Okay, here it is. The question. Seeking opinion. Looking for some input.
First some background.
I have been at this blogging thing for awhile now. Many of the Blogs I visit on a regular basis always have some new hook, look or gizmo that keeps their pages hip and with it. Others have strict structure and focus. I often close the page experiencing serious blog envy. Whose is bigger, sharper, or can jump the highest. When I come back to this dust gathering dark corner I get tired of looking at on a regular basis, I know it would be a pissin contest I am sure to lose.
It's not really a contest, but I often think I could jazz this blog up. Problem is I am a pretty lazy guy. If something is working, I can become comfortable with the same ole, same ole.
To attempt to break a bad cycle and bring fun and excitement to accompany my life altering words of wit and wisdom, I look to anyone out there with an opinion to do the work for me. Remember the lazy part.
I have some basics down. I am not a cripple contrary to what Bobbi Ann says. I have some abilities. You are reading this and what about that enticing photo at the top? So the question is what should I do?
This blog is a perfect representation of my character. No focus, no rhyme, no reason.......Another Loose Dog Lost in the Bozone. Should I screw down the lens and tighten my field of vision? Would not being such a scattered brain be a plus?
How about video? U-Tube stuff. Oh yeah, remember the lazy part.
Break my posts down to a structured Monday is Politics, Tuesday is introspection, Wednesday-spank the monkey, Thursday is for deep emotion to pour forth and make you cry, Friday - try to make you laugh, and Saturday, well Saturday would be guy day. Crack a few beers and talk Duct tape and the 500 uses for it. Something along those lines?
All five pieces of Blogging wisdom I have read indicate that a blog allowed to go stale will eventually see a drop in the number of visitors. I'd hate to lose the 6 people who stop by on occasion.
And what about making money? I hear there is serious jingle out there in the ether just waiting to be picked up like change form a wishing well. Adsense? Turn this beast into a money maker? Add some beer money to the coffers?
A visit counter with geographical locator, time stamped, and what their favorite color is? One of those fancy scrolling types to show folks yes, I have someone from Pakistan stopping by on Wednesdays.
The short of the long of it is what works for you? What didn't? I know I could visit one of the 3000 forums on the subject. But remember. The lazy part.
Post Script/Disclaimer/My excuse
This post started with the picture. I looked at it for several minutes. Paused when I remembered that tittie bar in Dallas and a woman on the pole I fell in lust with. Odd I should remember her. Anyway, she faded as my fingers began to type in time with Joan Armatrading, Hot Chilis, Devo, Hendrix and the Talking Heads. And what you see came out. That was fun.
5 comments:
Hmmm. I dunno.
I guess what matters is your motivations. Why are you blogging? Is it to entertain the masses? Stretch your writing muscle? Gaze at your own navel? Make money?
I blog because it gives me a forum in which to stretch my writing muscles and in the process, learn what a limited group of others might think of my efforts. I am not interested in being Pam's House Blend or the Huffington Post. I like being small in this very big pond.
Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled when others visit my blog, and more thrilled when they leave a note, but that can't be why I do this. If it were, it would be putting the onus on my self-esteem, self-worth and all the rest on a fickle bunch of blog readers who really ought to go do something useful but would prefer to poke around on the internet.
I blog for me, not for anyone else. In that vein, I would encourage you to set things up the way you like them and rearrange them when you get bored. It's like your workshop, albeit an ethereal, verbal workshop, but still. Put stuff where you like it, where it will be useful or entertaining to you, not where others think it should go.
The best part about the blogosphere is the variety of stuff out there (here). Some folks are audio/visual/computer genius-weenies and put together sites that would intimidate George Lucas. Some offer things that are so clean, so bare, so beautiful that Bob Guccione would marvel at the use of white space. And then there are the rest of us, who decorate our blogs much like we decorate our homes - according to our whims and desires and technical abilities. My blog, much like my home, seems to be decorated in cast-offs, yard-sale specials and things I found on junk day.
And that's ok.
Whatever you decide, Crummy, just might want to be aware that all blogging, it being the solitary activity it is, or how good you think it makes you feel, can cause hair to grow on the palm of your mouse hand.
Best,
PJ
i actually like your blog exactly at it is. i'm interested in the words, not the bells and whistles.
and by the way, i am duly impressed at your mention of joan armatrading. if i were stuck on that proverbial desert island with only one CD to listen to, *The Shouting Stage* would keep me utterly content until i was rescued, preferrably by a lovely, long-legged redhead holding a nice cold bottle of Harpoon IPA.
just keep on writing mr. macrum. that's why you're here. and it's why i return to visit, again and again.
Darlene
I come to your page for the down to earth humor---as for advising you how to blog better , I've been blogging now for almost a full damn month now---I don't think its my place to tell YOU how to blog.----hell I'm still trying to understand what the difference is between tags, labels and cagtegories are? Maybe you should investigate the world of Blog Carnivals----I think you could compete real well in them.
Your Crummitude:
I rather think that Dawn's comment above hits it. The question "Why do I blog?" is one you should ask yourself. When you have the answer, you'll know where to go from there.
And hey, I rather like blatant self-indulgence, down-to-earth humour, a bit of irony, trips down the bike path or down memory lane, and complaints about winter weather and sump pumps.
In other words, it's a helluva good blog already, sir.
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