Let's Talk Blogging

I've long thought about starting up a blog for old school gw minis games I'm interested in and that everyone here is sick of hearing me drone on about. I guess it'd just be another site with Blood Bowl, Dark Future and such content. Maybe a few other life thoughts now and then.

Really though it seems like a lot of work which'll likely generate next to no comments or discussion. Seems I'd get more feedback just posting here in the forums.

Those bloggers here...what are your thoughts on the exercise? Worth it? Still plugging away? Tips?

Post front page articles about them here. I want to read them.

Like Michael said. If you post a blog on the site it can show up on the front page. Just don't make the mistake of committing to a regular weekly/monthly/whatever. Unless you're a pro writer that always leads to disappointment, imo. Only post when its fun for you.

It's very worth it if the goal is to say something. If the goal is to have people read it, then you're bound to be disappointed. I started on Blogger and had a good time with it until the .ru extensions caused all Blogger shit to be flagged. That's why I paid 5 bills to start my own domain.

The hard part is exposure. Since I left BGG, things have gone very cold. Hard to attract new readers. That and my lack of time and interest in reviewing a lot of games has made it worse. With the MM writing it's made worse because I don't want to review the same game twice.

If you comment on other miniatures blogs, post links on their facebook groups, etc, you'll start to gain traction as well. The community for old GW miniatures and games is quite healthy.

If you seek feedback on a blog, then you'll be disappointed.

If you have content that you just want to share and welcome search spiders directing traffic to those who seek it, then it works well in my experience.

I dislike the one way traffic of it, but for some things it has been very beneficial to me.
In the case of space hulk, I get a lot if traffic. So much that I was given aftermarket space hulk stuff to review. Which for a modest blog is a feat for me at least.

Colorcrayons wrote: If you seek feedback on a blog, then you'll be disappointed.

If you have content that you just want to share and welcome search spiders directing traffic to those who seek it, then it works well in my experience.

I dislike the one way traffic of it, but for some things it has been very beneficial to me.
In the case of space hulk, I get a lot if traffic. So much that I was given aftermarket space hulk stuff to review. Which for a modest blog is a feat for me at least.

I'm not interested in getting stuff and definitely don't want to be on the hook for a review. However, I'm curious how your blog got all the space hulk attention. Which blog is yours?

lestradesgame.blogspot.co.uk/

i tend t post something around monthly. I could probably repost more of it here but i prefer to keep any posts here to a more Ameritrash focus. On my blog i get traffic spikes if my posts get reposted somewhere else. About one in every three things i post gets on the blog roll at Grognard.com and i get around 200 hits, other than that a post will typically get around 10. This doesn't bother me so much as I mostly just use it as a place to try and write non dry crap about more involved war games. Not sure if i really succeed though.

Consider sticking lots and lots of pictures in whatever you do. Most people (including myself) mostly just scan blogs rather than reading the detail.

Mr. White wrote: However, I'm curious how your blog got all the space hulk attention. Which blog is yours?

color-crayons.blogspot.com

There were a few factors for that topic.
Advertising: I'm a long standing member of a few forums since '97, and merely placing a classy link in your sig is enough to redirect traffic. BGG helped a lot with that too, I won't lie.
Timing: I happened to have a fair amount of content during the 2009 space hulk rush. A time when there was a lot of content on the net in flux because of gw hunting down sites that have had content since the mid and late nineties.
Content: I had a project going which was a compendium of every mission created in a gw publication which was a huge contributor to the numbers. A sought after product that filled a niche.
Retheme: Aliens was a huge contributor too. The entirety of third ed was rethrmed as well as many older missions to fit the new theme.

I think that was about it.
My numbers now are really low unless a link pops up somewhere then I'll get a few thousand more hits in a week.
But I like having my own place to share shit without worrying if the content will cause a ruckus on a site or if my contributions on another site will get removed. I have complete power and discretion.

Color, Duke,

Your F:AT relevant posts...why not blog them here as well? Seems all that Aliens/SH and wargame reviews would find readers here.

Is it a social no-no to post the same content on a personal blog as well as a group site?

Mr. White wrote: Color, Duke,
Is it a social no-no to post the same content on a personal blog as well as a group site?

If done right then Michael Barnes himself will make you honorary members of the MB10K Club.

I've knocked around a bit with wordpress in the past for gaming events. Looks like you guys use blogspot. Any real reason I should not continue on with wordpress? Am I overthinking this?

Blogger was good for a while, but posting to Facebook, Blogger links show up as "dangerous".

Some people won't go to blogger because of that.

Wordpress has a vastly superior interface as well.

Mr. White wrote: Color, Duke,

Your F:AT relevant posts...why not blog them here as well? Seems all that Aliens/SH and wargame reviews would find readers here.

Is it a social no-no to post the same content on a personal blog as well as a group site?

I dunno. I don't see the relevance in doing that personally. If a topid shows up and my content would be relevant to the discussion, then I'll pass on a link. Otherwise, while not a social nono, seems a bit more redundant than needs to be. Just personal preference.

As far as wordpress versus blogspot... again, preference. I think wordpress is the more popular option, and I have a word press account, but am happy on blogspot as long as they continue to host.

I have no experience with facebook listing blogspot as a dangerous redirect. Maybe something changed recently, but I've never had problems in the past with that.

I want to expend a bit on my timing note on my earlier post. If you want traffic, timing is likely the most important factor.
The content with the best timing will get more traffic than that of later, better informed and realized content.
For example, I wrote a review for wizwar on bgg. I think it was just ok. Nothing to hoot about. But it was the first and still has the most thumbs on bgg despite the fact it no longer exits there because I no longer exist there.
Kuhrustys review was a lot more entertaining, critical and i think overall better and was posted a week later but still has less "likes".

The plebes care not for quality, but for instant gratification with "good enough".