Galactic Writer » 31Days

Pushing Your Blog Post Above The Noise

thom — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:00:45 +0000

You have to admit, with so many people blogging, millions of social network posts through Twitter and Facebook, it’s amazing anyone ever has time to read anything.

When you are at a social gathering, and there is a crowd of people, the volume rises as the number of people increase. Peoples voices get louder because they want to make sure they are heard. For some, the noise becomes unbearable and they leave the area, or for teenagers they put in their iPod ear buds.

Getting above the noise isn’t easy, but can be accomplished. Besides making sure your social network streams know you have a new blog post, making an RSS feed available; creating blog post titles that capture attention is going to be the key to being seen, heard, and then read.

If you can’t capture someone’s attention with your title, and you don’t deliver must read content every day, you’ll struggle to attract readers. And that’s what we want right?

I suggest you take as much coming up with a good title for your blog post as you do the post content. My second highest read post is one I wrote about using killer titles. Read it and let me know what you think here. What are some ways people can raise their blog posts above the noise?

5 Pages Every Writer Should Consider

thom — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 03:10:42 +0000

Today I wanted to share what I think are important parts of a writers website. Whether its a blog or a static site, I fell like these pages will give you the biggest return.

1. About Me One of the first things I look for when I visit a new site is an About Me page, especially if I’ve never met the person. Some things you may want to include are:

Personal background
Writing background
Accomplishments
Favorite things to do

Make it personal. Connect with the person reading. People want to relate.

2. Contact Me Give your visitors an easy way to contact you. Whether it’s a form they fill out, a simply email address, or phone number (or all of these), I think the most important piece is to have somewhere for the person to leave you a message.

3. My Books/Writings Give people a page they can see all of your writing. You can break it out into books, published articles, anthologies, poetry, what ever you are writing.

4. Writing Samples Give everyone a look at your style. It’s also a great option to have when someone wants you give them an example of your writing. If you write books, and have several published, create links for people actually buy your books. Yay! Make some money.

5. Tools One thing I really appreciate from a veteran writer is a list of tools that you have used, or you find useful. These can be software tools, writing tools, links to web sites, books to read, and other resource links. This can actually be an active part of your site if you update it regularly, and share what you find along the way.

6. Bonus: Blog Bonus page, is not really a page. But you should really have a blog. If you’re reading this blog post, you probably have a blog. If you don’t have a blog, let me know, I’d love to help you get started. It’s easier than you think. I believe its an invaluable resource and tool for every writer.

I need to incorporate 3, 4 and 5 better on this site. I have the pages, but they need a lot of work.

Thanks for taking time to read what I think are very important parts of a web site. Tell us what pages you think are important for writers to have in their web site.

The Galactic Writer Elevator Pitch

thom — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 04:32:06 +0000

Today starts a 31 day writing challenge from the ProBlogger Darren Rowse. I did this a few years ago, and one of the post, Writing Catchy Blog Titles, is my all time number two for traffic coming into my blog. To learn more or to get started, visit this link.

Today’s challenge is to crate an elevator pitch for your business, service or blog. Since this is a blog, not a business or service, my pitch isn’t going to entice you buy something, but rather keep coming back to read what I hope are funny, emotional and informative posts.

My elevator pitch for this blog is “Programmer by day, Writer by night. It’s my take on writing as a moonlight career.”

I originally started this blog to document my writing journey. I got caught up in a mountain of excuses why I stopped posting, and why I haven’t complete, or even finished, and of my prose writing.

It comes down to priorities. You have to look at them constantly, at least I do. Priorities change, and I need to change with them. Some times that means not writing, or taking pictures. But it doesn’t mean I have given up.

Honestly, I wish the writers in my area were as willing to share as the group of photographers I’ve come to know. Photowalking Utah, and the recent PhotoCamp, has really helped in building a great community. Maybe I should put on a Utah WritersCamp.

Back to the subject at hand, teh elevator pitch. Everyone should have an elevator pitch for their blog or business.