UKC

Hi guys,

Recently, when trying to explain to someone the things i've been up to, I realised that i couldn't get any story across properly, let alone my whole story! So i gave blog writing a go... I started 2 days ago and have only put up 3 posts so far (and an 'about me' section), but unfortunately i have no one to 'test' it on... I intend to put out several posts a week but It could be absolute garbage for all i know?!?

I'd really appreciate any advice, comments or tips (negative or positive).

www.cragandsnow.blog.com

Thanks guys

In reply to Jordangask:

In essence, you had better be doing either very hard things or very gnarly things. or being very funny or being very idiosyncratic for people, or having knowledge to pass on, to want to read it. At present it is just easy, safe, straight, normal and uninformative. Also, you write that your main goal is to write it mainly as a personal online diary - that means that your main audience is you, not the rest of us, which is not promising when it comes to building up an audience.

In reply to Jordangask:

Top advice from Ben there (aside from the dodgy claim at the end about the DM!)

In reply to Jordangask:

Without a doubt the most important thing that gets people reading a winter climbing blog is conditions reports and regularity. If you're out climbing a few times a week and regularly blogging just before the weekend you'll get more people interested.

There's a whole internet full of incredible writers that people just don't have the time to get into, being a good writer wont get people to read your blog, although it might get them to come back if they regularly visit for reports.

Having said that you're competing against a few guides that blog almost daily with some of the best local knowledge and conditions tips there are. If there's a regular guide blogging on ben nevis or the northern corries then people will probably go there first.

Esoterica might be more effective, information on the honey pots is prolific but there are less people out there seeking out the odd locations and routes. James' glencoe mountaineer blog gets a lot of readers and writes a lot about seeking out new winter lines and although he writes well anyway I imagine he'd have less readers if he only posted about doing Tower Ridge, Orion Direct, Savage Slit etc.

I think reviews and advice tend to be welcomed more if there's evidence of regular activity and testing in the mountains. Also, it's kind of obvious but succinct writing and lots of pictures will win over long prose and one picture at the end. We're all Daily Mail readers at heart!

In reply to ericinbristol:

That's very prescient of you Eric

(hit delete by accident!)

In reply to Jordangask:

By the way your blog is really well laid out and easy to navigate through, I think maybe the biggest thing hampering bloggers is that they come and go very quickly with ever diminishing posts, it seems every winter there's a raft of new blogs that start with great intentions and disappear just as quickly. Don't be disheartened if it takes a long time to build up followers, all the popular blogs have been at it for years, if you produce good material and keep it up there's nothing to say you wont get there as well.

In reply to Jordangask:

images.

1000 words and all that, but more so it helps tweak the search engines.

opinion too. cut loose. generate some debate. cheap shots will get called fast (dont take up drytooling just for the blogs sake), but being 'the guy' on a subject gets people thinking.

make it a repository of some sort of info. its not facebook. people dont really care what youre doing, they care about what they can gain from what youre doing.

tell a story. good blogs have shit going on readers can piece together. endless 'stuff' go nowhere, but stringing it together somehow has people wondering what youre up to.

In reply to Jordangask:

Thanks guys, I completely understand the idea that it's not going to be getting the attention of the masses until I start doing super cool stuff but is there any harm in starting now? When writing it i'd hoped that as I only started climbing a year ago and climb frequently (and therefore hope to post frequently) it might be inspiring to the climber who's just started out/is my age/intends to start climbing?

Anyway, i'll keep at it, if nothing else it will serve fantastically of an online diary for me to look back at in 5 years time!

Cheers

In reply to Jordangask:
>...is there any harm in starting now?... Anyway, i'll keep at it...

No harm at all! Keep at it, and wish you luck.

In reply to Jordangask:

Yes, stick at it, experiment, take risks with your writing, develop your voice.

In reply to Jordangask:
I've not read your blog but my two penneth is - blogs that have self-serving, aggrandising, 'look at me, look what I've been doing - aren't I great' type posts are usually crap unless they've got something as mentioned above.

In reply to Jordangask:

Your not going to get much genuine feedback from a blog. Why not try writing an article for a magazine or two and see how you get on. I've had three articles published this year and the feedback has been of more benefit than anything I've written online.