Impz of THAT Anime Blog brought out a post to tell people how to get people to see your blog. Of course, I just had to do this sort of thing sooner or later. Well, why not now?
I bet you’re thinking, “What makes you think that you can do this sort of thing? This site has been up for only two weeks. It’s too early”.
You have to remember that though this site’s only a little over two weeks old, I’ve been doing this sort of task for four years. That’s quite a while, ne? I have had entries lost before, meaning that I did go through a lot. Also, remember that I was pretty much an underground person; so, only a few people did ever get a chance to see my entries.
I guess those are my notes. I guess I can start my speech on this. Here I go.
So, you want to make your anime blog. This is definitely understandable. Omedetou! You did step one, which is to have desire! I should tell you that having an anime blog or any sort of blog for that matter is easy if you’re in the correct surroundings and you have the resources. Having a blog with people seeing it is not.
I am going to give off pieces of advice to help you start your blog. Do take note that they may not be the best pieces of advice overall, but they do work if you’re given the right kind of help. I can’t find the words I really want to say, but I hope those words give you an idea.
1. Desire
I already mentioned that you completed step one in having a desire to make a blog. I just hope that your passion lasts for a long time. As Impz said, if you put your heart into writing, or typing in this case, something, it shows and it will get people to read what you placed down.
2. Type
As weird as this may be, know what kind of diary it is. That way, you will know what approach should you take. Anime blogs have a different approach from other kinds of blogs and I’ll tell you various reasons in a bit.
3. Name
After you got your type, you need a name. Find a name that is not only suitable, but easy to remember as well. It’s that easy.
Three thoughts came up when I wanted to name this blog “Bata-kun no Atarashii Nikki”. The first thought was I already have two diaries: my personal site one and my fan group one, and it’s obvious that this will be a new diary. The second thought’s that I still say “diary”. The last one was that I planned to type in kana and kanji, which is why I have the name “Bata-kun no Atarashii Nikki” and not “Bata-kun’s New Diary”.
4. Post rate
This is a tricky item to work with. For a personal site diary such as my personal site one, you can bring up an entry whenever you want. If you’re working with an anime blog however, you need to post up a good amount of time, especially early on. At least 3 posts a week is a good rate. 3 posts a day’s overkill though. It’d be nice if you have a set pattern also.
5. Typing quality
This will take a while to go through. Many people will tell you that typing quality is the big matter to remember in regards of typing up a blog. As a former editor, this is where I both agree and disagree.
Let’s start with why I disagree. I didn’t become an editor because I had the skills for the most part. I became an editor because I loved doing it and I still do as well the fact that I like helping people. In fact, seeing that this is mainly an English blog, English was my worst subject after science. The big matter to remember is well, the first step I mentioned.
As for why I agree, content is well, the heart of the blog. You’ll definitely not go anywhere if your entries don’t make sense to begin with. It’s understandable if the reader doesn’t get the joke you’re bringing out, but make sure that you’re typing an entry that the person will understand in the end.
Now, like the post rate, typing quality is real tricky to work with. Typing an entry here is like typing an entry in my personal diary. The opposite is also true.
I’m sure you remember the quality issue already, but you have to keep in mind that for your personal diary, you can in some cases get away with having a paragraph go on for a while. For an anime blog however, you will have a hard time. An anime blog is like a fan sub. A viewer can tolerate so much and you can bend grammar rules. If your entries take up less than half of the monitor, aim for 10 lines. Aim for 5 if they take half or more.
Though this doesn’t really apply to personal diaries, make sure you have intersesting post titles. Why? That way, people are more likely to come back to your blog.
Oh! Typing quality doesn’t only apply to what’s present. It also applies to little things such as originality and timing. I’m not going to bother explaining more than that as Impzie gave a good explanation already.
6. Layout
If content’s the heart of the blog, the layout’s the body of the blog. The layout is important because outside of the name of your blog, the layout will be the first thing your viewer will see. It’s nice to have both flash and quality, but if you can’t do both, focus on the latter.
What you want to do is to have a layout that will be easy on the viewer’s eyes. Most people will use a white background and the text will be in black. Sometimes, gray and some shade of blue will be used as well. I generally like this layout, but one of the few diaries I like in which it does not have a white background is Akamatsu Ken-san’s diary. Also, make sure it’s organized.
In regards of images, many blogs out there love images and place up lots of them or place up at least one image per entry. I don’t like them as much as other people in general (and not just in blog entries) because not all of us have a good connection. There’s that and I don’t have much to work with. I think that you should place up a good amount of images to really feel welcome. I personally like one image, like what I did here.
All three of my diaries are have their similarities and differences. They use a white background and black text. They also use the y/m/d format and the 24-hour format. That’s where the similarities end. My fan group diary’s pretty bland and the same goes for my personal site’s diary, but the latter is influenced by various entertainers’ diaries, including Akamatsu-san’s. This blog will utilize images more than my other two.
7. Announcing
Now that you have your blog set up, you will obviously not get readers to come to your blog if you don’t tell people about it. Go to forums. Go to popular blogs. Let people know that you have a blog.
Besides AB’s antenna, sites like Anime Nano and Blogsuki help also. Once in a while, I comment in other people’s blogs. I also tell various people and not just friends about this blog because I cover various forms of entertainment. I will admit that I don’t visit a lot of forums in general because of what I do.
8. Luck
It may not seem like it, but having some sort of luck helps. This doesn’t apply to having a reader come over to see the blog only. This also applies to what you want to type about. You can’t always think of a topic. Sometimes, the topic lands on you.
Well, that’s that. I hope your blog turns out to be terrific. Ganbarimashite soshite asobimashite kudasai ne! ^^
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