Today I want to introduce the first Female Blogger Blog Site Feature.
There are many sites out there that I enjoy for various reasons. And some of those have been included in interviews. One has not but I have a commitment for one and will hold her to it, but as a writer not a blogger.
This lady finds and shares the best writing advice from the best there is out there. She also gives her own advice from her own experience. I admire her. I enjoy calling her friend. She makes a smile cross my face every time I see her name because she is just such a nice and sweet lady.
Another reason? For all of you NanoWrimo people she has great articles for that as well. Just click that link.
Everyone go and follow her blog today as soon as you read this. You will not regret the advice you will get on writing. And follow her on Twitter as well @JensPenDen.
(Just so everyone knows . . . I made the gif below and I think it might actually annoy her a bit so don’t mention it. I call it the Jenna Kent to SuperWriter look. And don’t laugh, one of you is next.)
A partial from Jenna’s About Jen Page:
“I write because I must. It’s not a choice or a pastime, it’s an unyielding calling and my passion.” -Elizabeth Reyes
Jenna Willett is a native of Denver, Colorado. Currently, she’s working as a Lead Copywriter for a Denver ad agency, while pursuing her ultimate dream as a traditionally published author. In 2011, she optioned one of her young adult manuscripts to Envision Media Arts, a film, television and commercial production company based at Paramount Studios. She also enjoys writing the occasional short story or flash fiction piece (Jen’s Pen).
Female Focus Fridays: Female Bloggers I Met This Week
Here are some people that we followed each other on Twitter and/or WordPress. They all have WordPress blogs and I follow them all. I me each one this week and wanted to share them with you. There are more I am sure but these are the most recent. This will become a regular Feature on Fridays. Enjoy!
“At first I had many ideas, plans for my blog. I wanted to write about everything: fashion, makeup, fitness, healthy eating, recipes…But I had no way or opportunity to write about these things. Because I am really obsessed living and eating healthy, I decided to write about that.”-From Rossye’s Post “What having a blog means to me“. @rossyepetrova
Y’all know I love young people, and I love to encourage. Definitely encourage this young lady by following her blog. She really seems to have the enthusiasm and desire.
“My story begins somewhere between “sweet dreams” and “happily ever afters.” I’m a hopeless romantic who wears her heart on her sleeve as my favorite accessory. I’ve been told it’s my biggest strength, and my biggest weakness. I believe in love so fiercely that sometimes I force it more in my head than in my heart. So follow me along my single journey – whether personal or international. Now I am just a girl out looking for love and adventure. A girl who likes peppermint coffees, rainy days, rooftop bars and good reads. A girl who realized her strength only after being broken. Ready to take on the world with me?”-From Sonya’s About page. @SingleStrides
I like the attitude and spirit of this blog, the person behind it. The story of course hits me close with the hear to n the sleeve.
“Natacha Guyot is a French independent researcher, writer and public speaker. She holds two Master’s degrees: Film and Media Studies (Paris III Sorbonne Nouvelle) and Digital Culture and Technology (King’s College London).
What will you find on this blog?
Discussions: Science Fiction, Feminism, Diversity, Children Media, Online Communities, Transmedia.
Reviews: Books, Movies, TV shows, video games.
Status Reports: Bits and pieces about her works in progress.
Fannish Content: Graphic and Vidding creations.“-From Natacha’s About page. @natachaguyot
I loved this site and person the moment I clicked. I like to follow a site that is different for me and science fiction is really something I haven’t found much of so far. I am really looking forward to this. And of course the intelligence of a blogger always hooks me in deep.
“Born and raised in Scotland, I acquired a Bachelor of Arts degree from an Edinburgh University before jumping head first into motherhood, and then moving to sunny Australia.
After five years upside down in Aussie land fighting dangerous spiders and facing off cyclones, my young family and I headed back to the relative calm of the frozen north. Although, I do wonder what I will do with myself.“-From Alana’s About page. @AMauthor
I have to add more here. There is just too much to to Alana and what she does to limit it to just a few blurbs. Go to her About page by clicking her name and just see. She even runs a writing community.
“I’m a writer, translator (English-Spanish and vice versa) and a forensic psychiatrist. I was born in Barcelona and moved to the UK in 1992 to train in psychiatry. After a few years I decided to go back to full time education and completed a BA in American Literature at Sussex University (it included a year in Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts, and a PhD on ‘the Films of David Mamet’. As I never tired studying I also did an MSc (Distance Learning) in Criminology and Criminal Justice (Leicester University). Now decided to try and focus on writing, translating and exploring interesting stuff.“-From Olga’s About page. @OlgaNM7
Fascinating! That is the word that came to mind when I first read Olga’s bio. Intelligence, talent, and a spirit all in one. Fascinating!
“THIS BLOG ISN’T ABOUT FASHION. THIS ISN’T ABOUT FOOD. OR TRAVEL. THIS IS ABOUT ME ^^ AND ALL THE THINGS I LOVE… WHICH ARE FASHION, FOOD, TRAVEL. i’m a writer and post a lot of short stories, haibun and fun poetry in my own free style 🙂 that’s fresh hot off the oven fiction, so feel free to read on 😉 i also post haiku daily ^^. ( update: i now post my micropoetry and haiku only on twitter. check me out @ https://twitter.com/kzmorano“-From KZ’s About page.
What hooked me was her book of short stories each consisting of no more than 100 words.
Hi everyone. If you have a book published either with a company or self let me know. If you have Twitter I will add you to a WordPress Author List I am putting together. If you don’t have Twitter still tell me, I would like to keep track of people for possible interviews and such.
I actually have a new interview format I will be doing somewhere down the line that is simple and fun for everyone. I know some of my interviews are a bit long but some of you enjoy them. But some people don’t want to answer that many questions either. So I have a nice idea in mind.
If you don’t want to share with me, that’s cool. Just want to see what I can do to help.
Much Respect
Ronovan
(Writer of things and dreams and dreamer of things.)
Recently, and maybe not so recently, I have noticed people that I Follow are showing up as no longer being Followed. I wanted people to know that if you see me suddenly Following you again it wasn’t that I stopped Following you before. And I hope I am not missing people, with my problems I Follow people for a reason. This greatly upsets me.
You may have noticed the black has faded here at RonovanWrites. But I’m still not all sunshine and rainbows.
You’ll also notice I’ve gone to a color version of my photo and a slightly different angle. Yes, red hair, blue eyes, I am a rarity or so the statistics say. That combination is supposedly under 1 or 2% of the population in the entire world.
Also there are now drop downs above if you hover your cursor over the various page titles. This means the categories along the sidebar and the tag cloud are gone.
Does this mean that you won’t be seeing the Lost Mind Poet? Not at all. He lives on.
Also moving forward I want to return more to my writing and less on the interviews, although I have a few lined up I plan to try and slow down on their output. I love doing them but I love my poetry and other writings as well. Also I am beginning to work on a second draft of a romance/love story I have had sitting on the shelf for a few months. It’s back to work on that time, and I have two other books thoughts rolling around in my mind that are unique.
Plus there are still a couple of surprises coming up in the future.
Let me know what you think of the changes . . . seriously. You are the ones reading and navigating the site. I felt this w as less gloomy and the drop downs made it easier to find things and looked nicer and cleaner.
What the . . . Pho? I bet you thought I was going to say something else, right? Well maybe not considering this is my blog and you don’t see me using language of that sort. One reason you don’t see me using it is because I don’t use that language in life. First of all, I’m not going to be getting preachy here. That’s not what this is about. I want to help you get more traffic through your blog’s doors.
The ‘What the . . . Pho?’ is actually a noodle restaurant that some friends and I just love the name of because here in America we have naughty minds at times. We can say this and people around us just look at us funny. One of the friends played the organ/keyboard in church and he would look over at me and I would mouth the phrase and he would suddenly bend over in convulsions doing all he could to focus on his music. The other friend was the choir director. He had learned long ago not to look at me. Yes, I tended to be a little mischievous if the time was okay to do so.
“So ‘What the . . . Pho?’ do you know about this and ‘What the . . . Pho?’ does this have to do with blogging?”
I’m glad you asked.
How to turn your Readers OFF
One of the first decisions you need to make when you create a blog or even when you begin writing an article for publishing is . . . “Am I doing this to get more people to read my writing?”
“I write for me. I don’t write to satisfy others!”
We like to say that but that isn’t always true. If you have a blog and want to bring people to it, then . . . yes you are writing for them in a manner of speaking. Here are tips to turn your readers off, depending on the type of blog you have. I am going with a blog type that has the average person who wants a nice, safe place to go for entertainment.
#1
Put Profanity in the Title of Your Article
You probably have never even really thought of doing that, but I’ve seen it and it instantly turns me away. It doesn’t even make me curious about the article. It could be by the Pope and I still wouldn’t read it to see what medications he’s on.
If it happens enough, I stop bothering with that blog at all.
“Ronovan, you’re a prude!”
Far from it my Friend. I enjoy all types of blogs, I just respect intelligently put together content.
#2
Articles Laced with Profanity
Notice I said ‘laced’, meaning filled with it. I’m not a fan of proFANity. Yes I made a pun. I am chuckling on the inside. Seriously. Can’t you tell? You’re screens should be shaking now. Okay, maybe not. I do however understand while reading something real life that words happen. Sometimes a word may fit a situation. I may choose another word while another person chooses a different word. No big deal.
I have a problem with the articles that are laced with it as shock factor. It doesn’t match what I know of the writer. It doesn’t match the piece being presented. It was placed there in an attempt to either shock, evoke humor, or just for no reason at all.
“We can say what we want, stretch our wings, and experiment, you dork!”
Very true, and I experiment as well. I just know myself and what my Friends have come to expect and I will stretch my wings within that boundary and at times it’s more challenging to do so. Write a sensual poem that conveys a lot without saying much in sexually. It’s a fun challenge.
#3
Being Derogatory
I write poetry where I slam bullies and the like. I don’t spend an entire article running down a people, a country, or a system or a mental of physical illness in generalities. Yes, there are times when certain articles need to be written. However, they need to be written in an intelligent and rational manner or the reader tunes out, turns away, and turns the channel.
If you are going to do it, pick your battles so people hear you. Run things into the ground and your words become a blur. That is unless you are targeting that audience who only wants to read about that issue.
“Ronovan, there are certain things that are just clear cut!”
The issue may be clear cut but the entire story never is.
#4
Back to Profanity
If you are going to use a word then wait for it. Build up your reader, hook them in, get their support, and then when you throw the word in, it isn’t AS MUCH of as a turn off. It might still happen, but less likely.
“If I use the words I want at the beginning it grabs their attention!”
Do you want respect as a writer or attention as a shock hack?
I would go for a 5th one just to make it a Top 5 list but that’s pushing it and pushing you to read something weak. So I’m not going to do it. I’ll stop with 4.
Keep your articles clean and professional and only use certain words when you honestly believe they need to be used. I’ve stopped following several blogs of late for multiple headlines using certain words. And if you know me you know I follow lots of people of all types and language use. And there are even a few articles that are laced with profanity that make a point, but it’s rare, and I slowly begin to shy away.
I hope this article proved useful to you. If so, leave me a comment, so I know I’m helping you out. Sure a ‘like’ works as well, but I like to hear from my Friends at times.
If you found this helpful you can also find other tips by clicking here.
If you’re observant you may have noticed a bit of redecorating around the old homestead. The first thing that might catch your eye is the big ugly brute in the top right corner hiding in the dark.
The big ugly brute is gone. It was freaking people out. Apparently he looked just to weird to some. You can still see him as my Twitter cover photo. If you are on Twitter then you don’t scare easy.
I decided I was hanging my head in pain, shame, or prayer, or the many other things people had suggested to me over time. Instead you now have only yourselves to blame for the results. To be honest I am a bit proud of the simplicity of it. But then I have been called a simpleton. Perhaps this fits.
Next you will notice that with the addition of my mug above, the About.Me photo is not there to the right. One of me is more than enough for anyone. You can still click on the About.Me to go to that page and see my lovely self in all my black and white glory.
With the brute gone from the Header I returned the About.Me photo. Duct tape works well covering him up.
I think everyone knows about the Haiku Challenges Guidelines Page. A bit self explanationary don’t you think? Yes, I made the word up. Don’t hate because you didn’t creatiate.
Finally we come to the Most Liked Post And Pages section on the side bar over there on the right. I like to experiment with the features and thought why not give it a try. I think I will have more fun with it than anyone. Just to see what makes it into the Top 10.
There will be other things coming up. A surprise here or there, but that is down the line. Never tell too far ahead or your brilliant idea will end up dead.
That’s it for me, myself, and the one eye I have barely open.
I’ll see who is paying attention here. If you are American and living in another country now and have been for a reasonable amount of time, please either comment below, DM me in Twitter, or even send a message through that big thingy in the About Me page. Comments are good but can get lost in the hecticocity of my being. BOOM, I did it again. Word master.
As I pass on I leave you with this bit of wisdom;
Life may include what comes to you, it may even be in part what you make of it, but it will always be what you leave behind as you make your way through it that people will remember . . . for good or ill.-Ronovan
Thank you, all my Friends, for getting our Blog this far.
I know most of y’all probably have a ton of views, but I was happy to receive this today. It’s just a nice round number to see. This particular blog is three months old today, and I think maybe I need to put more into it to get the views coming in more, although that hasn’t been my real goal here. (I have been around writing in some forms on facebook pages and even a couple of ghostwriting freelance articles before this.) I just write what comes to mind as fast as they come and put them out to everyone in the hopes one of them will be like by some of y’all. I want to thank y’all for helping get RonovanWrites this far.
I wasn’t going to post this originally but you all have helped me so much and encouraged me and made me happy, that I wanted to share it with y’all.
Are you New to Twitter or just not that comfortable with it yet? You don’t know how to find people? Or are you the kind of shy type like me and you just aren’t into reaching out to Follow people? I know, me shy, right? It’s true but put me at the keyboard doing this hiding in my room and I’m okay for the most part.
I want to help.
Here is how I want you to Use ME to Help YOU.
#1
I am going to be improving my RT methods. I haven’t been doing my RT regime like I like to do lately. I’ll not give the excuses or reasons, I don’t use things as an excuse or a crutch. If you haven’t already let me know you are on Twitter, please do so and I can add you to me WordPress Friends List. Oh, and this is me on Twitter. (I said oh because I was about to publish and thought to add the me on Twitter part.)
#2
The Use ME part comes into play here, well another part of it that is. You can actually go to my Lists and look at my WordPress Friends List and Follow all of those Friends you haven’t connected with yet.Sometimes it’s a connection that slips through the cracks.
#3
You can Subscribe to my WordPress Friends List and then be able to view the people in that list. No that doesn’t mean pay. You just click subscribe to list. But I would recommend Following the people. As you click Follow just click the ‘Gear’ on their page and add them to your own special list. To learn more about Twitter Lists click here.
Just wanted to keep the Blue Bird Moving!
Sorry, wrong Blue Bird. So sue me, it’s the teacher in me.
People like to see what you are doing. Your website is you. It is the center of your universe. This is where people can go to know what they want to know about you. One thing people want these days is ‘what is this person doing on Twitter?’.
Adding the Twitter Timeline to your Sidebar
by: Ronovan
The following steps will help you get your Twitter Timeline on the sidebar of your blog. People can even click it and choose to Follow you on Twitter. Don’t worry about the number of steps, if you’ve been through any of my how to do things before then you know I make every single thing a Step. 1-5 are simply clicking on the things you find in your Dashboard. 6 is finding something on the page and 7 is where you actually start doing something for real and even that is just a lot of words describing mostly easy things to do.
Step #1
Click on your Dashboard
Step #2
Scroll down and click on Appearance
Step #3
Click Widgets
Step #4
Scroll down and click on Twitter Timeline
Step #5
Choose Default Sidebar and then click Add Widget
Step #6
Now look at the top and middle of your screen for the Default sidebar area and you should see Twitter Timeline.
Step #7
I am going to only talk about two areas within the Twitter Timeline box at this time. This will get you up and running.
Title-Name What you want the heading to say above your Twitter Timeline, think the heading. Some say My Tweets. Mine says Follow me on Twitter. Be cute if you like, whatever fits your page and personality. Maybe you want it to say TWEET TWEET, or TWIT TWEETS. Whatever you type will appear in capital letters.
I lied there will be three areas I talk about. The next is # of Tweets Shown. This is your own preference. If you already have a somewhat full sidebar you may want 4 or 5. If you just love Twitter, crank up higher.
Now onto the Widget ID. There are 3 things to be aware of here. The create a widget at Twitter, Widget ID field, and Save all of which are circled.
Make sure you are signed into Twitter when you actually start this part of the process, because it leads you through it. When you click on create a widget at Twitter another window will open for your Twitter account and look like this. Just make sure your Username is correct. You can choose to Opt-out of tailoring Twitter at this point. That’s up to you to explore. Then click Create widget.
Then Save or Save Changes.
The ID number you need is in the address bar at Twitter where you saved you just created a widget. You’ll see it in red in the image above. Of course mine is marked out here. But you just need the numbers.
Once on the next screen you need to get the actual Twitter ID number. It will be in an address bar with /settings/widgets/then a lot of numbers. You just want the numbers as shown above. Copy and paste those numbers into the Widget ID field. Then click Save. Or you can always just write them down and then type them in, save your keyboard keys, right?
Once complete click Save and you are done. Open up your Main Page in a separate window and see if you are satisfied with your Twitter Timeline location. If not satisfied simply drag the Twitter Timeline within your Widget area back where you added it to where you would it to appear in order on your Default Sidebar.
Now whenever you Tweet something it will show on your webpage. Also it allows people to Follow you on Twitter with a click. Make it easy as possible for people to connect to you.
If you’ve poked around today you may have noticed something different in my sidebar.
There is now the ‘My Upcoming Posts’ schedule. It has everything I scheduled for the week so far and the time they will post in New York time. I like to post in the early AM to reach those in Europe that might like to see what I do.
Just keep an eye on the list and take note of anything that might catch your eye. If you want to be sure not to miss anything you can also ‘Get My Latest Via Email’ by clicking Follow just a little below the schedule of posts.
You ever notice how when your blog gets tweeted by someone that it says ‘by @wordpress’? You want it to say ‘by @yourtwitterhandle’, well not actually the words yourtwitterhandle. It would actually be whatever your actual . . . um, you get it.
Why is this important? Each time someone clicks the Twitter option to share your blog article you want your name attached to. That’s advertising, that’s credit, that’s what you deserve. When I share an article of a blog I like and the Twitter Handle isn’t in there I go looking for it either on their site or on Twitter itself and replace the WordPress with the real thing, but I don’t know if that’s just me or not.
How to get your Twitter Handle to show up when your articles are shared in Tweets.
Scroll down the page and find “Twitter username to include in tweets when people share using the Twitter button.”
Type in your Twitter handle, without the @ included.
Click Save Changes.
To check and make sure it is working properly, go to one of your blog articles and click Twitter. Your Twitter handle should now appear. Now whenever anyone Shares and Tweets your blogs your name is attached and you get a bit of name recognition out there. If it’s not showing sign out and back into WordPress and possibly clear cache. I haven’t had to do that myself but those are things to try just in case.
This is a message to my Friends that support me here in WordPress and also happen to be on Twitter.
I want to ReTweet you!
Please HELP me by letting me know if you have a Twitter account so I can ADDYOU to my NEW WORDPRESS LIST there. I want to make sure that I first and foremost RT (Thats ReTweet for all of us Twidiots as I call people like me.) all of your blog Tweets and anything I think is cool that I can share with people and secondly I want to focus knowing my Friends. Yes if you are Following my Blog I consider you a Friend. You’re not a Follower. You’re a Friend. And I like to support and help my Friends. Click here to learn about Twitter Lists. (Think Friend List.)
Maybe this sounds like some odd thing to you, but I’m serious. You can ask others on my list. I don’t ask anything of you, I just like to help. It makes me feel good about myself at times. I know that’s a selfish reason but it helps me.
I know, some of you follow me on Twitter already and I RT you already, but I am trying to go through my list of people and I’m finding it difficult at times discovering who is what and where.
AND DO NOT THANK ME FOR AN RT! Otherwise you will be doing that a lot most likely. We support each other in the community and it’s something I WANT TO DO!
This will also possibly help other WordPress members follow each other as well.
Just reply to this Post or if you are already Following me in Twitter you can shoot me a Direct Message (DM).
Much Respect (I so wanted to say ‘and Tweet you Later, but I refrained.)
I wanted to say something about the Blog Tips and Twitter Tips that I put out to draw more Followers. I don’t do any of these things to draw in more followers myself.
It has been running through my mind of late, and you know if I know it has then it must be serious, that my Friends here that visit me in blog world might think that I do things intentionally in such a way to lure you here and try and make you stay. Plus receiving a email saying I’m a hypocrite with the way I say Much Respect, Much Admiraiton, or Much Love when I sign a Comment or Reply made me feel a bit down.
First I sign that way when it is that way. I respect anyone that puts themselves out there for the world to criticize. That’s what each of us do with our work when we click Publish. I admire great work and hard work. I have much love for those who inspire me and have shown me much love in care and encouragement. I see no reason to hide it. I love my Friends, my Readers.
I don’t. I just do what I do. I would be writing what I write no matter who was following me, how many were following, if no one were following me.
I am a teacher with over a decade of marketing background and corporate training experience. It is just in my nature to share things I see with others. To be honest if I really wanted to have a successful blog and be competitive, I wouldn’t share any tips and keep them to myself.
The thing is . . . I love my Friends here, even those that never say a word and just visit, even if they never click like. Likes are good but you visiting is what counts. There are a few people you could ask that could tell you that I know things to make my site more successful in views and the like. But I don’t use them because my goal is to create a nice Friend visit.
But anyway, it’s been on my heart to share that and explain that. I just don’t want anyone to think that I do anything I do in attempt to increase Followers on any social things I have.
What can your Blog give me that no one else can? Why should I read something from you instead of someone else? Make me stay on your site and keep coming back for more. How can you do that? How can you MAKE me want to come back for more? So what I am really asking from you?
Make me WANT your Blog
by: Ronovan
I know a lot of bloggers who, especially of late, are finding it difficult to keep creating things to write about. They cannot come up with a new fiction story, a new poem, a new 10 Things list, or a new How To list. How many sites do you know that have those types of things?
I’ll go out to a movie while you count, and maybe a bite to eat as well.
Sniff, sniff . . . Ellllliiiiiooooot.
Oh, um . . . hi.
Yeah, I’m back, you can finish the counting later.
I have some friends who do the slice of life and list blogs very well and I love them. But they can take their toll on you. Just take a look at them and there is more than just a story about what happened. They tell a story and the good ones go through creating a lot of images to go along with it to make it that much more fun for you. All that can equal to . . .
You’ll likely see that as my header photo for my blog someday . . . soon.
There are others who just are getting to the point of their blogs are not going in the direction they want them to. They want to continue but they are lost somehow.
Then for some reason they will publish something about where they are from. It might be personal memories, opinions, or photographs. Their voice in the writing is completely different. It’s personal. And that is when they draw me in completely. Even if you are from the city next to mine, I still want to see what you see and learn about how you see things.
I want to learn.
We have an opportunity through our blogs to connect to people around the world and turn each country into a place with human beings in it and not just a news broadcast of something bad happening or where a politician, sporting event, or celebrity happens to be. The news turns the place into the event.
The event has nothing to do with the people.
Mix your blog up a little with a bit about your country. I know I don’t do it, but I am so busy putting poetry and tips out that I rarely have time to even think about anything else. But I have done a couple of articles about Southern Culture. And I plan to do a little more.
I think some of my writing tells a bit about where I live through my life. I tend to explore deep feelings and emotions in my writing, not intentionally, but it happens. I know not everyone will do that. Use your photography and your experiences and tell us the story of how your country, your city, your culture really is.
You’re scared to death of Twitter. IT FREAKS YOU OUT! No worries. You don’t really have to be there to use it. Just have an account and let WordPress do the work for you. Here’s how to connect Twitter and WordPress together.
Automatically Sending your new Blogs to Twitter
By: Ronovan
Be logged into Twitter.
Go to your Dashboard in your blog
At the bottom you will find Settings, hover over this and a box will appear, click Sharing in that box.
OR
If you click Settings a box of options appears below it and you can choose Sharing there.
You will see various social networks to link to. Choose any you like. For now click connect beside Twitter. Then accept it asking you to connect.
Difficult, huh?
Now whenever a blog of yours posts it will go to Twitter as well, or should, it is technology after all.
Bonus Tip
You’ll notice in the Add New Post section, where I am typing this now, that on the right side where you have the Publish button there is a Publicized: Edit Settings option. If you click Edit you can customize the message that will appear with your Twitter announcement of your blog post. I sometimes put in the hashtags I want to use, you know the #Blogs or #Photography things you see sometimes. You don’t have to go to Twitter to do anything.
Also when you click Edit you can uncheck any of your authorized connections you don’t want the article to Publicize to. Like I don’t always want mine to go to facebook.
It’s time to step things up a notch with a blog tip. Everyone wants more people to connect to them through their blogs. We all want people to keep coming back and maybe even mention our site to other people. Yeah, sure, a great article might do it, but you want to really make an impact? You do? Okay. Tell them what they want to know . . . about you. Where? On your About page.
I’m not a big secret for those who wandered around the walls of my blog a few times. Everything I write has me in it. I don’t hide. But there are things I don’t tell people. But I let them know the things that matter to them.
I’m talking about my About page. Some call it the About Moi page. I won’t name any names because they may be reading this. Some people can get away with that, I’m not one of them.
Guess what after my Home page is the most Viewed thing ever on my blog. Here’s your cookie if you said my About page. That’s right. And guess what has the most likes of anything else on my blog. Aw, and here is your glass of milk to go with the cookie. (I’m not sure the bit of sarcasm is my style, but I tried. Hmm.)
Why is it liked more than other things? I really have no idea to tell you the truth. I look at it and shudder with it all. I have almost wanted to start over but I’ve put so much work into it that it makes me physically ill to even move an index finger towards the delete key.
To get a Follow from me you 99% of the time have to have an About page with something remotely decent in it. Sometimes if there has been several exchanges in comments or I just know the person through their being a Literary Agent or Writing Resource I will Follow without an About page. But I really like to have a little something to become connected to.
The About page also lets me know the person and site is legitimate. There may be some of you reading this that noticed that when I decided to Follow your blog that I made a comment on your About page. That wasn’t an accident.
“Ronovan, I don’t want to do an about page because I don’t know what to put on there.”
Take a look at my About page. Yes I shared more of me than you might, but I did it without telling anything really.
There are different ideas on how to do an About page. Some say do it short and just tell them what they need to know about the site. Some say do an essay of the world so to speak.
Okay so maybe they want to know what kind of nut writes the things I write. But I think you can see they are interested in connecting to the person writing. I feel sorry for those that read through both the About and the Fun Facts. My apologies.
Here are the tips for an About page from my own personal experience.
Tell them about your experience that makes your having this Blog worth their being here. If you have a writing blog such as mine you don’t tell them you were a professional Dish Washer as your first paid job. (Which was mine.) That can come later. First make them know they are in good hands.
Tell them what they are going to get from your site. Your part about you should be brief and this should be longer than that. Your Readers are the important ones so make them feel welcome, wanted, and give them a reason to want to return.
Give them a little of what turned you into what you are. For me I noted books through the formative years that turned me into a reader and eventual writer. For an artist it could be museum trips, a teacher, a movie just whatever brought you to being a creative person.
Show them what kind of person are you as a result of this in regards to creativity.
Share with them some professional aspect of you that influences your creativity, such as my having been a History teacher lends to my loving reading and creating worlds and histories of those worlds and people.
Throw them the boring things that you might want to. You never know what will connect with someone.
Tell them about any causes you might be connected to if you like. I have Fibromyalgia so I have a connection to people that have similar problems.
Tell them why you are blogging. I know you probably put some of that in the number one and you should have, but expound upon it here at the end.
Give them links to your social network connections.
Notice the About page tells about YOU but is reallyforTHEM. You already know about you. Share you with them. If you think you are so boring that people don’t want to know about you then what in the world are you doing? You’re creative and blogging. They showed up to your site! They think you are at least interesting once!
I’ve had a little fun during this article, a few jokes, but in all seriousness, the About page is truly one of the important things of your site. It’s where personality can come through that your work won’t reflect. Visit the About pages of people you admire and see what they have. Make it as big or little as you like, but by all means put something in there.
If you found this article helpful you may want to check out my other blogging tips by clicking here. If not . . . thanks for stopping by.
Tags for Blogs isn’t easy. Or is it? You have a great article but no one comes to pay you a visit. Why not? You didn’t send out the invitations. I am going to make this pretty simple. Using a restaurant as an example to give you Blog Tagging Tips so that your Blog Articles will be friendlier to SEO or Search Engine Optimization. Think Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
Welcome to Restaurant RonovanWrites.
Please look at my Menu on the right which I call Categories
Please select a Dish from the Entree List of Poetry, Writing, or any other Entree you would like.
The ingredients can be found at the bottom of each Poetry,Writing, or whatever dish you like as the Tags.
Restaurant RonovanWrites isn’t a big deal to people. It means nothing. I need to have what people want. That means a nice menu they are looking for. An example would be Poetry. Okay so I have the dish but what are the ingredients in the dish? Some people want veggie tacos, some beef, pork, or chicken.
How will people know what you have unless you tell them?
So your dish is Poetry and now you need to tell the customer what is in the Poetry you are serving. You created the dish. You know what is in it, the feelings and descriptions. Those are your Tags.
If I have a poem about my Migraines that are very bad, my Tags might be; Migraines, Pain, Headaches, Suffering, Anger, Darkness, Personal, Depression. I normally also put in Poetry, Writing, and Creative Writing, and I if I am using a personal Photo I add Photography. Blogs is also a good Tag to use.
There are those who use just a few Tags, but in truth as long as you don’t go over say 10 or so, I think you’ll be fine.
Now when a Search Engine reaches out it will see your Tags and the Category. Your Title is also important. Make sure to only capitalize the important words, the proper words. And also use key words in the first paragraph or so of your article. If you notice during some of my articles I have the images about a paragraph down, at least the first image. This is why. Search Engines don’t read Images but they do read something the various descriptions you put in the images when you load them. More on that subject another time.
I want to explain something quickly. I haven’t been overly active in really trying to pull people into my site. I know how things work. I mainly work on creating. A lot of what I create does not lend itself to SEO or Search Engine Optimization results. If you are writing articles like this then you should use everything you can. For my poetry, I’m not going to write the first lines of my poetry so Search Engines will like it more.
Neha, rhyme mistress and word wizard of ForgottenMeadows allowed me to be involved in this Virtual Blog Tour. Why and how she put me down as one of her choices for involvement I will never know. I’m a strange man in a strange land.
What can I say about Neha?
Her words are aloe,
Soothing broken and lost souls,
Is her magic gift.
Her poetry is varied. You never know what emotion she will pluck out on any given day, but you know it will happen. But is it her poetry that gets you? I have found the person behind the words is what makes the difference to me. Through exchanged comments and communications I find that her words fail to capture what she is. What can come close is when she opens up her site to allow others to contribute and grow as artists by joining together to create a montage masterpiece under her watchful eye. Wordsmith? Yes. Heart and much more? Definite.
Before you must suffer in my answers regarding my writing and creative process you get to enjoy the TALENTED of this show. How do you choose just three from hundreds of people you follow? I had criteria in my mind. Talent, activity, as in enough to keep them on my mind, and fascination with their passions. To me if there is no passion behind production then it’s pointless. There are many that could have been on this list, but I believe those reading this will agree with those I chose.
Mara says this about herself-“I’m apparently not happy enough to nag real people around me and feel compelled to invade also the virtual space. ” “I’m a bad photographer and worse poet, which doesn’t prevent me from sharing my creations with complete strangers.”
From those words above there is obviously modesty inside of Mara as well. Her photography is unique in that it captures more than your traditional postcard picture art you might see from some. There is life in her photography that even she is not aware of. Her eye and talent naturally finds it and I sometimes even am inspired to write a poem. I look forward to her revealing how her process works.
Oscar is . . . inspiring. Yes, he’s an author, but he more than just writes about what he loves he also brings it to life and encourages it. “I have worked with at-risk Native American youth in New Mexico for nearly ten years. My passion is two fold: creative writing and empowering Indigenous youth.” For more you must read his About page. There is so much more there.
I chose Oscar because of his passion, his writing, and his spirit. He’s not just an award winner, a scholarship winner, he’s also real. I want to find out how he does what he does. His inspiration is obvious once you have read about him and experienced his site. But I want to know how he takes that inspiration and then turns it into art.
“If you dream upon a dream, it’ll come true. I always identified with this particular song lyric/inspirational quote, because if I hadn’t worked as hard as I did, I wouldn’t of gotten so far in life.” And that is Megan. Megan is another inspirational author with books being published soon. Her true story is even more amazing than her creations. But you’ll need to read more about her to discover it all. It’s all in her site. She’s very honest and sharing of her world.
Again I want to know how one so young has been able to accomplish so much. Megan is the best example of write and don’t sweat your life. Just keep writing and get the story done. She’s taken bad and turned it to good. Girl after my own heart.
I mainly work on the content for my blog. I greatly enjoy the outlet it gives for my life. Most of what I write, even poetry, is autobiographical in nature.
In regards to works I would like published someday I have a YA adventure novel about a girl and her brother that I need to revise part of and then get into editing. But one work I really would like to attempt is transforming a Paranormal Detective novel I’ve written to include more personal feeling from how I am now. Then there is another book I have that is based on my experience with amnesia but used in a fictional adventure/thriller manner. I have no idea where that idea came from.
I have decided to buckle down and complete the YA adventure revise and editing process. This means perhaps a little less time blogging but then with me who knows. 2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I think I try to bring character realism in regards to emotions, conflicts and the like to the story more than just actions. Even the action that takes place says something about the person because of reactions, choices, and consequences. Is that different from everyone else? I don’t know, but it’s me.
I sit down with each scene and action and decide on the believability of it within the abilities of the character. Even with paranormal, fantasy, or science fiction I attempt to ground as much of the actual aspects of the characters in reality in order for the reader to connect, and in all honesty for myself to connect as well.
I don’t necessarily write for popularity but for release of thoughts and feelings I have. Descriptiveness of environment and setting is less important to me than characterization. I think I look for the reality behind the fiction.
3. Why do I write/create what I do?
For my blog I write to rid myself of pain and thoughts. The pain is the physical results of Fibromyalgia and Migraines, not necessarily some emotional trauma, although those two plus amnesia do have some impact on how I see things. I just wanted to make that clear. Sometimes it’s humor or my creations, but depending on the physical trials I am going through I find poetry especially a great outlet.
As for my novel work I believe my reasons have changed over time. At one time it may have been to be a popular writer but now it is too create a place that reflects who I am in the main characters and hopefully make a connection with readers in a way that will make them think. I believe every story has a reader waiting for it to touch and in a way heal. 4. How does my writing/creating process work?
For my poetry I sit down to an empty page, close my eyes and begin to type. Whatever is coming to my mind at that moment I just keep my eyes closed and type the words and descriptions that come to mind. I get out of the way of my mind and heart and just let it flow. Even if it is dark or angry, I let it go. I never sit down to purposefully create a dark piece. Never. I think my mind looks at something and sees what’s behind the image, or imagines what is behind it.
After that first stage I then open my eyes and see if there is something there to share. I sometimes sit down and so want to write a sunshiny piece and end up writing about pain. But somehow a few people might say they find it beautiful and I don’t really understand, or they find comedy in it. I just thank them and close my eyes for the next piece. I tell others that every piece you write has a reader waiting to find it, so don’t be afraid to share it.
Try it yourself. Just close your eyes and begin to type. As you do your thoughts will begin to form into a single line and become a message. Just keep typing until you cannot any longer.
Sometimes I will write a poem about a photograph I see as an escape from the darkness of some of my poetry. It is a much needed reprieve.
As for my novel work it is much like the poetry in that I let the characters write the story. I have an idea of who the main characters are and a basic idea of where I want it to go, but ultimately the characters determine what happens. I don’t force myself to stay on a path to my original intent. I may love a character when I create it before I start but the story ends up having that one be the one people won’t like, even I don’t like, and I go with it. I can’t change it. I have even had the main love interest end up changing within just a few chapters of beginning a project because the two people weren’t connecting.
I also put more and more of me in my work of late. At least I think I do.
Depending on the type of novel there may be a lot of research beforehand, especially if there are historical aspects that tie in with characters or the direction of the novel, such as action/thriller that involved things from WWII that affected current events.
If you made it this far, the wow. You made it through the wilderness and out into the sunshine. I want to thank Neha once again for including me. I never imagined to be involved in something like this. I do hope you all visit those above and see what I so miserably and poorly attempted to explain.
Today is
#1
sts and look at my WordPress Friends List and Follow all of those Friends you haven’t connected with yet. 
h country into a place with human beings in it and not just a news broadcast of something bad happening or where a politician, sporting event, or celebrity happens to be. The news turns the place into the event.
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