Day 19: Who do you love… and why?
Today’s challenge is a relatively simple one, and likely one that you probably do on a regular basis subconsciously. Today we’re just going to do it consciously. Basically, the idea is to spend some time visiting other educator’s blogs that fall into the same niche as yours, and analyze what you see there. This is one of the challenges that I really liked out of ProBlogger’s 31 day challenge. And I think he has an excellent list of questions to ask yourself while you visit other people’s blogs.
# What do they do well?
# What are the boundaries of the topics that they focus upon?
# What don’t they write about?
# How often do they post?
# How long are their posts?
# What level are they pitching their blog at? (beginners, intermediate, advanced)
# What questions are their readers asking in comments?
# What style or voice do they write in?
# What type of posts seem to get the most attention (comments, trackbacks, incoming links)?
# What is their design like? What do they do well and what do they do poorly?
# What are other blogs writing about them (use technorati to check this)?
The idea here is to get an idea of what are your options. It was doing this sort of activity that really made me realize that I should be inviting more guest bloggers (I actually have two lined up) and also drove home the point that if I wanted my blog to be more active, I had simply had to make the commitment to be more active. There are other bloggers that I respect that have full time jobs and families too…. actually most of them do. And I could do if I really wanted to, without any excuses. There are times when as a result I’m posting this challenge as midnight approaches (ahem, right now), but I’m still getting it done because it’s important to me and a priority.
So take a look at some of your favorite blogs and see what exactly it is that you like about them so much. From both a technical aspect as well as a ‘spiritual’ aspect. And see what you can learn from them.
As a follow up activity, leave a comment here pointing out a blog you really like and what specific things you happen to like about it. Are there any aspects you’re going to try to take back to your own blog to try to add in or incorporate?
Leave a comment
I enjoy your blog, obviously that’s why I’m here. I also use to enjoy Tom Turner’s blog, but he doesn’t write anymore. I do keep up weekly with Marsha Cruce of Putnam, Lee Kolbert of Palm Beach, Jernnifer Dorman, Karen Seddon, Kristin Hokanson, John Lien, and then the big time bloggers like David Warlick, Will Richardson, and Tony Vincent.
Danielle Abernethy´s most recent blog post.. Interesting
Danielle Abernethy
11/20/2008
I am a big fan of Sylvia Tolisano’s Langwitches blog. http://langwitches.org/blog/ Sylvia does incredible work with global education and collaboration. I love to see her projects and how she is finding new ways to have kids share with and understand others. Sylvia shares a lot of presentations and tutorials on her website. Her blog is well written and she used lots of visuals. Sylvia is a prolific blogger with new gems coming out almost daily. Sometimes she just shares links, but I am amazed at how often she writes a real blog article. I’d say that Langwitches is relevant for beginners, intermediate and advanced teachers using technology. There are ideas and step by step tutorials that meet all needs. Her blog is very conversational. Comments are usually comments of appreciation and sharing of ideas sparked by the blog. The Langwitch blog is very clean and easy to navigate. It has most of the elements we have talked about so far in the challenge. I checked in Technorati and because of Sylvias great ideas and tutorials, she is mentioned in many blogs as others share the great ideas they have learned from her.
I am a faithful reader of Digital Passports, Media Matters and Joe Brennan’s Digital Storytelling. These were the first blogs I read faithfully. I love all of these blogs because of the new and innovative ideas. So much to learn!
Martha Thornburgh´s most recent blog post.. You Can Create Avatars. Yes You Can!
Martha Thornburgh
11/20/2008
Day 19: Who do you love… and why? /Teach42/ – Today’s challenge is a relatively simple one, and likely one … http://tinyurl.com/6mpvym
mwright103
2/9/2009