Blog Carnival : Kalinago English - Advice for NOOBIE Bloggers

I follow Karenne Sylvester's excellent blog entitled "Kalinago English" with great interest. It is always full of brilliant ideas and lesson plans. A while back Karenne wrote this post here inviting bloggers around the blogosphere to write about their experiences and tips for new bloggers. A reminder was posted up on 25th June called "Advice for NOOBIE bloggers in ELT (carnival reminder)". This posting has just prompted me to write up a brief analysis on my personal experience of blogging.

Janet's Top 10 Blogging Tips

• Be on the look out for post materials from all walks of life
• Read other blogs and comment on them
• Find your niche and develop it
• Stick to a set format
• Try to include visuals- pictures/videos
• Try to think of appealing headlines to grab readers' attention
• Don't get discouraged at the beginning. Read my posting called "All Quiet on the Blogging Front"(I was really down in the dumps that day re my blogging experience - I am so glad that I persevered).
• Do suitable research for your posts
• Add links to other sites where possible
• Write from the heart and most importantly of all, write with passion.
  

My Bejewelled Notebook
I love looking out for posts to write about. My secret is that I keep a bejewelled (of course) note book, (thank you Dora!) which is the central hub of my blogging experience. All my ideas, inspirations, random thoughts are contained within. Without it, I wouldn't be so organised and there would be no references to past, present and future sources. I leave various stickies to remind me of certain points.

Inspiration - Where Art Thou?
I read newspapers, magazines, books. I read news on the Internet. I read other blogs, I watch the news on telly and I listen out to what people are saying at home, in social situations, in the street. Anytime, anyplace, anything, anybody, anywhere is a constant source of inspiration. Basically, life in general can be turned into a lesson or a posting.

Blogs in the Blogosphere
Onestopenglishblogs has become a bloggers' paradise for me. For new bloggers, it's definitely the place to be exposed to a rich source of ideas, information, styles, subjects etc. It's an extremely useful point of reference and it is very handy to have over 100 ELT blogs all in one place!

Analytics
I don't really have any idea of what is successful or not on my blog apart from readers' kind comments. I installed clustr maps some time ago and that helps me understand if people are reading my blog or not on a weekly basis. I enjoy doing a religiously keen general "check" every Sunday morning to see if the viewer numbers have changed. My average seems to be 60 viewers a week and I am absolutely thrilled that so many people are logging on to what I have to say. It is a real bonus and this definitely keeps me "on my toes".

Losing one's Dignity?
Eight months ago, in November 2008 when I was still relatively new to blogging, the one thing which somewhat terrified me was the final act of the "Press Publish" button scenario. I was motivated to go public and hence, viewable on the entire web, (as opposed to staying "private"- open by invitation only)by Nik Peachey, who personally imparted these words of wisdom to me. "What have you got to lose, except your dignity?" I followed his advice, and the rest is history. I realised that if you are writing for yourself primarily, the rest should technically follow. Publish only what you yourself would like to read if written by someone else. I suppose that is a logical piece of advice.

My Final Tips
DO NOT BE AFRAID. Enjoy yourself. Have fun. Treat your blogging experience as a virtual, online diary of where you are now. In the future, you will look back on these halycon days....
Finally, A very BIG thank you to everyone who has helped me get to this point in my life. I feel so much more confident now and I love writing my blog.