guides, Uncategorized

So You Want To Be a WoW Blogger?

31 Comments

I get a ton of e-mails every week (which is why it sometimes takes me a few days or more to respond to them /sheepish) and one of the most frequent e-mails I get is “I’m thinking of starting a blog… any tips?”

So because it seems to be so common I figured I’d lay out my advice here in a post! =P

For starters the technical stuff. The two most commonly used free blogging platforms are Blogger and WordPress. Of those two, I actually much prefer Blogger. WordPress.com is rather limited in terms of what you can do in designing your blog– yes, more limiting than Blogger– and various types of Javascript such as WoWHead links will not work for you, whereas they will on Blogger. I see a lot of people switching from Blogger.com to WordPress.com, and I gotta admit, I don’t see the appeal, beyond the fact that you get an “about” page =P I tried it a while back when I was on Blogger and was thoroughly unimpressed. However, it’s all personal opinion really, so my advice would be to try out both platforms and see what you like. They are both good, solid blogging platforms and each has their pros and cons. I do also want to add, if you have any intention of switching to a self-hosted site later… then WordPress from the start is probably the better option. (Although I did the Blogger->self-hosted WordPress switch myself… it wasn’t that bad!)

You want the name of your blog to be catchy, have a ring to it, and easy to type out in the address box. I don’t recommend using acronyms or abbreviations in your address unless they are very easy to remember. aspectofthehare.blogspot.com is sorta long, but it is easier to remember than aothare.blogspot.com or something similar. You can click this link to improve your google ranking, this is essential when starting out. Also remember that your blog name is going to define what your blog is. Want in on a little secret? Aspect of the Hare was not originally a hunter blog. *gasp* I know, right? I mean, yes, I played hunters and only hunters, but originally it was “World of Warcraft thoughts in general” that I was going for, and my early blog posts even reflect this. However, it was a huntery name, so the blog wound up becoming, well, huntery. That means if you have a serious case of alt-itis you may not want to go with a class-specific name, and if you like to mess around with different specs you don’t want to name your blog “[InsertSpecHere]4Life”, unless, well, you really are. =P

When I was starting out two years ago, it was all the rage to name your WoW blog after various in-game abilities. There were all these blogs named The Hunter’s Mark, Blessing of Kings, Mark of The Wild, Trueshot Aura (which I’ve seen used more than once)… etc. I think pretty soon blogs snatched up all the available abilities and you started seeing other titles. =P I rather like the name of my own blog, even if the “hare” part is often confusing to people that don’t know me well. I combined the “name your blog after a WoW ability” meme with an animal that I like– I personalized WoW, so to speak. It worked out well.

You want your blog design to be uncluttered and have basics like a search box, a way to contact you, and of course, a link to your RSS feed! You don’t want to go overboard right away. I see a lot of new blogs that have a ton of “stuff” on their blog, but no real content yet. It’s okay to wait to add that “stuff” later, what most people want to see is your writing!

Visual identity is always a bonus. I’m not sure, but I often think that the cutesy picture of Tawyn and pets on my banner is a large part of what initially draws people to this blog. Even if you aren’t much of an artist, try getting a strong screenshot-based banner going, like at LessQQMorePewPew for example. Of course, you don’t need big flashy pictures or anything. Sometimes understatement works better. Try things out!

Content, oh, your content. I hear it all, from people saying “don’t go looking for a niche!” to others saying “you have to find a niche!” and everything in between. Lemme tell you about Aspect of the Hare. Nobody was ever supposed to read it. I was writing for me. Apparently people liked it. This is what I tell almost everybody who e-mails me wanting blog advice:

1.) Write what you love.
2.) Love what you write.
3.) Comment often.

Commenting on other peoples’ blogs is the easiest way to get traffic to yours, and if they see that you are passionate about what you are writing, and it is written well, they will stay.

Have you all seen the movie Mrs. Doubtfire with Robin Williams? They have this whole scene about a guy who has a TV show where he drones on and on about dinosaurs with little models and it’s really boring. Then Robin Williams shows up and starts having the dinosaurs sing songs and he makes it all funny and entertaining. That’s what you want to be. You want to be having fun with this. You want to be writing to make yourself happy. You want to be writing because you enjoy what you are writing about and because you’re excited to share your ideas with people. People will pick up on that enthusiasm.

Lastly, I sometimes get questions from people wanting to maximize their traffic. I have always seen traffic as something you don’t want to get buried too deep in, partially because I don’t think it matters as much as your content and secondly because the number of readers you have does not necessarily equal blog quality. However, I will say that in my experience, I have found that John Q. WoWBlogReader works a boring Mon-Fri job and reads you Mon-Fri mornings. So use that to your advantage. ;P

Aspect of the Hare is what it is today largely via word of mouth. Winding up on BRK’s sidebar was also a pretty big boost, but even without that, I was doing okay. I think it’s because I managed to corner a market of sheer enthusiasm for the hunter class, regardless of spec or playstyle. In short, I think I was in the right place at the right time. Regardless of whether you can hit that sweet spot or not, I find blogging to be a very rewarding (if time-consuming!) venue and anyone who wants to try it… please, jump into the pool! We don’t bite! =P

Questions or comments, leave ’em for me!

31 thoughts on “So You Want To Be a WoW Blogger?”

  1. I really like WordPress’s design and ease of use! I used to use Blogger for other things and never really felt comfortable with their interface. And I did choose WordPress with the thought of someday self-hosting, but who knows if that’ll ever really happen. ^.^;

    Also, I second you on the commenting bit. My traffic spiked wildly when I posted on BRK’s farewell post – something I didn’t expect in the least! Of course, two days later it was back to the tiny stream of hits that it usually is. -_-;

  2. @ Tchann – it’s definitely a personal preference thing. I do think people that are starting out would do well to try both platforms and see which one they prefer. However, I figured I’d play the devil’s advocate in this post, since I haven’t personally heard anyone say much good about Blogger in a while… XD

  3. Hey, I’m one of those people who emailed you, haha.
    Great post, and a great help to all of us starters. Thanks for being supportive and helpful to all of us newcomers.

  4. Nice tips, I’d also add to try and make sure that spellings and grammar are correct. I think most blog places check these now for you anyway.

    I think I emailed you too – been blogging for a couple of months now and I have no idea how many people read it; how can you tell?

  5. I would add that if you try out WordPress.com and Blogger both don’t add *too* much content before you make a decision because while you can migrate both over to be self-hosted WP blogs you can’t migrate one to the other. I mean you can, but you have to do it by hand. Blech!

    I like this guide Pike, this is how it should be done! No “you have to do this” or “maximize traffic by doing this” etc etc. I still read all the blogs I read while I was taking a break from WoW because I liked the authors personalities, not because they were the bestest best number-crunchers or whatever. Personality counts! (At least with me).

  8. heheh , you help me out , i was one of those people emailing you for advice

    guilty i know , but hey ….i like it , even tho i dont get much traffic , cause i have cool looking pics for mine …more to come ……i think

  9. I’ve had good success with Blogger as well, although I’ve never used WordPress so I can’t compare. Google Analytics is also very useful in my experience (as Paul mentioned) – it’s fun looking at all the strange search keywords people use to find your site. I had someone somehow arrive at my site by typing in “3pic sex”…I can only imagine how disappointed they were. O_o

    Thanks for the advice. I need to get a title image set up as you suggest…some kind of visual splash besides just the text!

  10. I think you are right. In the beginning, I started reading your blog because of your enthusiasm. But as your blog grew (and new hunters asking me questions grew) I started sending people here also because you would not only get them fired up about playing a hunter but you also did a good job of giving them a starter primer. There are a lot of “hard core” hunter sites out there. There are a lot of theorycraft sites. But there are not many beginning hunter sites! Thanks for filling a niche that you did not even know was needed when you started.

    Gunsnbutter/Cerdwyn on Uther

  11. I agree wholeheartedly with your post. I had several places where I posted my musings, including myspace, another hunterblog, and a milblog site, and really just wanted a place to consolidate my scribblings. If people read it and dig it, great! If not, well, then I still have a cool lookin’ site where said scribblings can be stored.

    Either way, it’s all gravy.

  14. I write for me and have fun. I use WordPress and if I can muddle my way through it I think most can. I really should give Blogger a try tho. Maybe a movie/book thing Two other things I like. 😉 Wonderful post Pike.

  15. Great post thanks for sharing your thoughts Pike. If you read to many of the ‘Must Do’s’ and ‘How To’s’ you’ll never start.

    Being a baby blogger, I only write for me at this point, as I know I don’t have a ‘voice’ yet and if I wait to write something that will make the world pause and think ‘now isn’t she clever’ . . . I may never write a thing!!! LOL!

    BTW – I’ve tried both Blogger and WordPress and personally prefer Blogger.

  16. Blogger seems to suit me fine. It’s a little clunky with regard to scheduling posts and previewing. It could also use a bigger — and more functional — library of blog plugins.

  17. I wanted to start a blog for almost 2 years, but never did because I couldn’t think of the right “look”. That’s a great excuse if you don’t want to actually write, BTW. 😉 But, I *did* want to make one, so I finally started writing a few months ago. I still use a default, uncustomized theme, but at least I’m getting my thoughts down–which is what I wanted. I’m sure I’ll figure out “the look” eventually…

    p.s. And yes, it’s yet another hunter blog.

  19. Another thing you could mention is that some people prefer to read someone’s blog than a message board. More later! I gotta teach a workshop.

  20. Great post! I agree that Blogger allows for more options than WordPress.com, though I think I like WordPress’ UI a little better. (but then I’m self-hosting now, so I have a lot more options with WordPress).

    Another option for new bloggers would be to try Vox.com – it doesn’t allow as much “under the hood” tinkering, but the UI is pretty slick and full of features.

  22. Pingback: Duct Tape and a Prayer » [31DBBB] Day 2: Linkgasm 4/8/09 (A List Post)

  23. WordPress.com:
    – Reasonably good stats package out of the box.
    – Painful that you can’t modify the themes or add exteranal widgets, but.. no site maintenance, no upgrade issues, no issues with bandwidth if yu do score a WI link.

    Yes, yes, yes… search box, a way to contact you, and of course, a link to your RSS feed!
    Full RSS feed too.. none of this summary rubbish, it turns off more people than you would expect. 99% of people read from work, and flashy graphics = skipped blog.
    Post days… Mon-Fri… take the weekend off if you are dreaming of page view stats. Don’t let page view stats drive you either… you blog for yourself, otherwise you will give up after 3 posts with no views.
    Post, post, post… a crap post in the feedreader is better than wondering whether someone has stopped forever. 80/20 rule. Do the easy 80% to get the post right, and decide somewhere in the 20% whether it’s worth the effort. Sometimes it’s the incomplete posts that garner the most attention… after all, most people have their own opinion and are just waiting for an opportunity to share it.
    Google Analyitics is a pain if you aren’t self hosting… it assumes you are, and wont integrate well with WordPress.com if you aren’t.
    PS, couple of blogging milestones reached this morning… think I need a break…

  24. Even though I’ve been blogging for a while and started with blogspot because it looked fairly easy (and it is), I’ve even found a gem or two here to take back to my little den and chew over for a while.

    Especially, the post M-F… I’m getting about once a week lately, cause I’m not sure what to post about. Back to Blog Azeroth for ideas then, I guess. Thanks for the fresh injection of life and thought, as usual Pike!

  25. I am currently using wordpress myself and it seems to be ok for now. I’ll have to see how thing work out in the future, though. I very luck to have a warlock-playing boyfriend who is pretty dang smart with the computer. He got the WoWHead links to work for me in my blog but only on the front page; he told me he’s going to have to move the script (code?) to make it work on the actual entries. I get a little rusty in this area…=/

    As being one of those new WoW Bloggers who sent you that ‘Got any advice, Pike?’ e-mail, I think that the response e-mail and this post especially is a big help, full of good little tips.

    Thanks much!

  26. I tried and failed. The reason for my failure pretty much was a couple of things. One, I never really set aside time to write up anything. Two, I never really felt I had a niche that I was moreso hashing out other stuff others had done before.

  27. Woohoo =D
    Thankies Pike!!
    We find these tips just amazing.
    You have inspired us and have given us the confidence to start our very own WoW blog!

    -TLP

  28. One thing I found that helped was sharing my blog with other co-authors. That way until I can get into posting routine, I have someone else who is posting as well. Ironically though, the blogs in his name, which I guess makes me to co-poster.

  29. Great tips, Pike. Commenting is definitely huge for getting the word out there about yourself. I’m a “commenter” more than a “lurker” which helped bring some attention to my corner of the blogosphere. It’s definitely part of becoming part of the community and building those connections and rapport.

    And regulars are awesome 🙂

    @Sonvar – Good point, one does need to have the time to set aside for blogging. Although, if you put it out there to your readers what your posting schedule might be like, they are pretty forgiving if there are some gaps. Also, unfortunately, a lot of information and topics do get rehashed…. however, it’s interesting to hear another take on it. And, overlapping topics can generate link love as well.

Comments are closed.