BlogAdda 12: “This happened today…”: Blogging An Event

As we run into the last month of the year, our calendars start to pack up. There are last-minute things on everyone’s agendas to be ticked off before we go off on holiday. There are parties to attend and people getting married. It’s a busy month and (hopefully) a good one for everyone around.

My twelfth BlogAdda post and the last one for this month is up. This week I talk about something every blogger faces at some point of time – covering an event. It could be a personal do like a wedding or a party. Or it could be a professional one like a conference or a seminar. It could even carry semi-journalistic tones if you’re invited to a press conference to write about it. Writing about a one-time event has its own special nuances and that’s what this post is about.

(Click here to real the full post on BlogAdda)

BlogAdda 11: Reader Devo Bhava!

My post on BlogAdda this week, talks about building a relationship with your reader community. This would seem a little odd to people who knew me 6 years ago, in my early blogging days. Yes, I used to be a touch-me-not blogger who wouldn’t respond to comments or any correspondence from my readers. But much has changed since then, my own attitude the least of them all.

This is the era of connections, of actively seeking them out and building on them. It benefits the people at both ends of the connection. Do read this post and let me know what you think!

Also, since this is a free WordPress domain and I don’t enjoy the benefit of the In Series plug-in anymore, here are the earlier articles for your reference.

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Other articles in this column:

1. Checklist For A Blogger
2. Building Access: Feeds & Link-sharing
3. Protecting Your Privacy
4. Is Your Blog Facebooked?
5. The Twitter Birdie At Your Blog
6. Dress Up Your Blog
7. Dear Reader, Stay Awhile Longer
8. Group Blogs: Becoming A Part Of The Online Community
9. The Internet Undesirables
10. Blogger Profiles: Creating An Identity For Your Blog
11. Reader Devo Bhava!
12. “This happened today…”: Blogging An Event

I believe that the audience is an integral part of any artist’s performance. In the case of a writer (or specifically, the blogger), the readers play this role. Any blogger who says that they don’t care about readers, has to be lying. If you didn’t care, you’d write in a private diary, not on a website visible to the whole connected world! So you can see why a blogger needs to establish a tangible connection with his/her readers. A good blogger ensures that his/her content is fresh, top-quality and recent. A great blogger goes the extra mile by thinking about how to make the blog, a real experience for the reader.

(Click here to read the full post on BlogAdda)

BlogAdda 10: Blogger Profiles – Creating An Identity

This week I post my tenth column in the BlogAdda series and this time I talk about one of the fundamentals. The ‘About Me’ section also known as a bio is a much neglected but very important part of a person’s online presence. It is the first communication about you to your readers and defines your blog. In my column I cover the basics that a bio should have and a few other things that it could include.

When I find myself grappling with a problem, especially a creative one, I go back to my basics, my fundamental assumptions. New ideas usually emerge from there. While thinking about what to talk about in this column for bloggers, I went back to my first post listing the basic 10 essentials for a blog. And in that, I found my answer.

Number 3 on that list is the Blogger Profile. Does that merit a column? Let’s see. How long does it take to describe a person, to define his identity, to etch out her life? How long does one have? A Blogger Profile (or the About section as it is known in certain places) is an introduction, a description and a definition. It can also be a portfolio, a marketing tool, a showcase or a resume. This is the place you go to when you’re facing an identity-crisis of sorts, about your blog.

(Click here to read the entire post on BlogAdda)

BlogAdda 9: The Internet Undesirables

I love my blog and my seven-year experience of blogging has been nothing short of fulfilling. But I’ve had my share of unsavory experiences, unexpected at the time and that taught me a little about protecting myself (if not human behaviour). In my BlogAdda column this week, I talk about some of the undesirable elements one could encounter as a blogger. Where possible, I’ve made suggestions on handling these but most of these don’t have foolproof solutions. Still, I was taken unawares when each of these happened to me so I figure, forewarned is forearmed.

I’ve discussed ways to protect your privacy but those are not foolproof. In every case, your own judgment is your best bet. If you’re stepping out of your house, you should know about the dangers that could befall you. Similarly, if you’re on the internet, you’d do well to be mindful of its pitfalls. Even if you don’t always have a way to avoid them, forewarned is forearmed. Here are some of the strange creatures you might meet in the dark alleys of the internet:

(Click here to read the whole post on BlogAdda)

BlogAdda 8: Group Blogging: Be Part Of An Online Community

My post on BlogAdda this week, talks about group-blogging. This is something I haven’t seen been talked about much but it is a definite step in the community-building of social media. It also affects each individual member of the group blog in highly advantageous ways. My personal experience with my group blogs has been nothing short of enriching and this post is also a tribute to the people whose support and guidance I’ve had in these past few years. Arzan, Deepti, Aaman and Patrix, I do hope you like the post.

They say there’s strength in numbers. The worth of your blog is defined by its visibility, its loyal readership and its fan base. We’ll look at how to measure & monitor these in detail, in a future post. But before that, let’s look at one way to expand your blogging presence.

I started with one blog, back in 2004. A year later, I had expanded that to five different blogs (a chick-blog, a review blog, an office-stories blog, a poetry/confessional blog and my ‘main’ blog). Yet another year later, I found myself wondering how I could grow in this medium and in my craft (of writing). The answer came to me in the form of group blogs.

(Click here to read the full post on BlogAdda)

BlogAdda 7: Dear Reader, Stay Awhile Longer?

This week on BlogAdda, I talk about how to make your blog stickier i.e. – how to keep your readers glued to your blog for longer. Content is king as far as I’m concerned, so why not bring the king out to meet his public more often?

(Read the whole post on BlogAdda here)

BlogAdda 6: Dress Up Your Blog!

After the serious business of setting up, ensuring access & privacy and integrating Facebook & Twitter, I set out to have some fun. In this week’s BlogAdda column I look at the aesthetics of a blog, beginning with template, right up to sidebar goodies and blog games.

Blogging is a community exercise, a form of personal expression and the newest media kid on the block. Who says it can’t be fun too?

(Click here to read the BlogAdda post)

BlogAdda 5: The Twitter Birdie At Your Blog

October begins with a new season and a new look for our favorite birdie. In honour of the revamped Twitter, my BlogAdda column this week looks at the 140-character phenomenon and how it can benefit bloggers.

I’m still looking for feedback on this column, so my dear readers, please do drop in and leave your thoughts.

(Click here to read the post at BlogAdda)

BlogAdda 4: Is Your Blog Facebooked?

My fourth post (and the last one for this month) is up on BlogAdda. This week I link the blogosphere to the darling of social media – Facebook. As an incorrigible social butterfly and a compulsive blogger, I’m delighted by all the ways I have to marry these two interests.

This week I talk about some of the simplest and handiest ways to make Facebook work for a blog. Much of it is supposedly common knowledge and yet, I find most blogs that I follow, don’t use these methods. I follow all the ideas I’ve outlined myself and it works for my blogs. Here’s hoping it opens up new vistas for the readers’ blogs too.

(Click here to read the post on BlogAdda)

BlogAdda 3: Protecting Your Privacy

My third post is up on BlogAdda. Last week I talked about how to build accessibility for a blog through feeds and link-sharing mechanisms. This week I take a look at the exact opposite.

While the internet opens you up to a broad range of people and experiences, it also leaves you open to a number of undesirable elements. Fortunately, filtering mechanisms are available that can help you tailor your online presence with the level of accessibility and privacy that suits you the best. Privacy is as relevant an issue as accessibility and I felt that after talking about how to make one’s blog visible, it was vital to know how to also protect oneself online.

(Click here to read the post)