

Ask HN: What advice do you have for a first time blogger? - mnemonik

I'm in college and am just starting my first blog about an unrelated subject. So far my audience is just my local friends and acquaintances, but I want to build a larger community. How do I form lasting relationships with my readers? I really want to build a community, not just an audience, and that requires interactivity.<p>I saw this item a week or so ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=485592 But it seems as if everyone was off on different tangents rather than discussing how to build a compelling blog.<p>All advice is very appreciated. Thanks.
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teej
On having an engaging blog:

1\. Be topical. The best blogs in my feed reader stick to broad-ish topics I'm
interested in. i.e. Rails, Package Design, App Reviews.

2\. Be consistent (frequency). This is simple to understand, difficult to
execute. Find a schedule and stick to it.

3\. Be consistent (structure). Once you've found a blogging style that suits
you, stick to 1-2 styles (perhaps a short-form and a long-form). 37signals SvN
lost it's spot in my feed reader for mixing snippets, quotes, long insights,
and code-heavy posts together.

4\. Quality over quantity. The blogs I respect the most are the ones who have
thought out, relevant posts - even if they only come once a month.

On building a community:

\- Look to see what Seth Godin & Tim Ferris have done to engage their blog
readers beyond the comments.

\- Remember that blogging is still very much a broadcast medium. Don't expect
more than 1% of your readers to engage you on any particular level.

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ycomb
Put a picture on every blog post. Then at least it can be visually
stimulating. That's my 2 cents.

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marcher
Sam Ruby puts relevant icons in each post on his blog. I find it a nice break
from text, and it serves as a convenient summary of the topic of the post.

