Blogs

[brewcrewkid14]

I know a lot of people have blogs that post on this site, which is why I am asking this question. I was curious to how you guys get your blog out there in the open and get it to the point like for instance, Al's Ramblings, got to. I was just curious for some tips and ideas on how to run a successful baseball blog, that I am considering starting.

[dadofandrew]

how you guys get your blog out there in the open and get it to the point like for instance, Al's Ramblings, got to.

 

Write poorly, but often.

 

Get people to link to you.

 

Done.

 

Links are by far the most important thing. Back when I started Ramblings, it was unique, and people were happy to link you. I get a couple requests a day now, and many have nothing to do with the Crew.

[Oldcity]

Write a lot before you work on links so people have something to see.

 

Mine started as a school project and I really didn't have a clue as to what I was doing. I registered with Google and Technorati, but like Al said I really didn't get many visitors until I spread the name around. I didn't want to push it too hard, but I just linked it in my brewfan sig. The results were immediate. Al even saw it here and linked to it once on Ramblings. If you have facebook or something like that, list it there.

 

I'm not near the level of Al's Ramblings or others, but I'm just kind of just doing it for fun. I've only had it going for five or six months. We have two authors and I make a few posts each week. I'm enjoying it.

[ajgodson]

Jason,

 

I could probably list advice for you pages and pages long, but we'll start with the basics. If you have specific questions, be sure to ask. I've been blogging for about 6 months and have had a pretty good run of it. I'm about to launch into my third project, so I've had to think about a lot of these things the last few days.

 

1. Decide what you want your blog to be. Humor? Statistical Analysis? A fan community? You need to find your niche and stick to it. Writing a piece full of fart jokes today and then dropping a sabermetrics piece tomorrow will only confuse your readers.

 

2. Register your blog @ technorati, google, ballhype, striketwo.net, StumbleUpon, and every niche site you can find. Every bit helps.

 

3. Write great content, design a clean layout.

 

4. Be consistent -- develop regular habits for posting, twice a week, once a day, whatever.

 

5. Your first few weeks you might be the only one reading, but that's okay. Develop some content for people to read.

 

6. Links, links, links. Once you find your voice and determine your niche, you'll know what kind of links to seek. Depending on what you decide, I can help you with some basics. Ballhype is a great place to fish for links.

 

 

That's the basics. If start it and write something good, let me know and I'll link it....you'll get a decent technorati/ballhype jump. ajgodson [at] hotmal [dot] com

[rluzinski]

All you apparently have to do is dress up in a nerd costume and write a "how to" for making one on the blog. Just google "pacman costume".

 

I really just started my blog to document all the little mini-studies I end up doing on the Brewers. As others have said, if you write something link worthy, you'll probably get a decent bump in page views. I haven't really tried to promote it any other way.

 

EDIT: In Al's case, you apparently spend some cash sponsoring a bunch of player pages on baseballreference.com How many players have you sponsored, anyway?

 

EDIT: Fixed!

[1992casey]

Russ, do you mean bf.net or baseball-reference.com?

[Brian the Automator]

Yeah, cuz if Al's been sponsoring pages here, someone's totally been skimming on me! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[dadofandrew]

Brian, Colby said to just send the checks to him!

 

Russ, I think I have about 10 pages on BR.com, I used to spend all the ad revenue on them, but of late, have made some minor profit.

[TerraceReserved]

Quote:

---

Russ, I think I have about 10 pages on BR.com, I used to spend all the ad revenue on them, but of late, have made some minor profit.

---

 

Just curious....... but how did you make profit by having some pages on BR.com?

[dadofandrew]

I made profit from the ad links on Ramblings...I spend almost all of it to market the site, on BR.com.

[1992casey]

Don't overdo the ad links. Al's page is fine. On the other hand, Baseball Musings currently has 1,716 links on its main page: some are ads; some aren't. I didn't ferret out duplicates this time, but when the page sat at 1,200 links in January, about 400 duplicated.

 

Also, don't underestimate the impact of the Brewerfan readership. Regulars here know you're an excellent poster and will likely follow the link once it's in your sig.

[brewcrewkid14]

I appreciate all the help from this thread.

 

I decided to go ahead and put my new blog in my signature. I will also appreciate it if people that do have blogs would link my blog on their site, as I will do the same for them if I see a Brewer Blog on here.

 

Thanks again for all the replies and keep them coming if people have more to say!

[RayKingsForemanGrill]

For those who may be interested (insert shameless plug here) I use my MySpace blog to review books, movies, music - talk about current events, the Brewers, etc... Later today or early tomorrow I'll be posting a review of Michael Ondaatje's book Divisadero... along with some snippets on Ratatouie and Spiderman 3...

 

Check it out, if you are so inclined:

 

www.myspace.com/gaslightfilms

 

edit: Oh, and a review of Jason Isbell's fantastic new CD Sirens of the Ditch is also forthcoming....

[ajgodson]

Jay -- The blog looks good. I highly recommend checking out ballhype and getting listed there to help get you some links and a bit of traffic.

 

Just an FYI for anyone that writes/reads blogs, a new Packers blog is going to launch and is lookig for a lead writer if anyone here thinks they might be up for it. My plate is full, though I'll probably contribute occasionally to the blog.

 

Here's the skinny:

 

milwaukee.craigslist.org/...83146.html

[brewcrewkid14]

I have a question. I have now registered at quite a few niches, including ballhype. What is the whole concept of links though? How does that all work?

[ajgodson]

I'm talking about incoming links, which are a great source of traffic and how most things are measured in the blogosphere.

 

If you write a popular post, you might get linked by other bloggers which will bring readers to your site. Hopefully they'll like what they see and come back. Plus, it feels good to have people reading and linking you because your stuff is good.

 

The "measures" that I pay attention to (besides basic traffic #'s) are Technorati Authority and Ballhype Rankings (ballhype.com/mlb/blogs). The # and size of links matter for these so a link from Deadspin is more valuable than a link from BrewCrewBall and so on. Usually only post links count, not blogroll links.

 

Ballhype and its kin help get exposure so you can get links. All the big bloggers are surfing there and looking for stuff to link, so you might get lucky and grab a big link that can bring hundreds or thousands to your site.

 

Be careful...blogging is addictive.

[brewers19]

While everyone is unabashedly promoting their own blogs, I figure I may as well join in the fray.

 

Where's My Applesauce?

 

It's stupid, has nothing to do with baseball, is on hold until late August, and I'm probably the only one who cares about anything that I write.

[hawing]

Being at least as dorky as brewers19, I sometimes read his summer-replacement blog (the link to which is available from his link above). When I do, I think of the Simon and Garfunkel classic At the Zoo:

 

Someone told me

It's all happening at the zoo.

I do believe it,

I do believe its true.

 

Its a light and tumble journey

From the east side to the park;

Just a fine and fancy ramble to the zoo.

 

But you can take the crosstown bus

If its raining or its cold,

And the animals will love it if you do.

 

Something tells me

It's all happening at the zoo.

 

The monkeys stand for honesty,

Giraffes are insincere,

And the elephants are kindly but they're dumb.

Orangutans are skeptical

Of changes in their cages,

And the zookeeper is very fond of rum.

 

Zebras are reactionaries,

Antelopes are missionaries,

Pigeons plot in secrecy,

And hamsters turn on frequently.

What a gas! you gotta come and see

At the zoo.

 

You could have a MIDI file of At the Zoo playing whenever someone displays your blog. Or maybe not.

[Oldcity]

The blog looks good Jay! I have to say I enjoy when people link to their blogs or sites. I like checking them out.

 

As far as shameless plugs go, nikegolf6 (Dan) is writing at my blog as well. I think we have some decent content.

[Kpanz20]

Stevo... you do have good content, I think your blog is top notch. I ready your stuff from time to time and feel like you've taken the words outta my mouth.

 

 

p.s. my blog is the best .... jk

[crewcrazy]

All of this blog talk (and general midsummer boredom) has inspired me to start my own. I'll probably add a link in my sig once I actually stop fiddling with layouts and whatnot and start writing stuff of substance. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Katuluu]

Quote:

---

Being at least as dorky as brewers19, I sometimes read his summer-replacement blog (the link to which is available from his link above). When I do, I think of the Simon and Garfunkel classic At the Zoo:

---

 

 

 

I'm freaking shameless. Yes it's political, but it's on another site, so I totally circumvented the rules. Woo Hoo!!! Outside of that, I hope you enjoy how I slaughtered the song Hawing.

 

Shameless blog whoring aside, it really depends on whether or not you want people to read what you are writing. I have multiple blogs, and only a few of them do I do any sort of pimping for them. I'm simply not much of a fan of whoring out my own work on any sort of frequent basis. I'd rather people find me, and tell me how awesome I am, rather then me shove it in front of their faces.