The weekend again…..I want to try something completely different from my weird little stories I find to break up my week….some of them are popular and some fall dead from boredom……today is about blogging……a subject that is near and dear to most of us…….
We bloggers are always looking for ways to increase our exposure…..it is hard work to keep a blog up and running and current. It is even harder to get readers after all there is about a gazillion blogs out there.
We try to find ways to get more readers to increase our stats….some of us pay a service to increase our traffic……or like me they try to visit and follow as many as possible…..we comment on their sites and we give them a like whenever possible…..with the hope that they will reciprocate….this is not for those that are impatient….it is a time consuming process but it does pay off.
Some bloggers carve accolades……like awards that are heaped on them……most of the awards are just a way to try and increase traffic to sites…….do not get me wrong….there is NOTHING wrong with these awards and they work for some people…..we do what we must to try an increase readership. Thinking that readers show up because it is a certain type of blog is not always true……we bloggers work on the old adage….”you scratch my back and I will scratch yours”
There is no guarantee that there will be people flocking to your site because it has a certain word in the title….like liberal or conservative or other descriptive names……people will help those that help them……
For me I try to use my schooling in international relations especially the Middle East……a subject that many want to forget or ignore simply because it does not fit into the narrative they have made for themselves.
I could post many articles a day….but I try to limit my day to 5 or 6 post at most……more and I feel my readers will be overwhelmed…..plus I look for stuff that can expand their horizons, so to speak…….events and situation that they might not give much thought to but could be a thorn in the country’s butt……I like to be fore armed…….
Hard work pays off, at least it did for me……recently when the US and Iran came to an agreement on nukes a reader said that he came to IST because he knew I would be all over it…..and that is why I do what I do. That made my day…….made me feel like it is all worth the hard work. Then I was asked to be a guest writer on another site……for me that is the highest honor that someone would like my opinions and analysis on their site.
Not just bitching about issues that frustrate me but rather helping my readers understand what is what. I also try to help them understand politics….but these days there is NO understanding politics other than to realize that it is NO longer a science but rather a circus of morons playing a dangerous game…….dangerous to the country but not to themselves……..HELL the more extreme they talk the more wackos vote for them…..the more wackos that vote the more dangerous the world becomes……it is a vicious circle that cannot be broken until people try to understand the world…..and that is where we bloggers enter into the conversation.
Me? I have been a writer for decades……until I discovered the internet most of my stuff was ‘letters to the editor’ and an occasional piece sent to magazines and such…….then Katrina hit where I live and I was badly injured and could no longer work…..but I continued to read, research and analyze……and by a stroke of luck I was given a used computer by a friend…..and as they say…’the rest is history’.
Blogging is hard work and bloggers are hard workers! Most of us do it out of love of information and passing it on to others with the hope that they will use it for a better understanding and to eventually make better decisions.