Any bloggers on board?

I'm pretty stoked to have completely revamped my website. I've made the leaped from hand coded html ala 1997 to Wordpress and social media, including a new blog.
I am doing a lot of reading on how to best use the blog, how often to post, etc. I certainly have a lot of material. I took down a whole section of the website that needed to be updated, and I plan on reintroducing the updated material on a regular basis.

I'd love to hear from you about your blogging experiences, either personal or business related.

Irulan

Here ya go : www.specialtyoutdoors.com hint, look for the photo of Veronica's cashmere jersey.

That's still one of my favorite winter jerseys. :D

Veronica

So, you're ready to create a simpler blog for your mother for her to post her ruminations and rants? :D

This guest blog post I wrote over a year ago, which explains how my blogs that I designed evolved. My partner took over his (third wave cycling) for his company. You'll find some stuff that he does from mid 2012 onward which I don't agree at all. But it is his blog..

Several comments:

*try adding a simple poll or survey (register via Daddy poll...there you can install the poll as a widget)
*what is the name of the Wordpress theme that was used? (Mine is twenty eleven. They keep on spinning out new theme designs. I don't have time to try on a new design and clean up the blog posts so things look right.)
*From a business perspective, you probably have several topics you might choose to blog? Or more importantly what type of content do you want to put on your blog? Stick to 2-4 simple main topics.
*Keep it visual (for the blog part), with some text. I personally am not attracted to blogs with nothing but text. But that's just me. Outdoor clothing is connected to the...great outdoors where clothing is used. Clothing that gets you to see and experience great outdoors..

*Maybe a section on tips....that you're willing to impart ie. care of tent, your jackets, certain materials.
*Section on outdoor fashion observations --new types of textiles that we don't know but translate in layperson's terms for us.

I gotta go to store now. So later..

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Originally Posted by shootingstar

So, you're ready to create a simpler blog for your mother for her to post her ruminations and rants? :D

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Sure once I have this one running smoothly. I'm having an issue with links resetting themselves to non-funtioning URLs.

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try adding a simple poll or survey (register via Daddy poll...there you can install the poll as a widget)

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What would be the point of a poll?

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*what is the name of the Wordpress theme that was used? (Mine is twenty eleven. They keep on spinning out new theme designs. I don't have time to try on a new design and clean up the blog posts so things look right.)

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2012

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*From a business perspective, you probably have several topics you might choose to blog? Or more importantly what type of content do you want to put on your blog? Stick to 2-4 simple main topics.

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Thanks for putting it succinctly. I have thought about this. Sewing/gear making tips; workroom musings; a category that would include gear care is where I am going, I think.

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*Keep it visual (for the blog part), with some text. I personally am not attracted to blogs with nothing but text. But that's just me. Outdoor clothing is connected to the...great outdoors where clothing is used. Clothing that gets you to see and experience great outdoors..

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Yes, photos. People always like photos.

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Maybe a section on tips....that you're willing to impart ie. care of tent, your jackets, certain materials.
*Section on outdoor fashion observations --new types of textiles that we don't know but translate in layperson's terms for us.

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You must have missed that Tips for Sewing Outdoors Gear has been an integral part of my website since day one. :p I am extremely well known in some corners of the net because of that section. It is the section that needs the most work. I have a great opportunity to update much of the material that was on the old site as blog entries. It's half done as I have all the old pages and I just need to edit/reformat them.

Thanks for the great input!

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Originally Posted by Irulan

Sure once I have this one running smoothly. I'm having an issue with links resetting themselves to non-funtioning URLs.


What would be the point of a poll?

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Interactivity with your readers/followers and make it casual/semi-fun. Daddy Poll is free for up to 100 respondents. After you create the poll, you copy a line of code that it spits out and paste it into a poll widget.

Methinks the photos of the dirt biking to illustrate the pants...needs to be a bit more closer to reader to see your work on pants or at least the style.

The thing about social media, is providing a bit more personal touch will make your biz less impersonal. As a small biz entrepreneur, it's easier to be more personal. Unless you've got other plans..

Best wishes. Feel free to pm me if you want to cut to the chase or need an opinion about a wordpress.com feature. The blog where I wrote as a guest blogger, belongs to one of the volunteer bloggers who has been answering wordpress.com support forum questions.

I've only half-heartedly kept a bike-to-work blog for one winter, so I can't help much you on style and technical details except to say that your blog looks nice.

I'm very impressed at your skills though! If I were a customer, I'd enjoy reading a blog that included some kind of "a day in the life of"-writing, describing your actual work. The more detailed the better, what kind of customer, what kind of gear, colour, is it heavily used, is it hard to find repair materials etc. It would be interesting to read just because it's something few of us know much about, and from a business point of view it would both "show not tell" how professionally you work, and build rapport with you as a person.

Pictures are great, and there too, the more detailed the better. Closeups showing really excellent stitching would be very persuasive if I were considering sending some gear in for repair.

Great idea lph- should I include the part where "how the heck am I going to do this?" keeps me up at night?

Also, regarding photos. Any action/use photos I have are totally dependent on what people send me. I try to get shots of the more interesting things before they leave. Face it, I'm not a pro photographer and never will be, so I just accept that.

I definitely plan on including some behind the scenes musing.
Ideas for this project were keeping me up last night.:)

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Originally Posted by Irulan

Great idea lph- should I include the part where "how the heck am I going to do this?" keeps me up at night?

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Absolutely. The sign of a dedicated professional :-)

Consistency is most important. Have a few articles queued up so the one you're currently writing will probably be posted a week or two (or month) later. If you do have a hiatus, explain ahead of time if possible, a short note during the hiatus if ahead-of-time wasn't possible, an apology & explanation afterwards as a last resort.