{"id":2524,"date":"2013-04-14T20:26:15","date_gmt":"2013-04-14T18:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chiperoni.ch\/wordpress\/?p=2524"},"modified":"2015-11-19T21:23:40","modified_gmt":"2015-11-19T20:23:40","slug":"successful-blogging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chiperoni.ch\/wordpress\/2013\/04\/successful-blogging\/","title":{"rendered":"Successful blogging?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love reading list articles. Here’s one that appeared on my radar today: <\/p>\n

6 Pillars of a Successful Blog<\/a><\/p>\n

And just for fun, I’ll run thru the list and assess my own private blogging chez moi. <\/p>\n

So let’s get started…<\/p>\n

Purpose\/Message\/Mission<\/strong>
\nThis is a private blog. The main purpose is to learn and reflect. <\/p>\n

It’s an ever-evolving mix of learning, reflection, discovery and knowledge management<\/a>. I’ve always said it’s like a scrap book. Chiperoni.ch will no longer do well from an SEO point-of-view, because the topics are too diverse, too sporadic. I write about the Internet and online marketing. I link to my huge Flickr collection<\/a> of snapshots<\/a>. I write about architecture and travel. I post Youtube videos. I try out WordPress plugins and themes. <\/p>\n

If you’re setting up a blog for business purposes, think about your purpose. Brainstorm ideas. Put together an editorial calendar. This will help you stand out from the crowd.<\/p>\n

Email Newsletter<\/strong>
\nI don’t send out an email newsletter for this blog. While this Google service<\/a> still exists, you can get an email notification via Feedburner:<\/p>\n

\n

Enter your email address:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Delivered by FeedBurner<\/a><\/p>\n<\/form>\n

<\/p>\n

There are some pretty cool email newsletter plugins for WordPress. I briefly tried Wysija<\/a>. There’s also Sendpress<\/a> and Email Newsletter to try. And yes, I wholeheartedly agree… if you want your blog to grow, send out a regular email newsletter.<\/p>\n

I do have a cool WordPress plugin called Thank me later<\/a>, which sends auto-sends thank you<\/em> messages to people that leave a comment.<\/p>\n

A Free E-Book\/Manifesto<\/strong>
\nThere is no free e-book to download. There is no manifesto to link to at Chiperoni.ch. Yet. I have plans to write a book or two. Maybe. Some day. <\/p>\n

David Meerman-Scott<\/a> uses e-books very effectively for his topics. <\/p>\n

I am a regular reader of the e-books at Hubspot<\/a>. <\/p>\n

IMHO, you should spend some $$ on your e-book layout to get a better return. <\/p>\n

A Product\/Business Model<\/strong>
\nThere is no business model at Chiperoni.ch. I am here for fun. This is a private, non-profit blog. There is no advertising. So far I have not published any paid blog entries here. If this changes, I will publish a disclosure statement. <\/p>\n

Again if you’re planning to offer a product or service, put some thought into your business model. A good starter is this business model generation canvas<\/a>. It leads you through various business questions.<\/p>\n

Site Design<\/strong>
\nI like minimal blog designs. Currently I am using themes by Elma<\/a>. <\/p>\n

If you’re building a business, test your site design using a poor man’s usability test<\/a>. Ideally before coding; using a paper test. Find 5 people that fit your site’s target audience. Think of some site tasks you would like to test, e.g. how to contact you; how to ask for a quote. Ask your test person to think out loud<\/strong> while performing the tasks. And then sit next to them and quietly observe how your test person navigates through your site. <\/p>\n

Check your site design from an SEO point of view. Are there enough text areas for your key phrases on your main landing pages? I would avoid overusing fancy carousel and slider plugins. Do you have one sentence explaining your main mission, written in HTML? <\/p>\n

Effective Self Promotion <\/strong>
\nIt’s 2013. You need to find creative ways to promote your business blog. The Internet is a vast ocean of data. Nobody is waiting for your cool product or service. If your self promotion is too low-key, nobody will notice you. If your self promotion is too heavy and your service offering doesn’t match, you will put people off. <\/p>\n

I am stating the obvious. My only advice is to try various ideas and find a marketing mix that works for you. Trial and error. <\/p>\n

Or build a private, non-profit blog like Chiperoni.ch. And as such I don’t need to join the success theater<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"looking<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love reading list articles. Here’s one that appeared on my radar today: 6 Pillars of a Successful Blog And just for fun, I’ll run thru the list and assess my own private blogging chez moi. So let’s get started… Purpose\/Message\/Mission This is a private blog. The main purpose is to learn and reflect. It’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"mf2_syndication":[],"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,26,24,27],"tags":[636,634,633,635,632],"class_list":["post-2524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogger","category-blogging","category-marketing","category-wordpress","tag-knowledge-management","tag-learning","tag-poor-mans-user-testing","tag-reflection","tag-successful-blogging"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LJxC-EI","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiperoni.ch\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiperoni.ch\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiperoni.ch\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiperoni.ch\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiperoni.ch\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chiperoni.ch\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiperoni.ch\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiperoni.ch\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiperoni.ch\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}