My goal for 2009 is to increase the traffic at my blog. Like you I need to first figure out why  the traffic has not grown substantially in several years. While I have people who subscribe to my blog, I don't know how to communicate to them to see if I should be shifting the focus of the blog to provide information that is more desireable.

 While I have readers, I don't believe I have a community of readers -- I believe to succeed as a blogger you need that  community. I welcome any thoughts on how to do that. I also welcome any feedback that people want to offer on my blog:FunnyBusiness

 Really looking forward to the series. It should be great fun.

Speak up people, speak up, who can resist such a request.

How do people get a BlogHer thing on their blog and what does it mean? 

Do links to your blog increase traffic?
If yes how do you do that and what links are you going for?

I do want to have my blog posts go viral as my blog promotes my 'education for women' site. But how do you do that?

Is google ranking really so important?

How does a site like this earn its keep when we don't pay anything?

How do you get people to comment on your blog and does the amount of comments relate to the popularity of your blog?

How do certain blogs like Zen Habits.net and pro blogger become so popular? Have the writers done certain things we all can do if we only knew how and what?

How do you insert photos into the posts here on BlogHer?

That is it for now and thank you so much for asking us to ask questions. 

Wilma Ham

www.wilmasblog.com

Keep those questions coming. The more the better.

Virginia DeBolt
BlogHer Technology Contributing Editor
Web Teacher
First 50 Words

I have two things related to blogging that have been on my mind lately, one is about the revenue side of things.  Not how to earn revenue, but how to keep track of it and treat it responsibly and report it to the IRS, etc. - the nuts and bolts of turning my blog (and myself, I guess!) into a small business or a type of self-employment.  Does that make sense?

The other giant topic on mind is that I am thinking of launching a new blog by the end of the year.  I started my current blog last year almost on a whim - figured I'd try blogging and see if I liked it, set up a free Blogger blog and dove in.  Turns out I really enjoy it, but want to put more thought and planning into my next blog.  I'd love to see a step-by-step guide on how to create a blog from the ground up, how to think strategically about it and plan it, what types of questions I should be asking myself as I put it together, that sort of thing. 

Thanks!

--Liz

I blog about creating a life worth living at:  inventingmylife.blogspot.com

I'm a newbie blogger and I really have NO idea about any of it. Thus far I've just been kind of winging it. A lot of the second part of Liz's question would be stuff I would LOVE to read about, so certainly that stuff.

I think I basically just need a 'from-the-ground-up' tutorial, kind of the basics of blogging. Any good places to draw inspiration? How to write shorter, yet more effiecient posts that get the point across? When to make the decision to go bigger? 

I'm pretty sure that ANY information that is put out will be incredibly useful for someone as new to this as I am. I will CERTAINLY be looking forward to this series. 

ideas, everyone. Keep them coming. :)

Virginia DeBolt
BlogHer Technology Contributing Editor
Web Teacher
First 50 Words

I've started blogs before, but have always had difficulty keeping them up.  Until now.  I found a topic that I'm passionate about that for some reason or other, other people are interested in.

I get great comments, when I actually get them...

But I'm afraid of running out of something to say at some point.  And my blog topic is pretty focused (life in poverty) so if I manage to succeed in the goal of the blog (getting out of poverty) there goes that topic...  Though I'm sure I can continue writing about it having lived 30 years in it.

Anyway, I'd love to know how to get more readers.  People coming back regular, who comment, subscribe to the feeds, etc.

And of course, finding some way to monetize, without seeming commercial.

I would love tips on being a better writer.  What to edit and how not to over edit.  

~Susan

http://lilmomthatcould.com/

speaking up with goals and questions. Keep them coming–they are all great topics for the series.

Virginia DeBolt
BlogHer Technology Contributing Editor
Web Teacher
First 50 Words

I would like to know how others feel about personal blogging. I'm constantly struggling between blogging about my day-to-day life since that's what's on my mind and trying to be funny, witty, or relevant to a specific topic. Is it common to have separate blogs for different interests and areas of one's life? 

Rochelle | Nine*Poems Blog | Twitter

 I'm interesting in learning some blog time managment tips and tricks, especally for those bloggers who have more than one blog. How to manage writing/posting, marketing your blog, reading other blogs, participating in social media, and your offline life?  

Condo Blues http://condo-blues.blogspot.com/, Capessa green contributer - Sustainable Syle http://www.capessa.com/members/groupabout.aspx?g=244245

I'm so bad at following through with my blogging goals, I'm afraid to set any but... I really need to, for a bunch of reasons. So... here they are:

1) I must get back to blogging on BlogHer regularly. As an editor AND as a plain ole member.

2) I must blog more than 2 lines about each book I read. Could Flamingo House get any more boring than it is now?

3) I MUST blog fun stuff about living in Chicago on my Chicago blog. I will NOT let it die a horrible death like the last "for fun" blog I started.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

Main questions

How to get people commenting?
What sort of things get more site traffic? (pictures, lists, Ideas, ect) what works best.
How to find more bloggers like you? The 20 something single bloggers are rampant the I'm 13 and want to blog kids are all over. Where do we fit in? (the young college students)
How to get people to come out of the wood work. We know people come to our site but its tricky to track them down.

http://twocrazygirls.wordpress.com

I'm a library addict who has checked out every known book on blogging, but there are still more hurdles for me to cross and I welcome more information on the subject. 

1. Mostly, I worry about how to make the move to hosting my own blog. I would like to have an original template for my blog - and buttons and logos - and I know I have to hire a designer to do that because I don't have enough knowledge myself. But will the move to a user-hosted site be too difficult and expensive for me? I've already tried and failed at this once. I worry about losing all little tinkerings that I've worked so hard on.

2. I read by the author of problogger.com (in his self-titled book) that it is prudent to write a month's worth of posts before launching one's blog! I certainly didn't do that! I wonder if I can still build a readership? What I have learned is that I needed to broaden my topic to have enough to write about. I found the knitting blog genre too confining for me, but I find home life and marriage interesting enough topics that I feel I will never run out of things to say.

3. I'm interested in learning more about how successful bloggers manage their time and motivate themselves. I know that many people challenge themselves to post every single day, but when do they write and how long do they spend on it? I'm one of those who believes a post looks best with a photo, and that belief is often a hinderance to me posting every day.

4. I really want to know how to network better! I know that's the point of BlogHer, so I'm excited that my blog is finally listed here, but I would love to work on a joint blog with other people and don't know how to meet those like minded individuals.

5. I'm happy the Mommy Blogger genre has been so successful - and I know that I too will be one someday -  but can I still be a successful women blogger without being a Mommy?! 

I look forward to reading this series! 

 ~Jessielme

The Joyful Housewife

The Shaggy Dog Story

I Want to Be a Sign Language Interpreter

Thanks for all these great comments. Patterns are emerging that will help us organize the goals and questions in ways that can be addressed. Keep 'em coming.

Virginia DeBolt
BlogHer Technology Contributing Editor
Web Teacher
First 50 Words

I am a newbie to the blog world all together..

 There are a couple blogs that I followed that majority of 2008 and have inspired me to start my own blog.  Like others have said, I don't have any idea where to begin.  I would like mine to be about 80% food blog/20% personal life... if that makes sense.

 Looking forward to the 12 week series!  This is exactly what I was hoping to come across!

KPDWife

I definitely could use some help on tools as the things that I would like to do always seem to be a pain to complete.

I also am looking for tips on how to increase readership.  I don't intend to make money off of my blog, but am writing a book so would like to have some built in readers/buyers once it is published. 

Tracy

http://tracy-breastcancerandme.blogspot.com/

1. Consistency.  I haven't been posting reliably for a couple months now.
2. Better photos.  I have a food blog, so that's critical.

I think I have a recipe for that...

 But there's other stuff too - making connections with other bloggers, through linking to their content and just plain communication.  I find that makes a big difference.

gagasisterhood.com
Where grandmas bond, brag, and benefit

I started my first blog last summer. I'm passionate about sharing creative ways for grandmothers to bond with their grandchildren and that's the content of my blog.

I wrote my first post for Blogher on Jan 2 so I'm really a newbie and am just learning my way around. Your series sounds like something I could use. Where would I find it when it comes out?

I would like some feedback from bloggers about the look and content of my blog. So far it's mostly been family and friends who've read it.

In Sisterhood,

Donne

how do you build a following?  I have my blogs listed in my email signatures and I post the links on networking sites.  What are other ways to get people interested in your blog and what you are saying.

 www.sophisticatedladyofstyle.com

Nique

I'm working on a series of BlogHer-centric posts that answer all of the questions that appear in this thread - so keep those coming.

:-)

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

I have a blog on gardening. I've been pretty successful with view count even though I struggled with finding a good host for a few months and several other funny things happened. I would have an even better view count if I stayed put and not moved my blog so often. Viewers don't like that. I had a lot of people who were faithful followers or I would have done badly.

 I settled on wordpress as they are the most professional in my opinion.

Here are the keys to my success that you may want to use as conversation pieces.

1. Careful of what host you use. Some have difficult picture upload procedures, make your visitors join their site to comment, will not allow you to move your content, have terrible customer service, and the worst....too much down time. Google the host you are thinking of using and read all you can about them.

2. Having a good digital camera, and it doesn't have to be expensive, and upload at least a couple of pics per post.

3. Break up your sentences often. Easier to read. People who skim blogs can get your content quickly and will appreciate you for doing it.

4. I write about what I'm interested in and not always on topic. But the things I do write about, I am good at doing. Trying to cover material that is foreign will turn you reader off quickly.

5. Ask questions and engage the reader.

6. Be personal. The best blogs include information on what it is like to live the ups and downs that will connect with you.

7. Answer and visit your visitors. Leave comments on other blogs, join places like blogher.com and interact like I am doing. I belong to http://blotanical.com/ and most of views come from that source. I'm loyal to them and have struck up quite a few good friendships.

8. I don't advertise or sell anything but if you choose to and you load up your sidebar....I'm leaving. Choose wisely your ads and try to make them appropriate to the subject of your blog. If possible, wait until you have a pretty popular site before you advertise. If not, it will look like you are blogging for money only.

9. Post several times a week. Keep a keen ear out for subject matter and jot it down before you forget. Some of my best subjects come from public television.

10. Pay attention to your stats and where your traffic is coming from. I am still not good at links from those who have linked to me. So I would like to know more about that.

My warmest wishes to you all for a wonderful blogging 2009.  

I have a blog on Indian Food. I started it without
much thought. It took almost 6 months to get exposure to it. I have a pretty
decent hits now, though it could help to get more hits

 
I want to reach
out to more audience and still working on making that happen.
Here's my list of things.
 
I have about 500+ recipes on my blog, I get frequent mails from readers who
say they learnt lot from my blog. Yes that makes me very happy but I want to
reach out to more people. How does that happen?
 
I would like to know what my readers like, though I have an interactive
session on my posts, not many comment or give feedback!
 
I decided to monetize my blog for the time I spend on it. The earnings were
fine but its always so fluctuating. If it was something more steady, it can be
something we can have off our minds.
 
Want to be a better blogger? I definitely want to do
Will be following this to get more
ideas!
 
Regards,
Srivalli 

Cooking 4 all Seasons

Spice your Life!

I am fairly new to the blogging world - under 1 year. I started my blog as a means to converniently pass on my recipes and home educating technques to interested moms. It is not an income producing blog. Thank goodness because I have never generated that much traffic! Now, I do wonder about the content of my blog: Am I a food blogger, a mom blogger, a photo blogger? Does it really matter? Do I really need a theme? I would love any imput or suggestions.

 Thanks,

Kathy of Bona Vita

Great topic, and great questions.

I wonder as I write and communicate my topic for the day if my "voice" can be improved. 

Is editing a huge deal? I tend to write how I speak, and I can never seem to get comments. 

How many readers or hits to my blog is "good?"  How can I bring more humor into my blog?

Are there a few key recommended places I should list or register my blog? 

Monica of http://www.earthsavers.typapd.com

Monica Rodgers Founder Little Bits

www.littlebits.com or www.earthsavers.typepad.com

Viginia, I want a slick-looking blog, so I need to know how to find a good designer or to add a good blog design without losing my posts.  That's a fear I have, that I'll lose  all my posts.

Is there any way to organize labels, categories, etc., without sitting still all night and using your brain.  Yes, I want too much.

I could also use a primer on multiple feeds for dummies.  And I mean dummies.  I'm tired of reading how-tos that assume you know everything already and so are written in a kind of shorthand.  If I knew it all I wouldn't be looking up information. :-) I need a step-by-step.

I can't believe I used to be a tech head.  Lately, I don't want to learn anything new about how to do anything myself with technology.  I'm driving my children insane. 

Finally, I'm sick of hearing about bloggers who earn money at blogging.  How do you do that unless you've got 10,000 plus hits a day? 

Nordette is a BlogHer CE, personal blog WSATA. Also @ Twitter.

I'm with everyone else. I really need to figure out how to drive more people to my site. I stink at networking. I don't care about money, etc. I just want more readers. And links. I wold love more links to my site as well. :DI have a somewhat themed blog and it is science news, but I make it for everyone to read. You don't have to be a scientist to get anything off my site. Ay, me!

Potspoon!

The comments seem to have slowed down now, so I'll be going through them all looking for topics that we can address here on BlogHer in the next few weeks.

It's not too late to add a question, so please ask if there's something you really want to know more about.

Virginia DeBolt
BlogHer Technology Contributing Editor
Web Teacher
First 50 Words

It's not about blogging exactly, but I would love some just very straightforward information about BlogHer. I love the community and I can spend so much time reading things on here, but I don't find it particularly user friendly.

This is not meant as an insult. I love BlogHer but just don't know all the things I think I should know.

NAOmni 

notanotheromnivore.blogspot.com

I am with Naomi.
I am a tactile person and want to see things quick and obvious.

When I subscribed one year ago, I wasn;t very internet savvy and it took me a long time to work this site out.
At least with a magazine you know how things work.

I didn't understand contributing editors. Who were they and how did they get chosen?
When did they post and how frequent and how would I know when one particular editor I liked would post.
I didn't understand where my blog went to and I could never find it again.
What was the point of so many blogs on one site when they all seem to be disappearing in no-men's land.

Persistence and often coming back finally made me understand but as said I felt lost when doing it for the first 10 visits at least and nearly gave up.

However now more savvy, it is a great site.

Wilma Ham

www.wilmasblog.com

 Hi Victoria

When I click through to blogs I sometimes see a blogher logo on those blogs.
I don't know why that is there?

Are they contributing editors or do they just show loyalty to blogher. I don't know if that is an ad or not?  

I tried to fnd an example and then link to that blog but of course I cannot find one.
I will post this now and will see if I can find one and let you know later.

Thanks for aksing your clarifying question, Virginia.

Wilma Ham

www.wilmasblog.com

 Hi Virginia

 I found a blog with the blog her logo on the left hand site.

This is the address http://adrienneshouse.blogspot.com/ 

Wilma Ham

www.wilmasblog.com

I'm excited to read more about getting more readers. How do I track who is coming to my blog and I once saw on a blog a list of the "top commenters" on a blog, how do I get one of those? Think it's a good idea? Do you think contest are a good idea to help get more readers?

I'm blogging about my journey toward motherhood and I'm always looking for feedback from moms and since most people are moms I think I could learn so much from so many people before I become a mom! How do I reach out and get noticed?  

Jennifer

http://babymakingmachine.blogspot.com

A lot of people mentioned the logo. I don't think we want ads, per say, I think we just want a button to show our support. I do. The ad thing was not as cut and dry as I thought it would be and there was a great deal of mix up with replies to emails sent, yet I still get update emails. NOT really what I had in mind... the ease of use isn't there, but I still want to show support for blogher. A button would be great.

Hi there....like many here, I want to increase the people who see my blog - but being about gluten free food its a little bit niche....any comments would be welcome!

Also, for Babybeatnik - I would reccomend Blogging for Dummies as it completely dispells all the techie jargon and really helped me to understand it all!

Great comments people!