How Can I Improve My Blog - My First Meme
September 30th, 2007 by Stephen Cronin (1,877 views)I was double tagged by Maurice Snell from The Cayman Host Blog and Josh Spaulding from the Make Money Blog to participate in The Blog Improvement Zone Meme started by Dane Morgan.
This is my first meme and to be honest, my initial reaction to being tagged was ‘oh no’. I’m really not into memes and I have a large backlog of post ideas to write up, not to mention documentation to finish for DualFeeds.
However, when I read further about this meme, I realised that this was the sort of meme that I am interested in. Its topic is something I want to write about anyway - what I can do to improve my blog. Dane, Maurice and Josh are all bloggers that I respect and read regularly, so I thought I’d join in.
Some Things I’d Really Like To Improve
I’d really like to do the following things to improve my blog:
- Increase my posting frequency: Without a doubt, this is the main thing I’d like to improve. I only post once or twice a week, but I have lots of ‘great ideas’ and half finished posts. I need to get onto these and get them out the door.
- Get back on topic: My stated topic is web development using PHP, CSS, Javascript, etc & blogging via WordPress. I’ve been distracted by the blogging part and haven’t posted anything on web development. Also, my earlier posts read like articles. Lately, my posts have lost the focus of the earlier ones. I need to get back to that.
- Improve my comments area: This is something that really needs some work. I need to separate comments and trackbacks (mainly for the DualFeeds page), add numbering to the comments, look into threaded comments. I also want to add a top commentators section.
- Improve my About page: My About page is something I threw together so I could get on and start posting. I cringe a little bit every time I read it. It sounds like a press release or something. I need to freshen it up and include more information about myself.
There are other things I’d like to improve as well, but these are the main ones I’d like to do right now.
Tagging Others
I’m supposed to tag five sites that are doing these things well. Without going into specifics on which things these sites do well (they all do most of them well), I’m going to nominate:
- RT at Untwisted Vortex, where you will find many useful tips and resources to help you improve your blog.
- K-IntheHouse at SkanKri-la, where I get all my technology tips, including (but not limited to) all the latest Firefox extensions.
- Snoskred at Life In The Country, where you’ll find a wide variety of topics including blogging, Australia and well, life in the country.
- Terence Chang at Terence Chang - Almost A Billionaire, which is a good mix of technology, business, blogging and China.
- Ryan Shamus at Ryan Shamus dot Com, where you’ll find a variety of topics mostly related to blogging and making money on the Internet.
I read each of these blogs regularly and they are all members of the Bumpzee No NoFollow community, which can only be a good thing.
If I’ve tagged you and you don’t want to participate, no worries. I know Terence is travelling in China as we speak and RT finished a site overhaul not long ago (so may not have anything left to improve!).
The Final Word
I’d like to say a big thank you to Maurice and Josh for tagging me. Also, a big thank you to Dane for starting this. It’s the only meme I’ve seen with a topic that could draw me in. If you haven’t checked out these three sites out, go and do so! You won’t regret it.
Tags: blogging, site improvement
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Hi Stephen,
Glad to see you pick this meme up! I know I for one would love to read more from you on your stated topic. Being just a weekend coder myself, it’s nice to read someone who actually knows what they are doing, but can explain it so that I get it without having to do a ton of extra research.
I’ve been holding off on installing your DualFeeds plugin until I did the upgrade to WP2.3. I think I’ve got it pretty much lined out on danemorgan.com, a little more testing and tweaking and then I’m upgrading the rest of my blogs, and I’ll be installing DualFeeds to them as I upgrade. Great plugin idea by the way. The ultimate answer to the (blog) age old question.
[…] of More Than Scratch the Surface tagged me with the improve my blog meme. While I'm constantly thinking of ways to improve my blog, I don't like to write […]
Hi Dane,
Thanks for creating the meme! I’ll try to write more on my stated topic, but I should point out that I’m really a weekend coder myself - it’s just I’ve been one for about 15 years. I still need to do a fair bit of research myself.
Regarding DualFeeds, I better point out 2 things: 1) there is a new upgrade that’s ready, but waiting for documentation; 2) I haven’t tested it on WordPress 2.3 yet. That’s on my urgent to do list and having read about 2.3, I can’t see any reason for it to break, but maybe hold off if you’re not feeling reckless!
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for joining in the meme. I haven’t installed dual feeds myself simply because I’m not blogging on WP, however, as you know already, I do think it’s an excellent plugin.
I don’t think your About page is that bad! I know I should really put one up on the blog and all that has really stopped me is wondering just what to say about myself. Aside from the fact that I’m an aging beach bum I wonder just what anyone would really find interesting about me
All joking aside though, I really should do something about it so I’ll put it on my list.
Now I’m off to visit some of the folks you’ve tagged, a couple blogs that are new to me so thanks for the recommendations.
Hey Stephen,
It’s great to see you could participate. This was the first meme I took part in as well. I had similar feelings when Vlad tagged me. I had (have) a bunch of post ideas and at first I didn’t really want to participate to be honest, but after looking into it I had a change of heart.
As Maurice said, your about page isn’t too bad. It’s short and resembles a miniature resume
but it does the job.
Increasing your post frequency really comes down to setting a set amount of time each day to get it done and research if necessary. I’m sure you know what you need to do so it’s not really something anyone can give advice on
I can tell you in does pay off though!! I started posted daily about a month ago and my RSS subscribers went from 20ist to 98 (Today) and steadily growing.
As for the technical stuff I can’t help you. That’s why I read your blog
Thanks again!
Stephen,
Thanks for tagging me and incredibly kind words.. I just switched over to a new theme and working on making improvements! I would it was perfect timing tagging me. I would love to hear what you think about it.
I will soon post about this at ShanKri-la.
[…] good friend Stephen Cronin just tagged me in his first meme named ‘How Do I Improve My Blog‘. This is excellent timing by Stephen. I will follow up with the meme post with reasons for […]
[…] in meme’s. I have tried to stay away from some for obvious reasons but when my friend Stephen Cronin of Scratch99 tagged me with the Blog Improvment Zone meme, I had to take […]
Stephen:
Thank you for tagging me. I would love to tag you back. Just give me some time. I have been bus since I came back from China. I know you are still enjoying you stay in China!
Keep up you good work!
[…] You can read his blog here. How Can I Improve My Blog - My First Meme? […]
I’ve been away for 5 days, so I apologise for the delay in responding.
Maurice, thanks again for tagging me. I want my About page to reveal just a little bit more about me than it does right now. The about page is quite important because a lot of people check it out when they first visit your blog. It may help get them to return, so it should include your credentials if you’re a niche blogger, but should also include some information to help others relate to you. I didn’t really appreciate that when I created mine. That said, most bloggers (including me) find it quite hard to create their About page. I look forward to checking yours out when you get around to it!
Josh, I’m really glad I did participate - it’s been a really good experience. Thanks again for tagging me. With posting frequency, my main problem is time. I have a full time job and family responsibilities and there just isn’t enough time left to do everything I want to. But I’ll keep chipping away.
Hi K, thanks for participating. The kind words are well deserved. I’ve seen your post and I’ll be heading over there to leave a comment as soon as I can.
Hi Terence, thanks also for participating. I’ve seen your post as well and will be heading over there to leave a comment very soon. The delay in responding has been because I’ve been enjoying some Chinese hospitality during the Chinese National Day holiday.
you have created a very interesing list of intents…i hope you can realize it completely. as i can see, this design is ok and also your comments (thanks to the do follow) are increasing constantly!
Hi fucc,
I’ve done a little bit towards most of the items on the list above - but only a little bit. I haven’t managed to ‘complete’ any of the stated intentions. I’ll get there eventually though!