SCL

I like to make it fun and informative and about talking to my community of followers.

http://mostpopularunpopular.wordpress.com/

Great Advice for new bloggers. I am learning a lot and thanks for the lessons.

fantastic insight, Jon. As soon as wel stop making it about the numbers of people visiting, and instead write our posts with our audience's needs in mind, we are on our way to real numbers! Thanks for this post.

I give my blog followers (all 11 of them) the gift of time. You see, I only post about once every three months or so. I save them the hassle of going to my blog every day to see what gem I've written/posted by not writing anything. Genius, no?

I pretend I have millions of followers and just write, giving everything I can to them, and if two people email me saying "dude, that was boss!" then I'm good, but of course, I don't do this professionally.

I have no secrets or tips. I just keep writings and slowly people find me. It's funny how many make the comment "hey cool you have a blog too. You aren't just a commenter on Stuff Christian's Like."

Writing a blog is like…well….doing just about anything else.

It takes time, effort, passion, commitment. And like most anything else, it should be done as a gift to someone else. To make someone else better by lowering yourself.

You're doing a great job of it, that should be pretty obvious. Incredible about the prison ministry in Oregon as well.

Great advice and perspective, Jon. It's so easy to start focusing on the wrong thing when it comes to blogging — thanks for the reminder.

God and I discussed "our" blog for a long time before I gave in. I had been reading your blog, Ragamuffin Soul and FlowerDust (along with 3 dozen others) for a year or more. There were many examples of how to do it correctly and a few of what not to do. My insecurity was wrapped up in why would anybody care what I had to say? To which God responded, "So, worrying about what other people think is more important than what I'm telling you to do?" Ouch!
I felt lead to just write about what God was teaching me, the times I see Him show up in different situations. And that, my friends, is how "I Saw God Today" was born.
It is hard work (especially when my "day job" involves finance and operations for our church – it's my dues for getting to hang out with some really awesome people and have a front row seat when God shows off!) I've met some exceptional people in the blogosphere especially through the comment sections. I am constantly challenged in my walk and encouraged in my soul. It really is a global community and I thank God for it.
Thank you for gift to us each day.

Great reminder! And well put. The name of my blog is Spur (http://www.kristiejackson.blogspot.com) and that is the vision of the blog and also the question I ask myself. Will this post spur my readers?

Whenever I post, I try to ask, "How can I make Jesus look glorious in what I'm writing?"

I don't mean to overspiritualize this; I've just found that not asking that question will lead me down many other paths that I'd like to go down (How can I get my stats to go up? How can I get more people to like me?)–all focused on me. And like you, I get it right sometimes and fall short on other occasions.

Ultimately, all things exist for Jesus (Col 1:16), so I assume my posts and tweets should as well.

And thank you for using your platform for God's kingdom rather than trying to build your own.

Whenever I write a blog post, I try to ask myself two questions: "what does God want to use me to say?" and "will this move people?" I started out by just writing about my life, but eventually those two questions made it into something more. Obviously my blog is nowhere near on the scale of this, but I have most of my family and friends reading now and even friends of friends, and I'm constantly finding out that it touched people in ways I didn't expect.

God can do BIG things with words, when we let Him.

Wow. Thanks so much for this post.

Great insights. I've never understood the incredible need for FOLLOWERS that some seem to have (whether on blogs, FB or Twitter). I'd rather really connect with just a few people than have hardly any connection with lots of people. And to that end… here's what I do. I share myself. I have recently started a business and so I blog about that. I also am a 34 year old married mom. And so I share about the dilemmas (personal) that I have as an individual in a family group.

And the last few weeks I've really seen the connection with my readers flourish. When I stopped talking at them and really opened up my heart and started asking them for serious feedback and ideas… the comments are pouring in. It's REALLY rewarding to be vulnerable with people and find that not only are they relating with what I'm saying but they are thanking me for putting words to something they were feeling themselves.

For me it all boils down to being real and finding a true way to connect with my readers.

Great post Jon.

I was looking through a poetry anthology the other day, and I copied down a quote that I think speaks to all kinds of writing, not just poetry:

Best poems of the English language by Bloom
Pg 9 "There is a benign haunting in poetic [blogging] tradition, one that transcends the sorrows of influence, particularly the new poet's [blogger's] fear that there is little left for her or him to do. In truth, there is everything remaining to be thought and sung, provided an individual voice is attained."

I feel insignificant when I walk into a book store or a library or past a magazine rack or when I browse blogs, and I wonder if the contributions I want to make in written words will matter. I appreciate this reminder: "You have a story unlike anyone else’s. You have hopes and dreams and edges on your life I don’t have. You have a perspective on the mundane or the monumental that no one else possesses. And we need it in more ways than you know."

If I remember to write real, raw, honest stuff in my own voice from my own perspective, "there is EVERYTHING remaining to be thought and sung."

I don't have a huge blog following, but when I started mine, it was simply sort of on online scrapbook. I figured it would be something I'd enjoy, because I have WAY too many words to use up on my husband every day. I thought maybe my mom and a friend or two might read it. So I just wrote it for me, not to please anybody else. But then random people started showing up, and sometimes they told me they were blessed by what I'd written. Even people across the globe! So I guess something I've learned from this is that God is big enough — and yet not too big — to use something like a blog to bless people, and sometimes I get to be the one He uses.
Thanks for this post, and for encouraging us all.

That is great advice Jon.
Blogging is not about having a huge audience, it is about having a conversation with people.
I blog because I want to make sure that I am not crazy in my thoughts and to hear that others are thinking the along the same lines I am thinking.

Thank you.

great advice

my follow up questions are:
1) how do you get people to make comments (I'm sure there's no real answer except maybe to write better but on our church's blog I'm about ready to start a poll asking people which tattoo/piercing they want me to get – it's a conservative church…I'm sure it would produce some comments)?
2) how do you keep from repeating what you've already written?

Thank you. I needed this more than you know.

It strikes me that this is kind of like life too. When we take our eyes off of ourselves and focus on the needs of those around us, things just seem to click into place.

Great advice, John! I completely agree. Soon after I started Elemental Children's Ministry (http://www.elementalcm.com) I was inspired by a post a while back from Seth Godin who said that we all have something to say in our own unique voice and that we should share! And, so, began a journey that continues

I have made some cyber friends through blogging. Your blog saw more traffic in its first week than mine has seen in almost two years. My secret is being okay with that. I like having a blog that is a circle of friends. I like being able to check out their blogs. I don't long for bigger numbers, nor do I worry about what I am doing "wrong". I am always glad to make a new friend, but I don't look at my Google Follow on the side bar and ask "Why 30 and not 300?" I do ask whatever happened to _____, who hasn't commented or posted on their blog lately.

I thought low readership was humbling enough but your post has humbled me more. =) I felt led to start a blog for middle-aged Christian singles earlier this year because that's the topic God has given me the perspective to write on. I don't have a lot of followers, but some of the ones I have are married and have actually been married their whole adult lives, so my blog is giving them a view of singleness they have never considered before. So maybe my role is to touch just a few people at a time. Thanks for the great post, Jon!

I've been looking for the "filter question" for my blog much like Andy Stanley defined a "filter question" for life in THE BEST QUESTION EVER. I think you may have just given it to me.

Thanks

Every time we give a piece of ourselves God replaces it with an even bigger piece. The beauty of giving. The gift itself is irrelevant, it's caring enough about someone else first. I love this post. So true. All in how we frame things.

That was the single best piece of advice about blogging I've ever read. I honestly believe that if you approach anything with the attitude of "what's in it for me?" you're sort of missing the point. In all things and whenever possible, give to others lavishly. Give because much has been given to you.

Awesome, Jon.

Thanks, Jon. I actually looked at the calendar thinking it was a Serious Wednesday due to the way this post hit me.

It's been a moderate desire of mine to start a blog for awhile now, but I haven't been able to grasp a focus point. In my head I've been searching for something witty, or some strength that I have, but in reality I'm pretty weak. My fears loom large at times. Just recently I've seen my fears turning into a source of comfort that I have offered to a friend in need. "You have hopes and dreams and edges on your life I don’t have." That one sentence suddenly opened my eyes. It's my edges (fears, struggles, temptations, weaknesses) that need to be shared because they will hit home with another weak soul.

Sigh. Today you got it right, Jon, so right.

Straight up, that question rocks. I started a blog about a year ago but missed that point. I thought I understood it. In a general sense, perhaps I did, but on a specific, day to day basis, I didn't keep it in focus. I'm still working on it.

Another question to ask (one that's helped me in the brief amount of blogging I've done and as a blog reader I've seen work): what perspective I'm I writing from?

For me, I've found that not all the posts have to be on the same topic, but they should somehow come from the same perspective. Many bloggers assume they'll just write from their own perspective, which is wonderful if you already perfectly know what your perspective is.

For me, I had to define it in words… just to be clear: (in case you're wondering, mine is an others-oriented perspective).

-Marshall Jones Jr.

What a great post. This seems more like serious Wednesday.

As for tips – I've got NONE. I hope and pray that God gives me stuff to write on my scheduled days. And I've been SUPAH blessed thus far. But yesterday I was in a panic as I didn't have any pre-written material for my blog (usually I've got a couple GOOD chicken-scratched ideas and about a week's worth of posts ready to go). But I have nothing and was stumped, writers block, freakin' out. And all that came to my mind was my friend and how I've been praying for them while I brush my teeth. I told myself " STUPID IDEA, don't write about that". But nothing was coming to me. So I submitted and wrote about Toothpaste. GOOOOOD GRIEF, people liked the post.

In the end I realized I gave something to my readers (a wacky prayer tip) – thus it was a hit. Who knew?!? Your advice hit the nail on the head – give something to the (cherished) readers.

Oh, that made me cry. But don't tell anybody. Cuz that would ruin my image.

Comment # 2: By the way – my brother (who is a pastor) gave me AWESOME advice once when I was down and out about having only EIGHT people come to my blog one day.

My brother said: When I'm blogging (just like when he preaches), I'm not writing for others, I'm writing for me. God is giving me something to write and work through. He really doesn't NEED me to get any message to anyone. He quite capable of this on His own. But if in the end someone gets something out of a post I wrote based on something God needed to stir in my heart and head, then that's just a bonus.

This advice (perspective) has made me okay with lack of comments/traffic/etc… I'm focused on what God needs me to work on, and I'm just being willing to journal this stuff publicly on my blog.

So I guess that's a bit of a tip for bloggers who are Believers.

Thanks. Need that.
I see the need… I want to blog… but I fall prey to trying to "get them" to read vs. "give them" a gift.
Nice word pic. Appreciated it.

As usual, your thoughts have served as kindling for my own fire. So I considered why I write what I write. I hope you and others are encouraged:

How To Not Waste Time Blogging: http://cravesomethingmore.org/2009/12/15/how-to-n...

As usual, your thoughts have served as kindling for my own fire. So I considered why I write what I write. I hope you and others are encouraged:

How To Not Waste Time Blogging: http://cravesomethingmore.org/2009/12/15/how-to-n...

I'm in the "pointless but vaguely amusing" camp of Christian bloggers. There should be some sort of network for that. I glorify God with plenty of other stuff I do, and I don't unglorify God with my blog – but it's not where I go to minister, it's where I go to put my thoughts and post things I've found.

While my blog isn't widely read I've kept at it for a while – so I wrote this series of posts of tips on blogging – http://st-eutychus.com/2009/my-top-five-rules-for...

All I gotta say is that I'm really looking forward to Serious Wednesday….

[...] the entire article at: http://stuffchristianslike.net/2009/12/1-secret-ive-learned-about-blogging/ Share this [...]

If this was a white elephant gift exchange, then right now this post would be the one I would want to keep. Beautiful and generous. Thank you.

Great advice and thanks. i blog because i am better at writing than talking

A very excellent post. I'm surprised no else has uncovered this before! I had a personal blog before but after 3 years I quit because I was annoyed no one was reading it. About a month and a half ago I started a new blog called Mike Ideas that just has Ideas that I have about stuff. I get like 200+ hits a DAY and still growing and now I know why. This totally makes sense. Complete strangers aren't interested in photos of your great aunts dog. That's what Facebook is for.

[...] Acuff shares one secret he’s learned about blogging when writing about Stuff Christians [...]

1) Post several times a week.
2) Keep it relatively short.
3) Post a picture(s) to accompany it.

I was a great blogger and have great intentions. haha.
I need to keep to my own rules.
Leaving them with more is great though Jon!!

I think of blogging (personal-style, as opposed to the more professional shiny deal you've got going here) as little more than record-keeping of sorts. The internet specifically and life generally are full of interesting things to see & do. I like to take note of those things. Occasionally, I want to record my thoughts about said things, or just remember what I was thinking about when I found/did it.

That's what The Wordle Bible is about for me. I'm a word person, and I love visual things, so Wordles really struck a nerve with me, in a good way. I love the Bible, too, and I love perspective, and I thought it'd be fun to see what the Bible looks like through a new pair of glasses. Boil it down, though, and it's just record-keeping. I'm doing something interesting to me, and if no more than a few of my Facebook friends ever see it, that's ok.

(I'm finally getting around to re-subscribing to SCL–we moved into our first house a few months ago, and I thinned out my internet reading & activities pretty extensively, because I just didn't have the time. Things are slowing down a bit now, though, so I'm carefully adding things back on to my plate. Almost forgot how much fun your blog is.)

Very cool
all about giving and not getting – a appropriate subject for Christmas?
I can't offer any secrets, other than "Its a Journey, not a destination"
besides I'm the guys that looks at his stats and shakes his head because they are ridiculously low.
"To be honest", I say in whispered tones, "I am sure some hacker is running redirect scripts to divert visits and comments on my site"
"I tell you, it;s a conspiracy"

the most challenging thing for me is figuring out what to write each day and also ecideing if I should write something each day, something that helps me is as I see stuff or think about different things throughout the day I write it down so when I sit down to write that days entry I dont stare aimlessly at the computer but have a list of things to pick from. this advice is probably simple and obvious but hey you never know.

http://velvetgsus.blogspot.com/ thats right shameless plug so eveyone can see how lazy I am in my blog posts

I needed that! I penduluum from, "Ok God this blog is yours, do with it what you please." to posting it on Facebook, joining many of the things that are supposed to boost my blogs online presence…I need to write for God and share my stories with others. I'm glad you are having success!