So I read this blog about blogging, and it said that in order to be successful you need to find out what your audience wants and give it to them. I’m good at giving people what they want, but as you know if you have been following my blog, I’m bad at receiving feedback, so I’ve been avoiding it. But if I’m going to be a writer I guess I better get used to it!
Plus I’m trying to get to 50 blogs by the end of the year and this counts as one, even though it’s short!
I’m starting to get a better sense of which posts are popular. I try to make them high quality, short, and personal. But I could give a more professional perspective occasionally and include more theory and research if people wanted that.
Also, do people prefer the funny ones? The serious ones? Does the length matter? I was worried that the grief one was too long and I didn’t think it was that good but it turned out to be a lot of people’s favorite. In fact, that’s the one that prompted me to ask people what they like because I was completely wrong about how that post would be received.
And about visual aids. If my child-like doodles and family pictures are getting old, do you have suggestions for other original visual aids that I could also try to include? In fact, if you have photos/drawings/art work that you would like to submit and have me include in my blog, I would totally give you credit for them! I know some of you are artists!
Also, do you have any suggestions of how I should post the blogs on FB so that they stand out when you’re quickly scanning through your news feed? Is the gigantic shot of my head effective? Or are the doodles better? Do the psychological tactics work? Does it help if I tell you what the blog is about? Or are you such a loyal reader that it doesn’t matter what I do; you will dutifully seek out my blog and read my latest post?
I am ambivalent about whether I want to try to make money off my blog. How would you feel if ads suddenly appeared on my blog? Would that scare you? Would it be a turnoff? I would be sure to warn you before it happened!
Finally, if there are enough questions, I will include a Q&A post. So feel free to ask me about anything you’d like to know more about from my blogs or my life, psychological questions, or even random things that you have questions about. For example, I know who is going to win the Heisman this weekend, in case you’re interested.
Feel free to comment on this post, send me an email, or use FB to respond. But don’t tweet me because I still have no idea what I’m doing on Twitter. In fact, can you even tweet a specific person? This is why I haven’t been using my account.
Normal in Training 
I enjoy everything that you have written and I really don't think you need to change anything!!! I love the doodles, pictures of family, friends, etc….I love pictures! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and life. I have known you for years, but not really known you except to say “hi” when passing. I read your first blog a couple of months ago by accident when a friend of a friend of a friend 🙂 commented on it and I saw it roll down my “ticker”! I read it and loved it and loved how open and honest you were! I saw you a couple of days later at Hollins and told you how much I enjoyed it. Now, I look forward to reading them every time you post them!
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Thanks Jennifer! I always appreciate your comments and remember when you sent me the first message about my blog and that day at Hollins. I hope that is what all the feedback will be like! Although I was thinking about using your painting as a possible visual aid. What do you think?
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I think you are doing great! I have only been following you for a week or so but I absolutely love your blogs! There are plenty of ways to change up your blog every now and again. A Q&A blog would be interesting, adding more of your professional opinions to your blogs would help people, like me, understand more of the mind and why we do/think/feel like we do or share articles that you believe are helpful or knowledgeable. Either way, I'll still follow your blogs. And the doddles at a nice touch. Are they typically related to your posts or just a random drawing you picked or did up?? Curious about that.
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Thanks Tizianna. I might give a little more detail about some of the psychological stuff when appropriate, then. Maybe I'll even mention some of my favorite books. The doodles are just random, although I do look at my collection (they are all drawn by me) and decide which one I think fits the theme, although it's clearly not a rational process.
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Christy ~ you are more than welcome to use my “painting”!
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Awesome! Thanks! Can you send me a picture of it? Might as well promote my artistic friends, too!
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Unless my sight has deteriorated further than I realise I need to ask ” where are your doodles, pics, photos, friends artwork ” as I have only seen the photograph of you with your Dad and the Christmas tree and don't see your doodlings anywhere!
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That's weird. They are usually at the end of each post, except this one. Maybe your computer is blocking the image?
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