Bottledworder, this is in response to your post. I’ve broken your questions into three different categories. At the outset, I should mention that I discovered you when you read and liked this post about my life in college. I have stayed with your ever since.
So reader, who are you? Have you written a post introducing yourself? Do you want to write one?
I rejigged my blog just days ago so the hitherto unread About The Blog page became the Home (landing page). I write as 4 different characters and I have About pages for each of them. The Slo-Man and the LastWord have the most complete About pages mostly because they were written at the beginning when I really spent time thinking about what those two characters stood for. The other two have shorter introductions. The characters are evolving everyday, but have not yet outgrown their Abouts.
I believe the About page is one of the most important pages in a blog. If I come across a a link to a blog, almost the first thing I do is see if there is an About page. I like to know a little bit about the blogger.
What kinds of blogs do you read?
I tend to gravitate to blogs that are well presented and offer varied content. Blogs like yours, Bottledworder, that teach a little ( not heavy handed ), blogs that entertain, blogs that tell stories.
Too many advertisements, and a clutterred appearance are a turn off. Poor formatting and bad grammar just give the impression that the blogger really is not a serious blogger, that he / she does not really care about the reader.
Yet some of these bloggers have many more readers than I do. I suppose they must be more vivacious and popular in real life and have a large collection of supportive friends and family willing to read and comment and I probably need to widen my circle of friends and family !! I suspect though that these are younger, college / high school going bloggers of the age that is redefining the concept of “friends” and “friendship” within the context of social media.
I don’t hand out “Likes” and comments easily. I actually have to like something to hand out a “like” and then I prefer to write a comment explaining why I liked it. The comment must convey that I actually read the post and I’m willing to have a conversation. I’ve become very fond of that word, conversation, because that is what I’d like to have with my readers, a conversation. One that takes the thought further and conveys a sense of genuine readership.
I tend to stay away from blogs “with a message” or those for a Cause.
Why do you blog? What first drew you to the blogosphere?
I covered that in this post – Ten Reasons why I Blog, which I think you’ve read and liked before.
I share your sentiments. Just today, I clicked on a blog, and all I saw was a diarrhoea of !!!!!!!!!!!!! and the end of every headline. A total turn-off… God, I’m so bloody fussy 😉
well, we’re all fusspots here! I ranted about it not too long ago, ‘member? http://sloword.wordpress.com/2013/12/03/blogs-and-the-common-man/
I read Bottledworder’s post, too – great response to it! I’m 100% with you on the “likes”. I think some just use them as markers to show they were there (nothing of whether or not they actually read the post 🙂 ) Comments – especially something more than “great post” are what I look forward to.
I also liked reading about what kinds of blogs you like to read (and what makes you not want to read them.) These are always interesting to me because I can do a mental check to see where my blog falls in the mix!
That’s the section people seem most interested in, including BW. Maybe I should expand that into a full fledged, detailed post.
Thanks for commenting. How does your blog measure up ? 🙂
Well, I don’t have ads, and I think my grammar is okay, so that’s a start 🙂 My topics are varied, so I’ll count that in my favor, too!
Okay!! So my seal of approval is with you ( note small s and small a to denote who am I to approve or disapprove).
There is one more check you can do. At the end of this rant there is a useful tip…
Blogs and the “Common Man” | Slo-Word
http://sloword.wordpress.com/2013/12/03/blogs-and-the-common-man/
Good for you for taking the trouble to responding so thoughtfully to Bottledworder’s request. It not only gave her some of the feedback she was asking for, but shed light on your own blog and gave others some useful ideas as well.
Thanks Josna. It is a subject that bugs me no end. How badly written and presented blogs have such large readership, I fail to understand. Almost makes me feel that quality is no longer of any interest, that a throw-away, disposable culture has seeped into our reading and writing tastes.
I’ve lamented before on the triumph of immediacy over thought.
Yeah I’ve been trying to read as many blogs as I can to understand different types of bloggers and I was surprised to find that one blog which WordPress listed on its Top Blog lists was entirely dedicated to one man’s rant against an ex and exposing her acts of infidelity. (the whole website is literally just for that purpose) What the what?
Takes all sorts… Are you following this blog? You’ve been and read some older posts. I have two words for you, well three…
Coconut Oil.
Prohibition.
Jackal.