crazy.
hey cy–thanks for the question. figuring how to use twitter to work for you and not how other people like to use it is probably the biggest challenge.
i would say that following someone on twitter is a more passive form of staying connected; meaning if you like the link or the tweet, you can engage it.
if you an rss feed, you’re basically committing to receiving ALL of the content of the blog; if you’re an avid rss reader that’s probably not a big deal, but twitter can allow some flexibility in engaging content, which i personally like.
i’ll add some thoughts as to why to twitter as well to my next post. hope this is helpful in some small way!
Thanks Brian. I’ll look forward to more input on why to twitter, because the jury’s still out on it, for me anyway. Cy
for sure cy. you are not alone in this area.
some fun twitter stats:
–average number of tweets per user: 1 (not kidding)
–average length a user lasts on twitter: 60 days
–approximately 2% of the users send out 98% of the tweets