If You Have a Blog...

[qwlauren35]

Someone I greatly respect told me last fall that having a Facebook page is tenuous, because Facebook can change the algorithm and all of a sudden, it no longer shows up in someone's feed. So, I started a blog. I really like my blog; I like writing to my blog, even though it may take several hours to do all of the research to make it meaningful. I think I have a lot to say, and some of it is interesting. It's also the point of view of an older middle-class educated black woman, and not everyone hears that point of view, so it has value. With a full-time job, I can only write once a week, but I've been consistent.

I'd love to have a wider audience. I think I have 12 followers. I'm not trying to make money from it, I'm not going for tens of thousands of followers. But I'd love to make a name for myself. I think it would be fun.

If you have your own blog, I'd love to know how you get followers.

Lauren

https://afrobougieblues.com/blogs/

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I'd also love some blog ideas.

Over the past 9 months, I've written about a wide variety of things in my blog:
- the March on Washington
- Black Superheroes
- How our values determine salaries
- Hip-hop turns 50
- Henrietta Lacks and Medical Research
- Midwest Conservatism
- Product Safety
- A Son in Prison
- Abortion
- Juneteenth
- Fatherhood
- Pride Month
- AI
- Gun Control
- Hook Ups
- Domestic Violence
- Native Americans
- Trump
- Marketing
- Feminism
- Hospice
- Good Stories
- Writing
- Spending $1 billion
- MLK Day
- Kwanzaa
I find ideas from TV, from the news, from my stories, from my life... and I LOVE writing. I love doing the research to make the blog powerful, factual, educational, enriching. But coming up with topics has been tough. So, ideas are welcome.

[The Roux Comes First]

1. I Had a Blog for a Few Years, Quite a While Back, and It Never Got Much Play

Being imo a relatively modest sort, it took a bit of self-bracing to come around to where for blogs I was especially enamored of or felt had involved more work than usual, I would broadcast a pasted copy in a blind email to a list of twenty or so friends and acquaintances who I felt had a fair tolerance for my stuff. The list morphed more than a few times! I always included a link to the original actual blog post, and this approach did garner a few active readers over time.

I commend and admire you for your work in sharing your research and opinions and for taking this step to reach out. I have your blog on my link list now!

Best of luck.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

2. I had a blog, way back in the early 00s

It was moderately successful, with a few thousand regulars.

One tip I can give for getting more readers for a blog is to be a regular contributor to an already successful blog. After contributing for a while and building your reputation, you can then plug your own blog to let the other contributors know about its existence. Word of mouth can spread from there.

It also helps to get a link to your blog listed in the recommended or similar area of a successful blog. When someone does that for you, promote them right back--or promote them first and if they do the same for you, cool. If not, be patient for them to doing the same for you.

Cross-promotion of another blog shows that you're part of a larger community, and not just a taker. It gets you tons of credibility/respect points.

[qwlauren35]

3. That was EXTREMELY helpful.

Thank you.

I'll do some research and see what I come up with.

[NJCher]

4. Topic idea

Black hair.

I had an academic writing student who chose this as a topic. It was fascinating. I still have her paper. I kept a few that were spectacularly successful and this was one of them.

[NanaCat]

5. Some other tips that might help

I know blogs are 'write what's on your mind,' but the successful blogs tend to have a theme. Think of your blog as a wagon wheel, with a central core concept or subject you want to address, and then have everything tied back to that.

So if your focus is, say, the black political experience (or you could do music or art--whatever), then make sure what you post connects to that in some way. I'd have at least 75% of a blog covering topics related to black politics. This will help you establish a readily recognizable 'identity' in the blogosphere. People don't really like blogs that are all over the place because readers don't feel like they have anything to hang onto with that blog...and they don't feel like they get a handle on you and what you're about. They want the order, the 'shortcut' to seeing you.

Also, come up with a twist on 'Taco Tuesday.' I'm not saying have a Taco Tuesday, but have something you address on a particular day of the week. Music Monday where you talk about your favourite songs. Throwbuck Thursday covering a famous historical event that happened on that particular day. Things like that.

When you have a regular feature that's interesting, it will bring traffic *back* to you, to see what you come up with next. If you can make it super funny or provocative or outrageous in some way, they'll definitely be checking in every week, and probably telling their friends about it. 'This crazy person has a Sexy Saturday where she posts about a hot guy every week, with pictures!'

You don't have to be that silly and shallow; it's the idea I'm trying to convey of drawing traffic *back* to you, enough that you build a base of regular visitors. it's about not only getting their attention, but also keeping it.