My Blog = My Life: big blogger habits

When is the best time of day to upload and publish new blog posts? This is a question that readers keep asking me, and the answer is simple... it depends.

Each person's blog is different. Each person's content is different. Each person's audience is different. And, each person's best time to post will be just a little bit different. Some bloggers will do far better posting in the evening than they will in the morning. Other bloggers will see a lot more traffic if they post early in the morning.

Over the past ten months, I have heavily experimented on my best times to post, and I can tell you that there is no exact science to it. I believe there are a few different times of day almost anybody can post to get maximum traffic to their blog, and that each blogger needs to pick a time that works best for them, and for their audience.
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One of the big differences between the average blogger and an exceptional blogger is that an exceptional blogger always keeps a finger on the pulse of his/her blog.

Thoughts for the average blogger:

What would be good to post today?

Now, take a deep breath...

Thoughts for the exceptional blogger:
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One of the questions people often ask me is, "how do you come up with fresh content every day?"

To many people, the thought of coming up with something new or different every single day is overwhelming. I've had a lot of people ask, "what's going to happen when you run out of content?"

I'll tell you right now... coming up with fresh content every day is easy, if you keep your thoughts organized and easily accessible.

Every time I have an idea, or I find myself laughing about something noteworthy, or I have a life observation, I hurry and add it to a list in my phone or iPad (which sync together). I have different lists for Single Dad Laughing and Will Work 4 Followers.
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How often should you write and publish a new blog post? I guess that depends on how quickly you want your blog to grow.

When I sat down and wrote my very first post for Single Dad Laughing, I did so harboring the memory of at least two other blogs that I had started and never went very far with before losing interest or giving up. I didn't want to do that again, so I made a firm decision that I was going to post something new every day for an entire year at least.

As I've mentioned before, my goal when starting wasn't to build a big following. I just loved writing, and I made the goal because I saw the real life benefits that would come from turning it into a daily routine. I also knew that writing every day for a year would make the practice a deeply-rooted habit, and it was a habit I really wanted to have.
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One of the questions I'm most commonly asked by bloggers is, how do I convert blog visitors into blog followers? How do I get people who come to my blog to subscribe via RSS or some other method while they're there? How do I get people to stick around?

While there is no magic formula, there are a few things you can do to increase your conversion rate (the number of people who subscribe to your blog after visiting you).

First, I must emphasize one incredibly important point. You really can't trick people into following your blog. People will not follow unless your content is good. And not just good, but consistently good. Generally, people who are visiting a blog for the first time, don't just follow after reading one post. They peruse a little bit. They make their way around to see if they want to follow or if they already found the only good thing you've ever put out.

In other words, if you are having an overly difficult time getting your visitors to follow, you may want to look at your content. Are you being to flowery or self-absorbed (I'll talk about that in the next post)? Are you boring people out the door? Are you being so diplomatic to all people in the world that nobody can actually connect with you? If any of these are you, take a step back, examine, and then mix things up. Get a little more risky. Be a little more simplistic in your approach. Do what you've gotta do to start getting those conversions to your blog.

So, with that being said, here are five tips for turning blog visitors into blog followers.
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We've already discussed how to come up with fresh content every day for your blog. Hopefully you've gotten in the habit of writing down ideas the moment you have them so that you don't forget them. But what about those ideas that you probably should forget?

Ever since starting blogging, I have been in the habit of writing down all my ideas. When they enter my ever-busy brain they always sound like the funniest, most profound, or best ideas that any blogger has ever had any time, anywhere! I jot it down, I look at it, and I think... yeah... that's the ticket.

Then, for some reason, the next day or the next week or the next month, I come across it while I peruse over my list of potential blog posts and I think, would that really be funny? Would that really work? Could I really make that interesting?

And then, remembering my initial love for the idea, I leave it on the list. And, eventually I write about it.

Of course, sometimes I never have that in-between-think-this-might-be-lame thought, and I just go straight to writing about something I've jotted down in the past. Either way, these posts never turn out great.

I have a very hard time not finishing something once I've started writing it. Even if an idea flounders the moment I start typing, I usually finish writing it. Are you the same way?

What I have had to do with Single Dad Laughing is put the post away when I'm done, go work on something else, come back to it, and read it as if I was one of my blog followers. I always ask myself very honestly, is this entertaining? Is this only humorous to me or would it be humorous to others? Is this too preachy? Is my tone right? Is this idea worth putting out there at all?

Every once in a while, the answer I have to honestly give is "dude, this blog post ain't that great."
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