11 Ways to Add to the Conversation of the Blogosphere and Stand Out from the Crowd

Thanks Darren for those 11 nice tricks of trade to add to the conversation. I really liked your last point “What if” because it is so really helpful in extending idea. I once read about this same technique used by Mary Higgins Clark earlier in her literary career. Posing as devil’s advocate is another approach I liked. It actually creates contrast views and gives something different to the readers.

Great post! cheers!

Playing the devils advocate is an interesting idea (taking a side you may not necessarily agree with), but this could allow for your work to be taken out of context.

What are some ways you could play the devils advocate while still make your true opinion come through in the copy?

I agree with you. Whenever we update our blog we should try to add humor so that our blog reader enjoy our article.

Thanks for this post Darren, I think this really works for me since I have a unique niche and point of view on my topic.

Great tips! I’d also like to add that friends and acquaintances actually get to see you in a whole different light altogether when the tips are put into action. Personalization can add a whole different perspective. :)

Hi guys,

I must say that I enjoyed watching the video. Thanks for sharing.

Kind regards,

Sam
X

Great tips. So many bloggers blogging these days and they all pretty much the same thing. Personalize is a good tip as blogging is and should be personal. Blogging is a way to express your thoughts, share experience about a certain topic.
Creating a debate…it could get messy though…as long as people are mature and agree to disagree.

Bingo. The valueless chatter polluting the stream from the echo chamber is driving me crazy. In this new “social” world we live in honest and unique contributions to any conversation is desired and paramount to our growth as a society. Let’s challenge each other to expand our thoughts on a topic. Let’s extend the value of a popular news story by offering an alternative angle. Let’s question each others positions by adding new context to an established story. We are all connected. We share this moment in time. We control our era’s contribution to mankind.

Thanks for the tip, I can definitely use the advice since I often find myself rewriting other people’s posts or re-reporting news…

thanks for the tip may bloggers be put to ease

Thanks for those tips Darren. I found you via web pro news. Your expert advice was very clear and motivating and I hope to utilize these in my future blogs

I have watched the video and its really great the way you have stated about the addding conversation of the blogosphere. This really stands different from the crowd.

As usual, outstanding stuff!

Thanks for the golden nuggets of info

Great videos

John

Thanks for those tips Darren. I found you via web pro news. Your expert advice was very clear and motivating and I hope to utilize these in my future blogs

Newspapers and their sites are the main source of new news. Sounds obvious, but they have resources to go out and get news, sit in courtrooms. Most of the stuff that bloggers write about is basically just a rehashing of that news.

Obviously, and many have said this here, content is king. This obviously goes beyond any media source when you happen on an informational blog. The key is to write your blog in a manner that is factual and interesting. Plain and simple. Give back instead of writing a blinking bill board.

One of the things that I do on my blog about publid speaking is to show a video of a speech and then break it down in great detail, talking about the things that I liked and the ways in which it could be improved. These posts always get good response.

Great post! I am trying to start a blog and I look at a lot of related blogs that kind of rehash the same topics. I was wondering what would be good to post that was both my own and relevant. One tough thing is my industry isn’t really all that sexy. This will help me take other blogs add to them and hopefully add a new perspective to my posts. Thanks!

Excellent post!

I’m a real newbie to blogging and the information you provide really cuts to the chase. Well done.

To add my 2 cents worth (LOL), I’d suggest including the 11 ways in the written section of the post so that we can cut and paste them into our checklists, and thereby have a better chance of implementing them.

index it http://www.tehnics.co.cc/

Thanks! : )

I was following this advice before it was even given. To be honest I really don’t follow the “Blogosphere” or add to the ecochamber as you eloquently put it.

Still, it was some great advice. I didn’t even realize that other bloggers did this.

Thanks Darren, very well said.

I’m still learning along the way with regards to blogging but hopeully picking up the crumbs here and there.

This grabbed my attention because I am 1 week into starting a new blog about the user experience of blogging and blogs.

I want my own blog to be great for readers to read so it will help me with my own goals of achieving a better result in my research project, and I’d love that to be a result of creating a place where the discussion and debate will be mutually beneficial. What you give, you get back. Harmony.

I would love it if readers of my blog were inspired, got new ideas, were engaged, because they’d be involved in a discussion about a topic which I believe is the fundamentally most crucial thing to any business and product: the user experience.

This is all about how you can stand out from the crowd and make yourself heard by improving the user experience of your blog. I’m a postgrad student studing computing interaction design, and my thesis is about the user experience of blogging and blogs.

I have so many questions about this topic – and my research project will only investigate one niche aspect of this. Blogging helps me to answer questions for the project, but also satisfy my own curiosity.

The user experience of blogging has been extended by the developments in mobile blogging – and the developments in mobile technologies such as the iPhone has enriched this experience. It’s all so much fun and it’s all moving so fast, it’s like being 11 years old again and back on the ride at Six Flags.

Now I’m thinking What will the user experience of blogging on the iPad be?

To add to ’11 ways to add to the conversation of the blogosphere and stand out from the crowd’ – usability and user experience are critical for any blogger to achieve these goals:

12. Write the best copy you can – make sure the language reflects the lingo of your readers – if they prefer formal language then that will be better understood, if they prefer informal then that will be better understood – you don’t have to compromise your style to keep your readers engaged.I am not claiming I am the best copy writer – I think I write too much – but for more tips http://www.copyblogger.com/ is useful.

13: Make sure your readers can find your post in your blog and on the Internet – tag, categorise, consider the URL of the post – post your post and then see how your readers could find it. Make it easy.

14. Make sure your readers can contribute to the discussion – go through the steps they’d have to go through to comment on your blog – if you find it difficult, they will. Make it easy.

14. Make sure that by reading your post your readers will be helped, informed, it will spark new ideas, it will make them think about a topic that already interests them, or they’re entertained.

15. Stand out from the crowd by having a Blog where you’ve thought about the motivations of your readers – I don’t mean change your argument – I do mean write for an audience you have in mind.

16. Bear in mind basic blog usability rules – get your friends and family to read your blog and honestly look at what they’re doing – if they struggle then you know what you can fix to improve Weblog Usability. A great post is the The Top Ten Design Mistakes by Jakob Nielsen at http://www.useit.com/alertbox/weblogs.html

The future of blogging will be where we can all publish content as we wish, for it to be found as we wish, and where our content will look how we want it to look and engage our readers.

I don’t think we’re there yet, because at the moment the user experience of blogging is being dominated by the need to be found by search engines (SEO). Fair enough – I have the same desire for my own baby blog to be discovered – but then once readers have found your blog, you want to grab their attention, keep them intersted, feel they are being listened to and can take part in any discussion in your blog, and have a desire to take part and then know how to do that.

This comes down to Marketing Communications models like AIDA – and has worked in all forms of communications for marketing professionals – blogging is no different, it’s just a different channel.

Things like the iPad will help to enrich this experience by enabling users to achieve their goals of blogging when they want to blog, how they want blog, how they want to express themselves. Although the device, like the iPad, influences the user experience, I believe the goals of the blogger definitely do – and you have it in your power to make a difference – whether your users find you on an iPhone, iPad, or ThinkPad.

What if there was no consideration of the user and it was always about getting found on Google? What would happen to Blogging then?

Every one of us has fallen for that at least once and the reason is that we believe that just reporting the news is enough. However, i agree with you Darren, you have to approach things from an angle.