Some Simple Tips On Blogging – For GeishaBabies

Tweet Had a chat with Kazumi, part of a group of Japanese girls new to blogging, who makes up GeishaBabies. She asked for some advice on blogging. Thanks for thinking I’m a “pro” Kazumi but I just do this as a hobby and hope what I share here is interesting and helpful.

Kazumi of GeishBabies

I started sharing in 1996 with Out, Loud & Proud, a website to give hope and strength to gay people struggling with coming out. When I started blogging in 2003, I was doing it for myself and I belonged to LiveJournal. It was a social-network style blog where friends followed each other to keep in touch. After 6 years, I’ve decided to move out of LiveJournal because I’ve decide to share in a different way. My posts are now more focused around the areas of being gay, working in the advertising & marketing industry, healthcare and growing older.

Here are some things I shared:

1) Objective
A clear reason for blogging will help focus your posts and what you share.

Some blogs are very focus in their topics like nature photography, scuba-diving, digital marketing or cooking. Other blogs are more personal in nature so the posts range from personal updates to opinions of the blogger about various topics.

Personal blogs attract a very different following consisting of friends and people who identify with you. More topical blogs will attract people who are interested in your topic if you share things that are interesting and useful.

Once you decide on an objective, it’ll be clear to readers what they can expect when they visit your blog.

2) Share
Share what you know, your experiences, your knowledge, your point of view and whatever else you think might be interesting to your readers.

For personal blogs, the sharings tend to be more personal whereas topical blogs tend to be focused on your experiences, opinions as well as tools, tips & guides on the topic.

If you have something unique to share, like tips and guides to help other trendy young Japanese women settle down and live an exciting life in Asia, of if you can share what’s hip and happening in Japan with your Asian friends, that could make your blog really interesting to follow.

3) Read & Participate
Being part of a HUGE blogging community, reading other blogs will teach you many new and interesting things too. Different bloggers have different ways of sharing so there’s much to read and learn.

Participate by leaving comments or referring people via Twitter or your blog to interesting blog posts. You know what it feels like to get a positive comment so when you like something, do not be shy to let the blogger know.

4) Let People Know
Don’t be shy about letting all your friends know you’ve posted a new entry. Share it on Facebook, Twitter, or when you talk to friends. If they like your post, they’ll refer it to their friends and what you share will reach more people.

5) Tools / Widgets / Gadgets
Use tools like Google Analytics on Blogger or Blog Stats on WordPress to track visitors, page-views and other traffic details. That will help you know which kinds of subjects and posts are most popular.

Add Widgets / Gadgets like:
- twitter to your blog so your visitors can find out more about what you are doing
- poll to ask your visitors simple questions to find out what they think

There are many more to add and its usually very easy to do so. Don’t be afraid to try things. Instructions provided are usually easy and if you run into problems, you can always ask your blogger friends for help.

6) Don’t Be Disheartened
Building up a following and getting comments does take time so be patient. Honesty, sincerity and having your own “voice” when you blog will attract visitors so continue to share and you should see visitors increasing. Once they are comfortable and familiar with you, some may start commenting.

When you get comments, you may get a few negative one. Don’t let that upset you too much. The easiest thing to do is to criticize, especially online. So long as your posts are honest, sincere and truthful, don’t let negative comments discourage you from blogging.

There are lessons to be learnt from all comments so look at the positive lesson and move forward telling yourself you will do better.

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Hope these simple tips help you get started and I’m looking forward to reading more of GeishaBabies.