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Overheard on #Blogchat: CommentLuv (@womanonajourney)

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Do you participate in #blogchat? Every week, this weekly discussion on Twitter focuses on a specific topic and bloggers everywhere are invited to join in. Because I often have more to say than what will fit in 140 characters, every Sunday night (or Monday morning), I post about some of the most interesting #blogchat tweets. Join the conversation by commenting below.

(Still confused? Read more about #blogchat here.)

This Week’s Theme: Open Mic!

On open mic nights on #blogchat, there are always tons of topics covered. Here’s one of the tweets that I found interesting from the dozens of different conversations that happened over the course of the hour:

@womanonajourney: One way to encourage traffic, find blogs that use CommentLuv, it encourages visits to commentors.

When I first started blogging, one piece of advice that I got over and over and over again was that I needed to comment on other blogs. So I did, and ever though I felt that I was leaving valuable, interesting comments, I didn’t see much traffic from that work. About a year into blogging, after still continuously hearing about the importance of commenting on other blogs, I did a little experiment. Over the course of a month, I made it my goal to leave 25 comments per week, across random blogs – and I tracked my change in traffic.

After over 100 comments, my suspicions were confirmed. I got little traffic from my comments, even when left on blogs that got tons of traffic. I noticed in my own behavior too – even when I enjoyed someone’s comment, I would rarely click through to read the person’s blog.

CommentLuv has changed that. When I’m perusing comments on a post I like and the blogger has CommentLuv installed, headlines often catch my eye and convince me to click through. I’ve also noticed that when I comment on a blog that has CommentLuv installed, I do see a little traffic from that comment.

Honestly? Comments are never going to be a huge source of traffic. They might build your brand and help you form relationships with other bloggers, but if you want biggest traffic numbers, SEO, aggregation, guest posts, and other techniques are much more time effective than comments. Still, if you are looking for traffic from your comments, looking for CommentLuv is your best bet.

Have you noticed traffic from CommentLuv? Do you leave comments as a traffic-driving technique? Do you use CommentLuv on your own blog?

Thanks to @womanonajourney for a great conversation point on #blogchat!

Overheard on #Blogchat: Start a New Blog (@lizstrauss)

Author:

Do you participate in #blogchat? Every week, this weekly discussion on Twitter focuses on a specific topic and bloggers everywhere are invited to join in. Because I often have more to say than what will fit in 140 characters, every Sunday night (or Monday morning), I post about some of the most interesting #blogchat tweets. Join the conversation by commenting below.

(Still confused? Read more about #blogchat here.)

This Week’s Theme: How to Write for Multiple Blogs (w/ co-host Liz Strauss)

The topic of writing for multiple blogs is one near and dear to my heart, since, like this week’s co-host Liz Strauss, I also write for multiple blogs. When I’m not here at BlogWorld, I also blog on my own career nonsense blog, write for JobMonkey, and even run an anonymous blog. Oh, and I co-founded a video game blog, have previously worked at three different blogs for b5Media, and help Consumer Media Network with guest posting. You might say I’m addicted to blogging. I love it!

Anyway, I wasn’t able to be super active at #blogchat this week due to other responsibilities, but I wanted to make sure to make note of some of the wisdom coming from the mouth of Liz Strauss, who I consider to be one of the indisputable queens of the blogging world. Here’s one of the tweets I loved from tonight:

@lizstrauss: How can I tell when it is time to start a new blog? When you want to write to a new audience or write something new!

As someone who has written for a number of blogs over the years, Liz’s advice makes a lot of sense to me because I think people hold on to a single blog for too long sometimes. Often, it makes sense to have more than one blog.

The key phrase here is “new audience.” It’s kind of a no-brainer that you should probably start a new blog if you currently write about celebrities and also want to write about gardening. Sometimes, though, your topic doesn’t change much, but you’re not connecting with your audience because you’re trying to please too many people.

For example, let’s say you write about Twitter. Other bloggers who are learning to use Twitter have different needs than small business owners who are learning to use Twitter. There might be some overlap, but a lot of your content will be irrelevant to half of your readers if you’re trying to blog for both of these groups of people.

Instead, it might make sense to think about running two different blogs – Twitter for bloggers and Twitter for small business owners – or to just focus on a single group and continue running one blog. You’ll cut your audience in half, but you’ll be more relevant to every reader with every post – and that’s a good thing, much better than have a broad audience who only cares about half (or even less) of you content.

Of course, you do want to make sure that your blogs are very distinct. Just like you don’t want to be blogging about two different subjects at the same blog, you also don’t want to be sending readers to multiple locations to read your posts. If you’re going to run multiple blogs, they need to be distinctly different if not in niche, in audience/tone/content.

Starting a new blog is scary, but don’t be too afraid to consider it. Yes, running more than one blog is a lot of work, but it isn’t as daunting of a task as you may think to add another blog to the party. Proceed with caution – but proceed. Having a second blog if you’re passionate about sharing your thoughts and experience about a topic might be one of the best decisions you ever made.

And remember, you can always close a blog if you find it to be too much work or it is otherwise not working out…but until you try, you’ll never know!

This was a #blogchat that I was sad to miss. Here are some other great pieces of advice from Liz throughout the night that I wanted to highlight:

  • “Collect ideas at one sitting. Write at another. Start blog posts that are unfinished so you can pick them up later.”
  • “Invite folks who leave great comments to write on that subject for your blog.”
  • “Your authentic voice might reflect the audience. We speak differently for CEOs than for teachers or accountants.”
  • “Blog your experiences not just information. Tell what YOU found interesting about the topic.”
  • “We compete with 200 billion blogs for visibility. A clear niche is important. For 2+ blogs, defining the difference is crucial.”
  • “Information is everywhere. You are the difference. People read your blog for you. Be there!”

If you were at #blogchat, I’d love to know your favorite tweets from the night too, both from Liz and from other tweeters of the night!

Overheard on #Blogchat: The Formula for Success (@crafterminds)

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Do you participate in #blogchat? Every week, this weekly discussion on Twitter focuses on a specific topic and bloggers everywhere are invited to join in. Because I often have more to say than what will fit in 140 characters, every Sunday night (or Monday morning), I post about some of the most interesting #blogchat tweets. Join the conversation by commenting below.

(Still confused? Read more about #blogchat here.)

This Week’s Theme: Open Mic!

Open mic nights always spawn tons of different conversations, covering topics that range from building community to mobile blogging. This week was no different, but one of the tweets I found to be important to all bloggers was this one:

crafterminds: There is no one formula to blogging success. It’s different for everyone!

After a year and a half ago, I put on my serious face when it came to blogging. I had been blogging a long time for clients (doing just the writing part and a little promotion), but my own blogging ventures never really went anywhere because I didn’t know much about making a blog work from a business standpoint. So, I started to read other blogs about blogging with gusto, invest in online courses about blogging, and buy books covering topics like building traffic making more money.

It was frustrating. Many of the things other bloggers weren’t working for me. And then there were the matter of the conflicting information. The advice that popular bloggers were giving me didn’t always match up – but how could it all be right? Or was none of it right? Or…what…?

In other words, I was confused, and I wasn’t actually doing any better as a blogger than I was doing on my own.

So I threw it all out the window and started over. I did what I wanted to do. And what I realized was probably the most important thing I learned since I started this whole “learn about professional blogging” thing: You have to do what is right for your blog, regardless of what other bloggers tell you do.

I do realize that I’m saying this as someone who blogs about blogging advice here at BlogWorld. It’s not that I think that you shouldn’t listen to any advice. A lot of bloggers give really awesome advice. The key is to think critically. I’ve said it before here in other posts, but it is worth repeating over and over. Don’t just blindly follow advice because someone you respect is giving it out. No piece of advice will be perfect for every single blogger out there.

And think about it – when is the last time someone became a truly great blogger by following the advice of other people?

Thanks, @crafterminds, for the reminder how important it is to really think about the advice we take.

Overheard on #Blogchat: Blogging as a Fun Business (@justicewordlaw)

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Do you participate in #blogchat? Every week, this weekly discussion on Twitter focuses on a specific topic and bloggers everywhere are invited to join in. Because I often have more to say than what will fit in 140 characters, every Sunday night (or Monday morning), I post about some of the most interesting #blogchat tweets. Join the conversation by commenting below.

(Still confused? Read more about #blogchat here.)

This Week’s Theme: Open Mic!

When there’s an open mic night at #blogchat, the conversation often hits on a huge array of topics. Before I had to leave this week, I think this one summed up exactly how I feel about blogging:

@justicewordlaw: I treat my blog like a business but a very fun one

We spend a lot of time strategically planning out every blogging move. How can we find new readers? How can we get readers to subscribe? How can we optimize for search engines? How can we make more money. Strategy after strategy after strategy…

It’s easy to lose sight of why we blog in the first place. We wanted to get out of the rat race! No matter what your niche, you don’t blog because you want to hate your job. We start blogging so that we can work for ourselves, have a flexible schedule, love what we do, follow our passions. We blog because we love it.

Sometimes, we get so caught up in treating our blogs like businesses that we forget that this should be fun too! I think it’s important for every blogger to love what they do, and you don’t have to compromise that to make money. In fact, from what I’ve see, the bloggers who love what they do, who have the most fun with their businesses, are the bloggers making the most money.

Thank you, @justicewordlaw and #blogchat for reminding me how important it is to enjoy your blog business!

#Blogchat, Social Causes, and Responsibility (part 2)

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In the middle of writing about this topic, I realized that the post was MASSIVE, so I decided to break it into two parts. You can head to Part 1 to read about cause fatigue and branding in relation to using new media and blogs to promote social causes. In this part, I want to talk about hypocrisy and responsibility.

As I’ve noted on the first post, I do realize that this is a highly emotional topic and not everyone agrees with me. In fact, my opinion does not necessarily reflect the opinions of any other members of the BlogWorld team or BlogWorld as a whole. I welcome comments on this topic, even if you don’t agree with me, because I think there is merit to many facets of this topic.

Hypocrisy

How many people retweeted a link to some social cause out there? Almost all of us have at some point or another. Now, how many people have actually donated? That number will likely be much smaller. Does that mean that we’re a society of hypocrites? Maybe…but not necessarily.

We all have our causes, causes that are close to our hearts. For me, it’s TWLOHA, an organization that helps people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicidal thoughts. When I have extra money to donate somewhere, that’s where it goes 99 percent of the time. That doesn’t mean that I don’t care about other causes. There are some great charities out there. Even if they are causes close to my heart, I can definitely appreciate movements like #sxswcares, for example.

So, I pass on the link, just once, to followers who might be interested. I don’t want to get to the point where I hit cause fatigue for my followers, so unless I’m passionate about the cause, I don’t send multiple tweets about it. But I don’t think I’m a hypocrite for passing on the link even if I don’t donate myself. One of my followers might be passionate about the cause and wouldn’t otherwise know where to donate. (I’d like to note that I do think that if you want to support a cause, you at least need to explain it by passing on a link. I talked about the whole “changing your avatar” thing before – it doesn’t make sense to me to follow a trend without actually being vocal about the cause.)

Responsibility

I personally grapple most with the concept of a responsibility to use social media or your blog to promote causes. On one hand, if you’re someone who carries some kind of clout on Twitter or Facebook or wherever, it seems like the least you can do to promote a good cause. On the other hand, why should anyone be responsible for anyone else? It’s a very Ayn Rand way of thinking, and I’m definitely not her hugest fan…but this is a concept that definitely makes sense to me. I work hard for my money and I don’t like being guilted into thinking that I have to give it away to those less fortunate.

Not that there’s not something to be said for karma. Whether or not you believe in karmic forces, I think we can all agree that it’s a pretty scummy thing to rely on the charity of others when you’re dealing with a tough time in life, but then refuse to contribute to others when you’re in a position to do so. I’m just suggesting that it is okay to keep the money you make or spend it on yourself and your family. I don’t believe that anyone has a responsibility to donate to charity or even promote a cause, no matter how influential they are. Choosing to do so (or not) does not dictate whether or not you are a good person and it definitely does not dictate whether or not you do anything of value.

In other words, whether or not someone donates to charity does not tell me much about how good they are at their job. At the same time (I told you, I grapple with this issue), I like giving my money to someone who is a philanthropist, since it means that some of the profits they made from me will go toward something good in the world. So, even if we don’t have a responsibility per se, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good business decision.

Which brings me back to the “profiting from tragedy” issue. If you’re only donating because you want to look good to your fans, is that a bad thing?

Maybe…but does the charity really care? A dollar is a dollar, whether you gave it just to feel good about yourself and didn’t even tell your followers or you gave it to help build your brand in some way.

Is there an easy way to wrap up these two posts? I don’t know. I struggle with how to best use my new media accounts and the small amount of online influence that I have. I like how it make me feel to promote great causes, but I always want to make good business decisions and use my money wisely. One thing is certain – I do not like how so many people lump others into groups when it comes to causes. The “if you don’t donate, you’re a bad person” argument doesn’t sit well with me. Nor does that “the least you can do is promote this cause” argument. We all have our reasons for supporting or not supporting causes, and it usually isn’t black and white.

#Blogchat, Social Causes, and Responsibility (part 1)

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On Sunday nights or Monday mornings, I usually post “Overheard on #Blogchat,” a weekly feature that pulls some of the best tweets from a popular Twitter chat where people share blog tips. This week, I wanted to do a special edition of Overheard on #Blogchat because I have more to say than usual…and some questions that are not easily answered and require all of us to do a little soul-searching.

Also, before talking about this topic more, I wanted to make something exceedingly clear: My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of anyone else working for BlogWorld Expo or BlogWorld Expo as a whole. One of the awesome things about Rick and Dave (the duo behind BlogWorld) is that they encourage people writing here to voice varying opinions. People on the BlogWorld team often disagree, and I think that’s awesome. The BlogWorld blog also loves posting guest posts from people who don’t always agree with the opinions of writers here – and I’d definitely love your comments on this topic whether or agree or not!

Last night, the theme of #blogchat was using your blog and social media accounts to do good. With the recent natural disasters and nuclear meltdown in Japan, there have been pushes across Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and more to donate to the Red Cross or other organizations. One of our own, Deb Ng, got heavily involved with fundraising efforts at SxSW, and what they did was nothing short of amazing (I think totals are over $100,000 raised at this point). This isn’t the first time we’ve seen people come together on social media sites to promote donating money or use their blogs, even in unrelated niches, as a way to filter news and pass on relevant links.

I struggle with this concept, though, using blogs and social media to promote causes so others donate money. Part of me thinks it’s great. Another part of me thinks that it is problematic at best.

Cause Fatigue

At any given time, there’s some tragedy somewhere that needs help. Whether it’s a one-time disastrous event (like what happened in Japan) or a cause like breast cancer or autism, there’s always a hashtag for you to learn more about a cause that’s close to someone’s heart. There are just not enough hours in the day to promote everything, and there are definitely not enough dollars in my bank account to send money to everyone.

But I think a more important problem is that it starts to become white noise to your followers. People (hopefully) follow you because they are interested in your blog, your projects, your life, and while promoting a cause occasionally can easily fit into that, if you promote every cause out there, you start to lose relevance to your fans and readers. I’ve unfollowed people in the past because it seemed like all they did was hit me up for me (albeit, for causes, but it’s still someone asking for money all the time without providing much value).

Causes and Branding

I’ve seen a lot of people complaining about companies using a tragedy to promote a brand, to somehow profit off of the situation. The idea that someone is making money from what’s happening in Japan right now creates a knee-jerk feeling of disgust for me, and I bet it does for you too. But thinking critically, looking at the bigger picture, just because something bad happens in the world doesn’t mean that your business should stop. It’s ok to consider your brand in this context, in my opinion.

Here’s an example of what I mean: Let’s say that you’re a day care facility. One month, two high school groups approach you at the same time asking for money. The first group asks for $100 to support the local food bank. The second group asks for $100 to go toward renovating your community’s children’s library. As a small business owner, you only have enough money to give to one group – which do you choose?

Clearly, the library project fits more closely with your brand. Both are excellent causes, but one just fits more with what you’re doing. If you were a restaurant, it would make more sense to donate to the food bank.

Or, let’s say that you’re a hair salon and two high schools groups approach you with these requests for me. Except with Group B, you’d get your name on a plaque at the library if you donate. It just makes more sense to go with that cause. You’re technically “profiting” from the situation, but you’re not a bad person. You just haven’t turned your business mind off for the sake of a cause or tragedy. That’s different than saying that you’re collecting donations for a cause but actually pocketing most of the money for yourself. Yet, so many people don’t really draw a line in the sand between the two. If you profit or consider your brand in any way, you’re automatically bad – something I think is a problem.

Head to Part 2 to read more. (This post was just getting too massive to be a single post!)

Overheard on #Blogchat: Share People Stories (@ScLoHo)

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Do you participate in #blogchat? Every week, this weekly discussion on Twitter focuses on a specific topic and bloggers everywhere are invited to join in. Because I often have more to say than what will fit in 140 characters, every Sunday night (or Monday morning), I post about some of the most interesting #blogchat tweets. Join the conversation by commenting below.

(Still confused? Read more about #blogchat here.)

This Week’s Theme: What company blogs can learn from personal bloggers with @1680PR

This week, #blogchat was held LIVE at SXSW. Sad face that I couldn’t go, but happy face that there was still normal #blogchat at night for those of us stuck at home! Actually, I was so busy apartment-hunting that I didn’t get to the online version either, but moderator and host Mack Collier is nice enough to link to the transcript every week, so I was still able to pick out some awesome points to share with you all!

One that stood out to me just a few minutes into the chat:

@ScLoHo: Every business has people. Share people stories on your business blog

Business blogs are too often outlets for company press releases and nothing else. Think about your favorite brands in the world. I like Hershey’s chocolate. I like Gain laundry detergent. I like Dell computers (don’t judge me, that’s a debate for another day, haha). But really, I don’t like any of those companies enough to read announcements about their products every day – or worse, multiple times per day. It’s sometimes nice to know big changes that are coming, but I don’t need constant content that is little more than ads for your brand.

Corporate bloggers, write this down and post it by your computer: A blog is not a commercial.

Adding personality to your corporate blog is, in my opinion, the only way to go. But if you’re a major brand (like Hershey or Gain or Dell), doing that can be tricky, since you have a corporation to represent (not just yourself) and since you’re probably one of several people working on posts. Even as a small business owner, it can be tough to know how to go about adding personality to your blog.

That’s what I love so much about @ScLoHo’s tweet. Telling stories is something I do regularly on my own blog, After Graduation, and companies can definitely learn to do that as well.

  • Share the story of how the company was founded and how the business owners helped it evolve into what it is today.
  • Share awesome stories from people who work at your company. Feature everyone from board members to factory workers. Feel-good stories that fit your brand well are interesting and help promote your products.
  • Share stories from your customers. Not only are you promoting your brand, but you’re starting to build a community by getting your readers involved.

I think that personal bloggers can take some value away from this idea as well. Don’t be afraid to share your story and the stories of readers if they are relevant to your topic. It’s one of the most basic ways we can connect as human beings. Between the press releases, some human interest stories go a long way for corporate blogs, and for personal bloggers, this is a way to spice up your content, doing something different and interesting for your readers.

Overheard on #Blogchat: Have Something to Say (@CC_Chapman)

Author:

Do you participate in #blogchat? Every week, this weekly discussion on Twitter focuses on a specific topic and bloggers everywhere are invited to join in. Because I often have more to say than what will fit in 140 characters, every Sunday night (or Monday morning), I post about some of the most interesting #blogchat tweets. Join the conversation by commenting below.

(Still confused? Read more about #blogchat here.)

This Week’s Theme: Creating Engaging Content (w/ special guests @MarketingProfs & @CC_Chapman)

To kick off this week’s Overheard on #Blogchat post, I wanted to highlight what I think was one of the best tweets of the night, straight from the mouth (or fingertips I guess) of one of the special guest hosts:

@cc_chapman: My best blog writing advice? Only write when you have something to say.

No matter what your niche, there is certain information your readers need. Sometimes, it’s basic 101-level information. Sometimes it’s a news story that affects the lives of your readers. Sometimes it’s an update on a post you did in the past. For most bloggers, not every post is going to be super entertaining, something that’s going to win an award. And that’s ok. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be an amazing post.

Why do your readers come to your blog? That’s an easy one: They want to get their information from you. If you don’t have a voice, what’s the point? Depending on the tone of your blog and your niche, for some people, the information needs to come first and the personality needs to come second, but if what you’re posting could easily go on anyone’s blog under any name, maybe it’s time to rethink your approach.

After all, this is blogging, not encyclopedia creation. If I want a straight news story, I go to one of the major news outlets. I go to blogs because I want to know what those bloggers have to say.

  • Lots of bloggers reported on the iPad 2 announcement…but did you just state the fact (which can easily be found everywhere), or did you tell your readers why you do or do not want to buy it?
  • Lots of bloggers talk about writing great headlines, but do you present the headlines tips in a fun, new, or interesting way?
  • Lots of bloggers live blog events, but do you give your readers a typical bullet-point rundown or do something original?

It’s not about being quirky or off-the-wall. It’s just about being you. A news story isn’t you. Give it a voice! And if you aren’t inspired to do that every single day, maybe you don’t need to post every day. It’s better to have one amazing post per week than it is to have 10 so-so posts per week.

After all, it only takes one. One good post will create a reader who hits the subscribe or bookmark button…but more importantly, one bad post or boring post will create a sense of urgency to hit the back button, and even if your next post is amazing, they likely won’t be back to read it.

Overheard on #Blogchat: Blogging is Hard (@griner)

Author:

Do you participate in #blogchat? Every week, this weekly discussion on Twitter focuses on a specific topic and bloggers everywhere are invited to join in. Because I often have more to say than what will fit in 140 characters, every Sunday night (or Monday morning), I post about some of the most interesting #blogchat tweets. Join the conversation by commenting below.

(Still confused? Read more about #blogchat here.)

This Week’s Theme: Blogs versus Facebook Pages for Businesses

I love the fact that this week’s #blogchat wasn’t purely for established bloggers – it was for small business owners as well. The topic, in my opinion, lent itself well to some awesome debate, since you could make a case for blogging or for using just Facebook – or for the need to do both as a small business. This week, @griner (David Griner) was the co-host, so I wanted to highlight something interesting her said:

griner: Bloggers need a reality check: What they do is hard. And doing it in corp. bureaucracy is far harder.

Most of the people participating in #blogchat are bloggers, so a lot of the advice being thrown out there was stuff about how you need both Facebook and a blog to succeed, how you can leverage one to increase the popularity of another, and so forth. But let’s not forget that the vast majority of pages on Facebook aren’t for blogs are all. They’re for brands.

And, at least in my opinion, not every brand needs a blog. What David says makes a lot of sense – blogging is super hard. It takes a lot of time, and for a business, that time might be better spent on another promotional tool. I love blogging. I really do. But your business might not need one.

Here’s the thing – if you own a small business, what would your goals be with a blog? There are some corporate blogs that are awesome. They give updates on the company, they teach their consumers something relating to the niche, or they otherwise give the business a unique way to interact. There are some really bad corporate blogs, too. They are updating infrequently because there is little to announce, they serve mainly as a promotional tool without giving away any value, and they are otherwise uninteresting. Sometimes, blogs can hurt your brand.

Facebook, on the other hand, gives you a way to make quick announcements and interact with your fanbase without having to commit to writing blog posts regularly and do all the promotional work that comes along with building blog traffic. For example, let’s say you run a small photography studio. Sure, you could start a blog that gives photography tips or makes camera recommendations, but is that kind of thing really going to bring you more business? Probably not, especially since you have a local customer pool. On the other hand, if you have a Facebook page, you could use that page to post pictures, announce upcoming specials, highlight special services you might have, and more. As fans like your stuff and interact with you on Facebook, their friends will see that activity and could decide to check you out, and there’s a higher chance that these new people coming to your page will be local. That could very easily spiral outward to bring in new business.

Of course, if you want to start a photography blog because you have interesting ideas you want to share with the world or want to run an online business through your blog, go for it! I’m not trying to suggest that small businesses shouldn’t have blogs. It can definitely work in some cases.

Just don’t feel forced into it. Sometimes, social media is really the best route to help promote your products or services.

Overheard on #Blogchat: The Late Edition

Author:

Do you participate in #blogchat? Every week, this weekly discussion on Twitter focuses on a specific topic and bloggers everywhere are invited to join in. Because I often have more to say than what will fit in 140 characters, every Sunday night (or Monday morning), I post about some of the most interesting #blogchat tweets. Join the conversation by commenting below.

(Still confused? Read more about #blogchat here.)

I’m running late with Overheard on #Blogchat this week for two reasons: 1) my email exploded for some reason and I woke up to ten times the usual emails I receive this morning and a bunch demanded immediate replies and 2) woah mama was there some excellent chatting going on last night! I think maybe it was because it was a “slow week” relatively since so many people were watching the Super Bowl instead.

So instead of my usual #blogchat post, where I give you one quote and my opinions about it, I’m going to instead copy and paste a bunch of awesome pieces of advice and some quick notes. Check out these people on Twitter, leave your own comments about these tweets, and please, please, please join us next week!!

Without further ado, some awesome advice from #blogchat:

HoodedMan: I post about ten times a month, if I’m up to it and have something to say, quality before quantity, of course

I think it’s great advice to focus on quality, to always have something to say. Be consistent, but you don’ t have to post every single day to have an awesome blog.

amndaann: I’ve started putting opinion on my blog, instead of staying objective as a result of reader feedback

This is awesome advice. Whether you’re adding opinion, stories, or some other personal touch, having an 100% objective blog doesn’t work in most cases because readers can get information anywhere. If I want to learn…for example…how to program my TV remote, I’ll search on Google and head to the top resource. If your blog is informative, awesome. Thanks for the information, but I’ll never be back. If you’re informative PLUS entertaining in some way, I’ll likely click around to read some more posts and maybe even subscribe.

thetrudz: I keep a running list of things I may be interested in writing. As soon as idea pops in my head it goes in Apple Notes.

Key point: WRITE THINGS DOWN. If you don’t, you’re going to forget. Also, realize that although you might be passionate about a topic at the moment, you don’t have to write about it right now. If you typically post twice a week and just recently updated, save that great idea for later or schedule the post to go up later so that you stay consistent.

_ChelleShock: niche can also be the audience you speak to, not just what you talk about.

LOVE this tweet. It might be my favorite of the night actually. Niche is important, but it goes beyond the topic of your blog.

CatsEyeWriter: I publish one quality guest post a week right now. Make sure it’s outstanding, because your reputation depends on it.

Good point – just because you didn’t write it doesn’t mean that your readers won’t hold you responsible. Once, someone sent a guest post to me that was loosely related to my blog, but not really in my style or super relevant to readers. I said no thank you, and he got upset, saying he doesn’t understand why because it can only help me, not hurt. That’s where he was wrong – a crap guest post (or even a well-written guest post that doesn’t fit your niche or style) can definintely hurt your brand.

bobbyrettew: Found lots of success with certain posts on my Business Facebook page and *SOMETIMES* on personal Facebook page. Depends on topic

That’s important because, after all, Facebook is about connecting with friends, not about pitching crap. You can have a page for promotion, but you’re going to lose real-life friends if your personal page is all about promotion too.

TodaysWomanCo: Remember to be sure and check the licensing on any photo or image you wish to use before using it on your blog.

Seriously, don’t steal pictures from Flickr or other sources. There are tons of places to find free imagines to use legitimately!

ActiveIngreds: dont forget, you set your own standards for your blog

Yes, yes, a million times yes. It’s your blog. You don’t have to take anyone’s advice, not even mine, if you don’t think it will work for your blog. This is a brand new industry, relatively speaking, so it is evolving quickly and different things are working for different people.

On that note, I’ll end this post – but you should check out the full transcript and join us next week for some great chatting!

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