BlogIN, the Indiana Blogging Unconference
I’m not sure how the BlogIN event is going to go this Saturday (2008 April 26) since it’s being run in a BarCamp fashion. There is no agenda, it will be set by the attendees at the time. For eight years I’ve been a blogger (more or less), but I’ve never had success in my consistency or the number of readers on my site. Maybe I’m just not that good of a self-promoter, or perhaps my blogging schedule doesn’t keep people "tuned in". Whatever the reason, I see myself attending the BlogIN with more questions than answers. I thought I’d post my thoughts on what I’m hoping to get out of the conference.
What I hope to get out of BlogIN
- Specific Blog or Frequent Blog
I’m curious about the philosophy others have on topical blogs. I can think of about 10 topics I’d like to write about. These are very diverse in nature, so it would seem to make sense to create a separate blog. With limited time to blog, each blog would, I guess, get updated infrequently - perhaps once or twice in a two week period. On the other hand, a single site would get updated more frequently, but lacks a specific audience. I’d like to know the thoughts of the pros on which direction is better to take.
- Blogger Workflow
My blog workflow, recently throw together, is pretty simple. I write topics in a Moleskine Cahier Notebook. I write the post then cross them out in the journal. I have more ideas than time to write, therefore there are a lot of useless post ideas there. My blogging time is usually in the afternoon, in the 40 minutes I have between picking up the kids. I might blog in the evening or on weekends if I’m particularly energized (and can find a little time). I’d like to know how other bloggers set up their schedule, how they make time to blog and how they track their ideas.
- Blogging Commitment
Somewhat related to the previous point, I’d like to know how much time my fellow bloggers spend researching, writing and maintaining their blogs. The magic number in my head is about 3 hours per week, but I’m curious about other bloggers’ commitments. I’m curious about the number of posts per week as well. Do bloggers write many short posts, or less-frequent but longer articles?
- Blogging Locally
My current blogs reach two main audiences: First, friends and family; second, potential customers of my consulting business. Occasionally (like this post), I find myself covering local events in the Indianapolis area. Are local events common to personal and business blogs, or do most bloggers ignore the local unless considerably pertinent to their niche?
- Blog++
I’m curious how many bloggers do more than just blog. How many do podcast, screencasts, and video blogging? Do they have photoblogs, and how much do they use Twitter? Is a written-word blog only part of a well-rounded blogger’s repertoire?
- One for the money, two for the show
It’s clear to me that good blogs are written by people with a passion. It’s difficult to be a mercenary blogger. I’m curious, though, about how many bloggers find themselves blogging about a passion with the intent of making money.
Those were just a few thoughts I figured I get out there. I hope I can offer some of the advice I do have about blogging as well, but I have to wait for the other attendees to ask the questions first. See you there!
2 Comments
- Marlon Ribunal said:
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