Congrats! You have a blog. I love to subscribe to the blogs of my peers and be inspired by their work. (It’s also a great way for me to learn about interesting locations around the area I live!)
As someone who subscribes to a lot of blogs, I admit I have a few pet peeves that could be easily fixed if you would take a few moments to do so.
First, modify the title tag for your site to indicate where you are located. When you visit my blog it’s really easy to see where I am located, because it has Jenna Cole Photography-Dallas, TX running across the top. Christine of Big Pink Cookie just posted about this as well.
When I subscribe to your blog in my Google Reader, I file you away in the correct folder. Right now as I’m preparing to move to Chicago I’m building up my Photographers-Illinois folder, attempting to learn who my peers will be when I relocate. Unfortunately many of them haven’t named their feed correctly, and so they show up in my reader named “Blog” or the title starts with something like “Wedding Photography” and I have to highlight over the name to see who it is. Make sure that your name shows up when I subscribe to your feed, and start the title with your name, not your location or what you do, otherwise you get lost in a sea of other “Chicago Wedding Photography” titles.
Summarized posts. This, in my opinion, only discourages people from subscribing to and reading your blog. I don’t read blogs that do this, because clicking over every time is so frustrating and time consuming. If you want to know how many people are reading, burn your feed using Feedburner and log in to check your “reach” each day. You’ll reach more people if you stop summarizing your content, I guarantee it.
The worst offense? Some of you don’t even HAVE a feed. Blogs are meant to be something people can subscribe to, to allow them to keep up with your ever-changing content. I don’t have time to check your page each day for new content, I want Google Reader to take care of that for me. If you don’t have a feed, I, and many other readers like myself, will never take the time to check out the beautiful work you are producing. And that would be a shame indeed.
The secret to knowing if it’s easy to subscribe to your blog? Sign up for Google Reader and subscribe to yourself. You’ll see what it’s going to be like for others who would like to do so.
The best part about these tips? Your clients and potential clients will like these changes as well!
Sincerely,
Jenna Cole
by Jenna
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