How To Set Your Blog On Fire
The spring brings me great anticipation of the weather to come. I’m looking ahead to summer and already thinking about going camping. Last summer we sat around for hours just staring at the fire – yes literally gazing, hypnotized, for hours. We started out roasting marshmallows, talking and laughing, having an amazing time and then as the time passed, silence fell among us, and we just sat there, watching the flame sway and pop, mesmerized by its warmth and beautiful light.
But at the beginning of the night, it didn’t start out that way. Just as the sun began setting, there was a race against the impending darkness to get the fire lit and it was quite stubborn in the beginning. Each dry log had to be stacked and placed in just the right position with enough open spaces so that the air could get through, but not so much that the fire couldn’t spread to the adjacent log.
Then we had to stuff it with paper and attempt to light it thoroughly. Just when we thought the fire was going good, it would fizzle and we’d have to start the process again. It turns out we had stuffed it too tightly with paper and had the logs stacked improperly. After we repositioned the logs and took some of the paper out, strategically re-adding as the fire died down, that’s when things began to warm up.
Managing a blog is alot like trying to start a fire. You want to create something that’s just as mesmerizing, but it’s always a race against time. You sit down to write and before you know it, a couple of hours have passed and there’s still nothing on the page. The sun sets on you everyday and yet there are so many blogging-associated tasks that still have not been completed.
But if you approach writing for your blog as if you were trying to start a camp fire, you’d soon discover that there are many opportunities to hypnotize readers in such a way that they won’t be able to stop staring at your content.
You must carefully place your logs
Make sure your content is organized in such a way that makes sense. Then vary the type of posts you write about your niche. Try not to smother your readers with too many of the same types of posts. It’s okay to have recurring series that you revisit each week. In fact spreading them out like this will give your readers a chance to cool off and then re-ignite their interest for that particular topic. Don’t burn out one concept too fast.
Use different sized logs
To keep yourself from getting burned out from blogging, it’s a good idea to vary the length of your posts. Every post doesn’t need to be 600 words. In fact, you’ll do you readers a wonderful favor if you post a few short posts throughout the week. That first night we were amazed by the sheer novelty of the fire, but by the second night our attention span was much shorter. Your subscribers will be the same way, in the beginning they will have more interest, but after a while they may only be able to devote so much time to reading your posts.
Leave enough space
You don’t have to cover every angle – you don’t have to pretend that your blog post is going to reveal ALL the secrets. It’s okay to throw in a few insightful points and then turn it over to your readers to fill in the gaps. We all loved it when it was our turn to put the next log on the fire, we wanted to see if we could get it in the fire ring just right, in hopes that our log would be the one that would take the fire to new heights. Your readers want to do the same thing.
So how do you start the fire on your blog and what do you do to keep it going? Do you provide enough opportunities for readers to place their logs on the fire? Do you have a unique S’more recipe? (Last year we made Reecee cup s’mores…they were delicious!)
Kiesha is the author of WeBlogBetter and Christian Blog: Highly Favored. She’s a writing instructor, writer/editor, and blog consultant for small business owners. If you’d like to know more, read her extended bio. Connect with her on Twitter and subscribe to Weblogbetter for blogging tips & tricks.
I think that trying to cover every angle is an issue many of us struggle with. A good practice is to determine what points we want to cover and stick with highlighting three in a post and break the others up into posts of their own.
and like you said try not to overwhelm the readers with too much info, leave something for them to add to the conversation.
Hi Ms. Freeman,
Yeah, it takes a bit of reserve to do this sometimes – I want to be thorough, I want to be witty and think of every angle that I can, but I also want participation – so something has to give.
Nice post, Kiesha!
I think the one point I personally continue to overlook is creating shorter posts — not sure why either.
Hi Chris,
It will benefit you (and your readers) if you start breaking those posts up into sets or series. Many times people want to read our content, but when it’s too long and their time is short, it could cause them to pass up quality posts that they would’ve read had they been shorter. Try it, you’ll find it will help you spread your posts across the week and give you more search engine benefits.
Hey Kiesha,
This is a really good analogy. We are getting ready for our launch, and the length and frequency of posts has been talked about almost daily. Writing them is fun, but we want to make sure that someone (in addition to my mom) will want to read them. So, we are doing much of what you describe – a weekly series, and a few shorter posts, then something that is just for fun. That is pretty likely to be the formula for the first few weeks anyway. Have a great day!
- mark
Hi Mark,
It will help you stay motivated as well – when you know you can posts a quick and short post, you’ll be more likely to just dive in and start writing.
Haha, this is a pretty big stretch to make an analogy in my opinion. Still, I thought this was a good qualitative post and you have some nice ideas. Keep on truckin’!
This is a cool analogy.
To add to it, we should always ensure that we have the fuel ready to keep the fire burning. Proper scheduling, engaging in the right community building activities and avoiding the burnout. If we allow the flame to go out completely then it can be twice as difficult to get it blazing back to where it originally was. So we need to keep the momentum and, if possible, grow it steadily rather than in a rush.
Hi Robyn,
That’s what I’m talking about! :) Go ahead and throw your logs in – these are truly insightful additions.
Creative post! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I have found that varying the size and subjects of posts is important to keep my readers from ‘burning out’. If I plan to do a series of larger, pillar content, I have learned to add some ‘kindling’ in between the ‘big logs’. The smaller articles keep my audience coming back for more and looking forward to a longer post.
Lori
Great article, and really descriptive! For us visual learners, it was extremely easy to associate the task with the image of your fire. From now on, when I blog, I’ll image what stage of the fire I’m at. Thanks!
Interesting points, and great information!
what is it that encouraged you to write this post in this field?