The Future of ChrisBlogging.com
When I first started this blog I was not entirely sure in the direction that it was going. I wanted to offer tips and basic freelance writing information, and I feel that this goal has been attained to a certain extent. At the same time, my initial thought was to offer information on professional blogging, making money online, and other related topics. Although I post on these areas from time to time, they are few and far between.
At this point, I am looking to take ChrisBlogging.com to the next level. What does this mean, exactly? Well, I have some ideas of my own but at the same time I would like feedback from my loyal readers as well. After all, you guys and gals are the ones who keep the blog moving in the right direction. Without you, I would simply be talking to myself.
One of the first things that I plan to do is finish the site redesign. But before I do this, I must decide which direction I want to take the blog. Here are my thoughts:
1. I am definitely going to keep up with at least one post per day. This is the backbone of ChrisBlogging.com, and this is never going to change. Additionally, I want to make sure that this content is easy to find and view from the front page of the blog.
2. If you are familiar with freelancewriting.com, you are aware that they offer much more than tips. They offer detailed information on job openings, newsletters, and much more. In other words, they are a one stop shop for everything freelance writing. This is something that I am considering.
3. I also want to begin to offer more value to current readers and others interested in the make money online niche. Possible ideas for doing so include regular reviews of blogs, products, and services related to writing and earning online. I am also mulling around the idea of holding monthly contests in order to increase reader participation, and to give back to all of you who have helped to make ChrisBlogging.com successful.
Overall, my main goal is to expand from a basic blog to more of a full-blown resource center for freelance writers and other like minded professionals. What do you think of the ideas above? Is there anything else that you would like me to consider including?
Any thoughts would be a great help. I am looking forward to all of your ideas!
June 26th, 2008 at 10:50 am
I like the daily posts that are small and straight to the point, but a bigger post on the weekends can be a good addition.
June 26th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
If you want to be more of a freelancer writing one-stop-shop, you might want to think about a different domain name. Looking at it from a new user’s perspective, if I do a search on Google and see the list of sites, I would pick freelancewriting.com over chrisblogging.com. I might still visit yours (unless I find what I’m looking for at the first choice), but your domain name is not reflective of what you are considering wanting to be. You could still make ChrisBlogging.com work, and you already have some name recognition in that regard, but for the long-term, you might want to consider a change if that’s the direction you want to take things.
June 26th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
I like your posts. I am always up for more job leads, but I hope it doesn’t take away from the quality of your posts!
June 27th, 2008 at 2:20 am
I like your style of posting. I follow your posts for several months now.
Reflecting on your proposed ideas I have two comments:
I would look into Jobamatic as a possibility to show job openings, you can see them in action on Guy Kawasaki’s blog as an example. They mix jobs directly coming from your website with their own job openings coming from SimplyHired.
Regarding your idea of monthly contest: are you thinking about one topic a month and all your readers can send in their piece of work? Afterwards readers can choose the best piece. That could become a good word-of-mouth feature for your website.
Best of luck. Keep posting.
June 27th, 2008 at 5:44 am
Chris,
The content is easy to search and view even now. You might want to bring the “Recent” items at the bottom to the top, or somewhere more visible. The change that I would like is in the archives section: instead of loading all posts, which takes too long to load, you could only mention the titles (and summaries if needed).
There are many sites that offer job openings today. I hope the openings that you post stand out; I’m sure they will.
ATB.
June 27th, 2008 at 7:01 am
Hey Chris,
It’s your blog, and it should be your voice? Why are you asking your readers to make decisions for you? You should already be able to tell from feedback in older posts what your readers want and need.
As I am here for the info you give on freelance writing, and your experience from it, that is all I want. The make money online niche is so crowded and silly that I feel you’d be ruining your blog with it. Keep providing the information that keeps people coming back here and wanting more.
Just keep your voice, man. Never lose that ounce of personality in your posts or you will bore everyone to death, worse off, you’ll bore me. :p
Take it easy and write well!
Justin Dupre
http://justindupre.com