How many read blog's?

[Ian Gentles]

No i am not trying to get you to read mine I am sure there are far better ones around. But i would be interested to find out if your read any? There are a lot of blogs out there, surely someone must read them?

[Gina Stevenson]

No i am not trying to get you to read mine I am sure there are far better ones around. But i would be interested to find out if your read any? There are a lot of blogs out there, surely someone must read them?

Ian, you beat me to the punch; was going to ask you [TIC, of course ;)] if it appeared not many readers showed up at your site, nor left commentary. :basic05

[Ian Gentles]

Ian, you beat me to the punch; was going to ask you [TIC, of course ;)] if it appeared not many readers showed up at your site, nor left commentary. :basic05

Nope, only Hans so far.

[Brad Mercer]

A few that I'll glance at occasionally, and then of course I'm taken to a blog now and then by following links, so I read them once.

I only keep one because I know that a handful of people consistently want the same information from me and it's easier to write it once than a dozen times.

Brad

[Ian Gentles]

Good point Brad that sure will help.

[Ian Gentles]

I find it interesting how different people write, use their blog's. I find my style slightly boring, but find it hard to change lol

[Ann Smith]

I don't usually read blogs because I don't have time. When I learn about one that may be interesting, I may check it out. I don't think I have ever posted a response. I just logged on to yours. Some pretty heavy thoughts. I would like to respond and may, another day.
Ann

[Hal Paul]

No i am not trying to get you to read mine I am sure there are far better ones around. But i would be interested to find out if your read any? There are a lot of blogs out there, surely someone must read them?

I have a hand full that I've bookmarked & read periodically, but if a blog isn't updated regularly, I tend to loose interest, and may even delete it from my favorites.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

I read a few. I like Keith Drury and also visit the Lifehacker website about every day.

I have a few readers of my blog, but I write for myself because I think it is a good discipline for me. I seldom get comments on my blog but since I am not really writing for an audience, I am okay with that too.

[Terri Knoll]

yours and Scotts for example and sometimes a link will take me to a blog and I may read that, but mostly I am so busy that my time on Naznet is precious to me...and I love Naznet so it wins out in the end every time :basic05

[Robin Hatcher]

Nope, only Hans so far.

Actually, Ian, I have visited your blog and attempted to leave a comment, but since it requred that I join I couldn't leave a comment. I didn't want to have to remember another log-on and password. I have a blog and allow anonymous comments, but I can delete them if I find something I don't want on my blog - so far I haven't had to delete anything.

Yes, I visit several blogs on a regular basis (regular basis can mean weekly or so) and others as I have time. I have a folder in my favorites entitled blogs and just check up on various ones when I'm able.

[Ian Gentles]

Must ask Hans how comments work he uses same blog

[Roy Richardson]

No i am not trying to get you to read mine I am sure there are far better ones around. But i would be interested to find out if your read any? There are a lot of blogs out there, surely someone must read them?

I have about a dozen in my RSS reader that it shows me when they are updated. Mostly Christian, some sports.

[William Hunter]

I don't any. The time I can spare I would rather read more.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

I have reworked the format of my two main blogs and that got me to thinking more about how much activity a blog gets and how to increase it.

I have a suggestion that, frankly, I doubt anyone will pick up on, but I'll throw it out there anyway.

The biggest factors in increasing blog traffic is back links from other blogs and comments. What if a group of NazNet members who blog on a regular basis banded together to boost one another's blogging efforts? We could all subscribe to each other's blogs, and when something new was added, make a real effort to write a short comment about the article. Then, we could do a weekly round up blog entry in each of our blogs with a sentence or so about each blog, with back links to all the blogs in the group.

I am pretty sure that that would boost search engine rankings and increase traffic to our blogs.

If you blog at least weekly and are interested let me know.

[Gina Stevenson]

Did you say "two main blogs," Scott? That sounds as if there are more, so ... How many do you keep up? You're a rather ambitious writer, it sounds! ;)

Perhaps you'll just have to go ahead & write that book, after all, Scott ... perhaps it can become a NazNet "bestseller." :cool:

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

Did you say "two main blogs," Scott? That sounds as if there are more, so ... How many do you keep up? You're a rather ambitious writer, it sounds! ;)

Perhaps you'll just have to go ahead & write that book, after all, Scott ... perhaps it can become a NazNet "bestseller." :cool:

It does sound like I have a whole bunch of others, doesn't it. There are actually 2 others. I co-host a radio program, Classic Gospel Southern Style, that is aired 14 times each weekend, and I keep an occasional entry blog about that: http://classicgospel.blogspot.com/. I also keep a potcast blog of sermons: http://sermonpodcast.blogspot.com/. So there are 4 in all -- including the devotional blog, with entries about 5 days a week, and my "Other blog" which has everything from adventures with Ubuntu Linux to thoughts about entire sanctification.

[Marsha Lynn]

The biggest factors in increasing blog traffic is back links from other blogs and comments. What if a group of NazNet members who blog on a regular basis banded together to boost one another's blogging efforts? We could all subscribe to each other's blogs, and when something new was added, make a real effort to write a short comment about the article. Then, we could do a weekly round up blog entry in each of our blogs with a sentence or so about each blog, with back links to all the blogs in the group.

I am pretty sure that that would boost search engine rankings and increase traffic to our blogs.

If you blog at least weekly and are interested let me know.

I guess this assumes that we like the idea of having people who don't know us personally arriving at our blogs via the search engines. I'm still trying to figure out whether I actually like that idea or not. If I purposely entice strangers to stop by, I feel like I need to keep things spruced up and "visitor friendly" rather than relying on the charity of my friends to put up with things like rambling thoughts, misleading titles, and a general lack of continuity and purpose.

Since I don't currently meet the minimum standard for participation as a blogger and am way behind in my reading, it doesn't really matter how I feel about your idea, but I am making a mental note of this post as representing at least one fellow NazNet blogger who likes the idea of high visibility in the search engines. When you write do you do so with the broadest possible audience in mind?

Marsha

[Wanda Van Winkle]

No i am not trying to get you to read mine I am sure there are far better ones around. But i would be interested to find out if your read any? There are a lot of blogs out there, surely someone must read them?

Very few and not daily.

As with all things in life, we must choose on what to spend our time. As for blogs, I limit myself to people I know and who write well. One example is Marsha Lynn http://www.marshalyn.blogspot.com/ whose writing reflects well-thought-out ideas on life and who stimulates my mind to personal growth. She writes well, presents her ideas well, and doesn't ramble.

So, I know many people who have blogs, but I don't read all of them. Some that I would not read, for sure, would be ones that are unclear in their presentation. For instance, (if you know what I mean), if someone (!!!!) added TOOO OOOO OOO MANY (like this) extra unnecessary items to one sentence and all kinds of blinky things and colors and stuff that indicates a ***** mind that is confused, I would not read it. Too many typos, same thing. It bothers my eyes, and it distracts from what they are saying, so that I get nothing out of it in the end because I can't get away from the confusion.

Also, boring ones. I just don't have time. But one person's idea of boring is another's idea of interesting, so boring is what bores me.

I'll temporarily read a blog if it is relating to something I'm particular interested in at the moment, but may not be interested in later.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

I guess this assumes that we like the idea of having people who don't know us personally arriving at our blogs via the search engines. I'm still trying to figure out whether I actually like that idea or not. If I purposely entice strangers to stop by, I feel like I need to keep things spruced up and "visitor friendly" rather than relying on the charity of my friends to put up with things like rambling thoughts, misleading titles, and a general lack of continuity and purpose.

Ha -- well some of that pretty much describes my writing. However, if I didn't want strangers reading my stuff I would do one of two things: I'd just journal and not post it in a public place or I'd put up a private blog and only give access to those I wanted to have access.

In my opinion posting something on the internet is like putting a note on the bulletin board at the public laundry or at the grocery store: you know most people won't see it but you also know that a random group will see it.

Since I don't currently meet the minimum standard for participation as a blogger and am way behind in my reading, it doesn't really matter how I feel about your idea, but I am making a mental note of this post as representing at least one fellow NazNet blogger who likes the idea of high visibility in the search engines. When you write do you do so with the broadest possible audience in mind?Marsha

I generally write with ministry in mind, therefore I do want people to see what I have written. I also write as a discipline and, sometimes, as therapy. Other writing types will get that last one, and others (for instance, those who hated writing essays in high school) will think I am bonkers.

I also blog with intentionally low expectations. I know that I'm a nobody who is an average writer at best. I hope that the right person stumbles on the right article at the right time, but I don't expect to be the next Drudge Report.

I am not sure what it would mean to write with the broadest possible audience in mind. In fact, I can't think of any writing that is like that. What would writing for the broadest audience look like? I mean even Reader's Digest isn't aimed at everybody. :)

[Wanda Van Winkle]

... like rambling thoughts, misleading titles, and a general lack of continuity and purpose....

Marsha

Marsha, I wish most of the books I listen to were as clear as your "rambling" thoughts. Maybe I just have a similar thought pattern because your writing usually tends to have continuity in some way.

[Marsha Lynn]

I am not sure what it would mean to write with the broadest possible audience in mind. In fact, I can't think of any writing that is like that. What would writing for the broadest audience look like? I mean even Reader's Digest isn't aimed at everybody. :)

The concept of "the broadest possible audience" is surely something pastors have to consider. If you are speaking to just your family, you can talk about "Uncle Bill" and everyone will immediately have a mental image of the man who goes with that name for all of you. If you are preaching to your church and no visitors are present, you can mention "Jackie" and everyone will know you are talking about your wife. If you are preaching at the community Thanksgiving service and want to use Jackie or "Uncle Bill" in an illustration, you must purposefully communicate everything that your listeners need to know about the characters in your illustration. Their names are probably incidental. What your audience needs is an identifier they can understand - my uncle, my wife.

If you're speaking to an international audience and say something about Wal-Mart, you need to draw a verbal picture of the most essential things about Wal-Mart that your audience needs to know to catch what you're saying. Or simply use the term "department store" or "large store that sells virtually everything that a household needs to buy on a regular basis". The less familiar your target audience is with you and your own context, the more deliberate you need to be in filling in the gaps for them.

There is a popular series of books for young teens called "The Princess Diaries". (The books are better than the movie.) I enjoy reading them. They're well-written and capture the turbulence of adolescence well. They have little enduring value, however, because they are full of references to names that are immediately familiar to today's teenagers but will have little or no meaning for tomorrow's. Twenty years from now, there would have to be extensive footnotes that would fall far short of truly conveying what the author's 2002 audience for one volume (which I happen to have at hand) associated with words like "Baywatch" or "Pod-Racer".

So writing for the "broadest possible audience" means choosing one's words and message to reach across cultural lines today and not be left without meaning tomorrow. And it means that a post on "teamwork and leadership" which is destined to become the number one hit for a search engine should probably have more substance and less venting of frustrations from behind a veil designed to avoid damaging my relationships with the people precipitating that frustration. Even I, as the author of that post, have to really stop and puzzle about what was behind it in order to figure out what I was trying to say.

Does that make sense?

Marsha

[Tami Martin]

I read a lot of blogs! I read photography blogs, scrapbooking blogs, cardmaking blogs...I go to the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood's blog, the Council for Biblical Equality's blog and Complegalitarian's blog. I read Scot McKnight's blog and occasionally Denny Burk. And there are a few writers of non-religious fiction that I read the blogs of, too.

I should update my own blog more often or get serious on one "voice" for my blog, but I'm all over the place.

[Steven Kochersperger]

I have started a blog...who really knows why....who else here has a blog?

http://stevekochersperger.blogspot.com/

[Desiree Allen-Baker]

I do, although I haven't updated very recently before today. I've just been very busy!

http://blackbirdfly.wordpress.com

[Anne and Dwayne Hood]

Hi, Steve, I visited your blog. Where did you go to school. My husband attended TNU and University of Memphis. Tell us about your family.

[Meghan Schoonover]

I read a couple blogs I keep in my RSS feeder...a couple close friends, a couple Nazarene ones, a couple emergent-style ones, some on gentle discipline, etc. I probably read a couple posts a day, as none of them have daily updates. I much prefer the message-board style of keeping in touch online. I do have a blog (see siggy) but it is pretty specific, having to do with green building. I started it to collect my research and connect with like-minded or BTDT folks, and to that end it has been successful so far.

[Steven Kochersperger]

Hi, Steve, I visited your blog. Where did you go to school. My husband attended TNU and University of Memphis. Tell us about your family.

Anne... I am an alum of ONU and NTS...My wife is an alum of KNU and NTS. Thanks for your kind words

[Robin Hatcher]

I read a couple blogs I keep in my RSS feeder...a couple close friends, a couple Nazarene ones, a couple emergent-style ones, some on gentle discipline, etc. I probably read a couple posts a day, as none of them have daily updates. I much prefer the message-board style of keeping in touch online. I do have a blog (see siggy) but it is pretty specific, having to do with green building. I started it to collect my research and connect with like-minded or BTDT folks, and to that end it has been successful so far.

Hi Meghan,

Just wanted to let you know I stopped by your blog today, but didn't leave a last name in my comment. Cool blog!

[Roy Richardson]

I read a few. I like Keith Drury and also visit the Lifehacker website about every day.

I have a few readers of my blog, but I write for myself because I think it is a good discipline for me. I seldom get comments on my blog but since I am not really writing for an audience, I am okay with that too.

I do the same. I've gone back and taken incomplete thoughts from my blog and used them as sermon fodder. It's kind of like an odd form of journaling for me.

[Meghan Schoonover]

Hi Meghan,

Just wanted to let you know I stopped by your blog today, but didn't leave a last name in my comment. Cool blog!

Thanks, Robin! I recognized you. :) Glad you liked the blog...it's a lot of fun. Can't wait until we get closer to building...

[Joel Merrill]

I almost never read them. I have so many things I need to read and want to read that I don't have time to read, I don't need anymore. I'm overloaded now. I don't even have time to be here.

Joel :gen03