I have been blogging sporadically for several years, but sometimes I feel that my posts just go into a black hole in cyberspace. So for2010 one of my goals is to build up a network of followers to share insights with. I strongly believe in the power of educational networking and learning through the exchange of ideas.
To meet that goal my first step was to examine the delicious bookmarks on blogging that I have collected over the last 3 years. After reviewing those dealing with becoming a better blogger, I found two that inspired me. The first was guidelines for writing good posts. These are just a few of the tips from Vicki Davis's Ten habits of bloggers that win! that I plan to try to follow:
1. Get a catchy title. (I always enjoyed writing titles for essays. This one should be fun!)
2. Be brief. (Not a problem. I like writing and rewriting to find the best and briefest way to get my message across.)
3. Add an appropriate graphic. (I plan to use Flickr photos with appropriate Creative Commons permissions or MS pictures).
4. Use multiple, relevant tags. (This is tricky. It's hard to narrow down to the gist of the topic sometimes.)
From Richard Byrne's My Seven Edublogging Secrets I chose these suggestions for finding followers:
5. Identify a niche audience. (This is also difficult. I teach a grad school course online for teachers who want to integrate technology into their k12 classrooms. I would love to connect with other professors who teach a similar course, but it's hard to do. The edubloggers I follow usually are k12 teachers or tech instructors in k12 settings. I learn a great deal from them, but I have no idea how to find others who do what I do.
6. Post consistently. (I read a lot of edublogs and "edutweeters" everyday. I just have to remember to both comment of their blogs and post about thoughts their entries spark in my mind.) I'll try for every Friday!
7. Contribute to Twitter. (I really must remember to tweet about some of the great blog posts I read so that more people can learn from them too.)
Whether or not these suggestions work for me to extend my "following", they are definitely good suggestions for any edublogger.
No comments:
Post a Comment