#9 If knowledge or experience gets shared in a not too comprehensive way, then the relationship between author and reader is like between a mentor and the mentored person, which seems quite personal, even if it isn’t in fact…

Even though I’m an unregular reader I’m a fan.

Compelling content, to me, is content that not only makes me feel like I’ve been helped in some way, but like I can take that information, and help someone else with it.

This series is compelling for that reason. It will help me to improve my own site, and it will help me to brainstorm ways to help my readers as well.

Thanks! (And thanks to those who’ve left so many great comments, as well.)

–Gayze
AnimalCommunicator-NY.com

Joe,
http://www.theblogismine.com

in this post you mention not to be too comprehensive, but I find this post to be just that. Too much take home lessons and information..

Igor

1) Each month I host a live poetry activity, the “fishbowl” on The Wordsmith’s Forge, in which audience members give me prompts and I write poems about those ideas. I post one poem free, and people can sponsor other poems to be posted if they wish. Afterwards, I post a followup report. If I’ve received general donations, there is also a “generally sponsored poetry poll” where people can vote for eligible poems to be posted. This is a popular event in my blog and people look forward to it. They actually requested that I announce it a week in advance so they could plan ahead.

2) In Gaiatribe, I often write about holidays. Sometimes I do an advance planning post 1-2 weeks ahead followed by a celebration post on the actual holiday. Bloggers Unite is an excellent source for holidays.

3) I also really like series. This makes it easy to break down a big topic into blog-sized pieces. It also works for covering all the items in a set. This year I’m blogging about the 8 Pagan sabbats in Gaiatribe, with advance posts about the themes and then about food and decorations. The food/decorations posts are the most popular, making a visible spike in my traffic.

Compelling content is important, but the kind of person who I am learning from is even more so. The person has to be approachable, like you could ask a question if you needed to.

Any writer should consider writing in that tone.

http://mimmnow.blogspot.com

You are awesome!

My blog http://www.knowledgereform.com/ is only three weeks old and it has been a struggle some days to find something interesting to write about – the other days idea pour out from my head like a waterfall.

Well, one must try to learn something new everyday and implement what one has learned practically to whatever one is creating.

Thanks again.

Once you got such nerve you will be at winning position. I am trying to learn that and also successful as well.

That being said, some of these just do not apply to the average blogger. I’ve found that when posts arise “asking questions” or “sharing vision” you end up talking to yourself, or getting the wonderful comments of “I like your writing, I too will blog about this topic very much thank you.”

When you act anticipatory, using the whole “oh gee, I can’t wait to share my next post with you, it’s going to be awesome!” 99% of the time it’s been a marketing pitch, a product pitch, or in general, a big build with a total let down.

Take the flip side with my friends with higher traffic blogs who rely a lot on their writing, and you’ll see them do the series of posts (because those WILL bring people back, and DO encourage genuine anticipation).

My issue is generating a series of posts and getting them set up so I can have a back log. Every once in awhile I can get that going, but otherwise I feel I can’t set aside the time to have a truly kick-ass blog.