An Absent Blogger
Time obviously goes by VERY fast as I hadn’t realised how long it had been since I last posted. I’ve been busy of late getting ready to take our kids on a 3 month trip in the caravan.
Which means, I won’t be blogging here for a little while longer yet.
If you’re interested in following our trip, we’ll be blogging as a family on 3 Kids And A Caravan. I’ll also be blogging on my personal blog Lightening Online.
Hopefully, I’ll see you on one of those blogs. If not, I’ll catch up when we return.
Happy Blogging! 
The True Value of Blog Comments
Have you ever met a blogger who doesn’t thrive on the comment activity on their blog? I know I haven’t. I’ve even heard comments being described as “bloggers crack”. You go from one hit to the next, waiting for the high from the next comment.
Until the comments slow down….
Or even stop….
Then what do you do?
My comments on my personal blog have been on the decline for some time now.
They’ve now reached the point where some posts have ZERO comments. 
People haven’t stopped reading. At least, I don’t think they have. My stats are showing that visitors are the same and at times, higher than before. My feedreader stats are all over the place so who knows there.
In fact, my comments are much better here on this blog, even though the traffic is much less (thank you).
So, what I’ve noticed over the past couple of days is that I’m losing my desire to blog. On my personal blog I mean. That’s never happened to me before. Not since I got into a blogging rhythm of 6-7 posts per week. All of a sudden, the desire to write and to share just isn’t there.
It’s like I’ve come crashing down from the “comment high” and can’t seem to pick myself back up again.
I always thought I would blog regardless. If no-one wanted to talk to me, oh well, I still enjoy writing.
Not so.
I feel like I’m not connecting and to be honest, I don’t know how to reconnect.
Perhaps I should be doing more “do follow” in the “non SEO” sense of the word. You comment on my blog and I’ll comment on yours. I do try to read the the blogs of my regular commenters. But my comment policy has always been to comment if I have something to say. Rather than to comment because they gave me a comment and around it goes.
I don’t know.
How do you handle comments? Do you always return the “favour” or do you only comment if you have something useful to add?
How do you encourage people to leave a comment on your posts?
Do You Like List Posts?
Day 2 of the 31 Days to Build A Better Blog and the challenge today is to write a list post. Hmmmm….
I’m not a big fan of list posts. Trust me to go against what is “popular”.
I don’t enjoy reading them because I find them impersonal.
I don’t like writing them because I find them impersonal.
Perhaps that’s why I’m a “personal” blogger over and above any other style of blogging.
I like to “brain dump” and just put all my thoughts down on the page.
I guess you could call me an “undisciplined blogger”.
Which does make me wonder whether I should even be writing for this particular niche?
Or is it better to have a blogger that “goes against the tide” and blogs about blogging in a way that is a little “different” to the rest of the “gang”?
I’m not sure. I’d love to hear your thoughts on list posts. Like them? Hate them? Find them easy to write or difficult?
Should I abandon blogging about the blogworld and stick to personal blogging?
Day 1 - The Elevator Pitch
- Image by Marco Wessel via Flickr
Well, the 31 Days To a Better Blog Challenge is away and the first “assignment” is to write an elevator pitch for your blog.
Hmmm….
I’ve thought about elevator pitches before but always put it off because it’s “too hard”.
No more procrastination!!!!
Today is the day where I make a start, no matter how feable the attempts might end up being.
Attempt 1
Lightening’s Blogworld is the place I record stuff I’ve learnt so I don’t forget how to do it!
Attempt 2
Lightening’s Blogworld is aimed at non-technical bloggers like myself. It’s a mixture of basic tutorials, blogging news and events, blog reviews and discussion on blogging issues.
Attempt 3
Lightening’s Blogworld is a record of my journey in the blogging world.
What Do You Think?
I’d love to hear some feedback on these. Which do you like better? Are they too short? Any thoughts on how you would describe this blog?
I’d also love to hear your own elevator pitches for your blog. Feel free to share in the comments section.
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S.W.O.T Analysis
Time for a little naval gazing - blog style.
Why Did I Start This Blog?
It seemed I had a bit I wanted to say about blogging from time to time and it didn’t really fit well with my personal blog. With all the talk of the importance of selecting and working within a specific niche, I thought it was perhaps better to splinter my blogging into a few separate blogs rather than blog several times a day on my personal blog.
I’m no expert when it comes to blogging and technical stuff. In fact, I knew NOTHING when I first started blogging. I’ve also used this blog as a place to keep a record of things I’ve learnt along the way. You do something once and then go to do it again a few months later and can’t remember how to do it. Well, that’s what happens to me anyway!
What Do I Want To Achieve With This Blog?
To be honest, I never set out to earn money blogging. It’s still not my principal motivation. At some point along the way though, I did decide I wouldn’t mind the pocket money that blogging can bring.
I do like the fact that I have this blog where I can experiment with different monetisation strategies without upsetting my regular blog readers.
As to what I want to achieve though, I’m really not sure. I have been reluctant in the past to set too many goals because I don’t really like the pressure of trying to achieve goals.
Instead, I’ve been aimlessly wandering which isn’t good for the blog either.
So, my first goal should probably be to set myself a goal or 2 for the blog.
My one monetisation goal for this blog would be to cover the costs of the domain and hosting. It’s not a lot but it would be nice for it to pay for itself. It has done that up until now but right at the moment isn’t really earning me anything (still waiting for Nuffnang to start showing ads - if they don’t hurry up, I’ll be ditching them before we begin).
S.W.O.T Analysis
Strengths
- Domain name now has a little bit of time behind it (is over 12 months old)
- I enjoy blogging (particularly sharing my opinions)
- I spend a reasonable amount of time (by choice) in the blogging world
Weaknesses
- No regular blogging schedule (anymore - I did have once upon a time)
- Blogging about blogging is a very saturated niche (with plenty more people a LOT more knowledgable than me blogging about it)
- No real goals or ambitions as such
Opportunities
- Plenty of scope for blog posts.
- Not sure what other opportunities?
Threats
- If it made more money, I could justify spending more time on this blog. It’s a bit of a “which comes first the chicken of the egg” type problem.
- Hard niche to rank well in google for - strong competition
- Blogging seems to have gone a little quiet of late.
Well, there are a few of my thoughts for what they’re worth (not a lot I suspect). It’ll be interesting to see what the next month brings.
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