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Hey Friends! It’s been a few weeks since I have tackled a subject for discussion. There HAVE been many things on my mind – but there is one particularly I wanted to discuss.
Blog Advice Posts – and How To’s
This topic stems from my 2016 New Year New Me post. In that post, I talked about I wanted to HELP and INSPIRE others. Whether that be in life, blogging, crafting I mean, whatever. I just love helping people.
I created a sign up for an advice column, and left the info there for people to just enter their email, should they be interested. You know how many I got?
ZERO.
At first, I was like. “Okay. Well. That hurts.”
It almost felt personal. I felt like no one was interested in MY ADVICE or what I had to say. And while this MAY be true for some, I don’t think that’s ALL of what it is. I think there’s an all around… MEH feeling about bloggers posting advice posts or how to posts and I don’t understand WHY.
Yes, some CAN come off condescending and rude. And make a reader/blogger feel like they are doing something wrong if you don’t do things a certain way. I, have felt that way. I, don’t want others to feel that way. Be it a post someone else wrote or one I wrote.
However, a lot of what I have learned about the community, or the industry, is self-taught. Some things were not learned the easy way, either. I feel like if we as “senior” bloggers can ease newer and/or younger bloggers into the fold, then why not do it?
I wish I would have know about FTC’s. Affiliates, advertising and the like…. I wish I would have known a lot of things, really. It’s likely that there ARE posts out there that I missed. I for one, like reading about what works for some people, and what doesn’t. Do I take ALL the advice on ALL posts I read? No. Do I think some are ludicrous? Yes.
I took to twitter for a poll – and here are the results
How do you feel about Advice Posts and How To's for book bloggers?
*for a discussion post*
— tonyalee (@tonyaleeh) February 16, 2016
Honestly, I was surprised! Maybe it’s just been MY experience and conversations I’ve had, but I’ve seen/heard more from those who dislike them, over the people who love to read them. So this really shocked me!
I wont let the lack of interest stop me from doing a column, or post series, I just haven’t had the time yet to get things together. One day, world. One.Day.
Blog Advice and How To's - What's your take? Click To TweetLet’s Talk
- What are your overall thoughts on Advice Posts and How To’s?
- Have you taken any advice from posts that you have read?
- What is the best & worst advice you have seen?
- Is there ONE THING you wish you would have known before starting your blog?
Tonyalee is an avid reader, gym junkie, coffee addicted workaholic, and blogger. Be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram for random shenanigans.
19 Comments
I always thought I was in the minority with liking Blog How-To/Advice Posts. I feel like I’m forever hearing people say that those posts are annoying bc they feel the person is telling people what to do… like there is only one right way. And while I get that, I also really really like it when people share what they’ve learned. Sometimes I feel like bloggers are so secretive about things. I hate having to learn everything the hard way. Once thing I wish I had known?? Hmmm… I guess it would be that people in the community are really competitive and cut-throat at times. I had no idea it was like this when I just wanted to make a website about books I read.
Michelle @ Pink Polka Dot Books recently posted…End of Year Survey- 2015 (better late than never!!)
Yes exactly. And there are times when I felt like I was doing something WRONG, when really it just wasn’t worked for me! And yes some people int he community are competitive. Luckily, most of the people I interact with aren’t 🙂
tonyalee recently posted…Middle Grade Madness | The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman
I write How-To posts and they always get great reception! I think the bigger issue behind why you didn’t get any answers to your poll is because when you ask a broad question like, “What advice do you want me to write about?” people can’t seem to think of anything. It’s just such a tough question because people might not know what your strengths are and what you feel comfortable giving advice about and what type of things you might be talking about. But that doesn’t mean that people don’t want to read them! I say, go ahead and give advice – like you said, not everyone has to take it, but there is wisdom to be gained from all of those types of posts!!
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction recently posted…Books that Intimidate Us – Let’s Discuss!
No – that’s not how that went about. It was a, “if you’re interested, put your email here” kind of thing, so those people were first to get them. I didn’t ask anything specific. Lol
I plan to do some posts – but I have to be careful I word it so it doesn’t come off some kind of way. I tend to come off strong haha thanks Nicole!
Who, you? No way! LOL!
Ha ha ha 😉 lol
I think there is a real need for helpful advice and a need for posts that are helpful instead of those that scream YOU ARE DOING THIS WRONG instead of saying something like, if you are doing it this way, you may save time and get better results if you do it this way. I have been seriously turned off by advice and how to posts lately because they are so mean and condescending and basically have a tone that says “if you don’t follow the way I do it, you are dumb and wrong.” That will never be okay for me but I think the type of post you are thinking about would really be helpful!!
Eva @ All Books Considered recently posted…Review: The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain, translated by Jane Aitken and Emily Boyce
I think there is too! There’s a lot of things I want to share! 🙂 Thank you!
tonyalee recently posted…Middle Grade Madness | The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman
Well, if I’d known about this before, I would definitely have signed up. But from my own experience, blogger how-to posts do get good traction in the community? I mean, I wrote one a couple weeks ago (I’ll link it in the commentluv) and it’s my best-performing post so far this year. Perhaps if you wrote a post just about blogger tips and asked people if they were interested in that advice column, instead of including it in a recap, more people would know about it? I’m sure there are bloggers other than me who’d be interested in your advice!
PS: If you’re interested in making a mailing list, this post at Femtrepreneur is pretty fabulous:
Alyssa @ The Devil Orders Takeout recently posted…5 Steps to Defining Your Trademark as a Book Blogger
Aw thank you! That’s awesome. Thinking back now, maybe i didn’t approach it the right way? It’s highly likely lol
Thanks for the info on the mailing list! I will for sure check that out.
tonyalee recently posted…Middle Grade Madness | The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman
I like and don’t like advice posts. There are some that are great and really help, but then there are some that are just so judgemental and if you are not doing it the way that their doing it, it’s wrong and I get so angry with those.
I do love how-to’s espeically with posts about graphics and things like that.
Thanks for the post
Angel @Angel Reads recently posted…Book Review: What I Saw by Beck Nicholas
Yes exactly, and the one thing I wouldn’t want to do is come off that way. And I tend to sometimes, which is something I have been working on for ages.
tonyalee recently posted…Middle Grade Madness | The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman
I think the blog advice posts and how to’s that have been irking people were the ones about what to put on your blog, or how your blog layout should be. And yeah, there were some that were a little condescending, and because they all appeared during a certain time period (like last summer/early fall), people just started generalizing ALL blog advice posts as being “this is what you’re doing wrong, let me tell you how to fix it”. And obviously that is not the case.
I had maybe, TWO posts that were along those lines, but they were more like “tips” on how to help you. And I think those seemed to work? Obviously I’m not telling you what you should do (that would be ironic), but that’s the basic blogger history I think (lol). At least in my opinion.
I personally love all other blog advice posts besides the ones that tell me how my blog should look like. Like ones about requesting ARCs, or gaining more traffic, etc. etc. 🙂 🙂
Valerie recently posted…Thank You For This Awesome WWII Event! + Recap
YEP! I was thinking long and hard about how that stigma came about and that is exactly what I thought. I saw SO MUCH backlash and passive aggressive comments about them and that is what I am worried about. Because that’s not MY intent, ya know?
I wish I knew more about gaining traffic hahahaha the closest thing I came to with advice with my Giveaway one – because 99% of giveaways bloggers host are illegal.
Advice posts can be really helpful for new bloggers and especially people who are on the fence about starting a blog. When I first joined, I had no idea the book blogosphere even existed and it took me five months before I even started interacting with another book blogger. It’s around that time that blogging advice posts were my lifeline to pul me into the community.
That being said, I think what matters in advice posts is the tone. A lot of bloggers keep saying there’s no right or wrong in blogging and for the most part that is true. However, there is a right way to code, there is a right way to schedule posts, there is a right way to set up Twitter cards and s on — these are mechanical/technical things that can be done wrongly. That’s why blogging advice can be so invaluable.
At the same time, I’d say pick your niche. That’s the best blogging advice I’ve received and the reason I decided to post photography and bookstagram tutorials specifically. Pick an aspect that you’re confident in blogging about. You could post general advice but you’d probably have to be cool with posting information that is easily available elsewhere, unless you tweak it to fir your specific purpose.
All the best, if you still intend to set up your blogging advice posts!
Joséphine @ Word Revel recently posted…Bookstagram 101: Productivity Apps
I had NO idea either! There was so much I didn’t know about with blogging, laws, rules etc. and navigating all that was hard. But like I said, there probably ARE posts out there and I just didn’t see them.
Tone is my main concern. Especially when it comes across over the internet. I KNOW I come off strong, it has been something I have been working on for a long time. I have not run into public issues, but I have been emailed on several occasions.
Also, I think finding my niche is what I need to do. I could do a “things I learned” over the years – but part of me feels that even though I personally feel successful, there are many blogs MORE successful than mine – so who am I? Of course, this is an insecurity thing over anything lol
tonyalee recently posted…Middle Grade Madness | The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman
I actually started a whole series on my blog where every week I post a blogging help/how-to post. I didn’t ask people if they wanted it before, I just knew that when I started a blog, some things weren’t so easy to find. Every time I would look something up the results would all be for paid options. Like, there’s something that I was trying to do with my email list that everyone was telling me to pay for all these services to get it done. It would have come out to like 100 or 150$ ! I was determined to find a free way and after about 4 hours of searching, I found it! I wanted to provide that type of information to my readers so they don’t have to hunt for 4 hours haha
I did have that like “why should they listen to me” question floating around in my head. But it’s turned out to be a great spot for discussion! I never tell people how I do things is how they should do things, I’m not a professional. It’s just to try to help people out, if they’re offended by that, then that’s their issue because I’ve had plenty of people tell me my posts are helpful or we’ve had a great discussion about the topic!
Molly @ Molly’s Book Nook recently posted…Maze Runner: Scorch Trials // Mildly entertaining
Yes, there are so many things not easy to find at all. Or if I am on the fence about something, to just read about someone else’s experience. There only post I did that was kind of around that “are you doing this right” was my giveaway one, because of the legality of them. Thanks for your input!