Well begun is half done.

Aristotle, Politics

We are officially half way through our 30(40) Days of Blogging exercise! I bet you didn’t know that it was Aristotle who first wrote the above quote, but I digress.

Congratulations to all of our bloggers, and especially those who continue to blog daily throughout the Nativity fast.

Best thing to do it to write your blog entry NOW.

Sometimes it gets tough trying get something out every day – and this is the value for preachers. Every day of every week we are either preparing a sermon, evaluating a sermon, practicing a sermon or delivering a sermon.

The key is to realize that we are not the chef (to quote Catholic bishop Kenneth Untner, an outstanding homiletics teacher) – we are not preparing something about the Scriptures or the faith to say to our flock. Christ is saying something to them – our job is to bring it to them.

Again, we’re not the chef, we’re the waiter.

If we preachers remind ourselves that, for the most part we are priests, and that means we spent some time, sometimes considerable time, as deacons, table servers – then it all makes a great deal of sense indeed!

We are still waiting tables, serving the Lord’s fare to his hungry people.

Keep up the good work, bloggers.

It’s a hungry crowd out there.

© 2010, admin. All rights reserved.

Deacon Michael Hyatt is the Chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, the largest Bible publisher in the world. His blog is a treasure chest of wisdom and enlightenment on leadership, vision and responsibility. He also has a popular podcast, , on Ancient Faith Radio. This post is excellent advice for getting readers, and keeping them.

Assuming you want to increase your blog traffic, there are certain mistakes you must avoid to be successful. If you commit these mistakes, your traffic will never gain momentum. Worse, it may plateau or begin to decrease.

How do I know? After writing more than 1,000 posts and receiving more than 20,000 comments, I have made most of the mistakes you can make—numerous times. As a result, I have begun to see certain patterns emerge.

These are my top ten traffic-killers.

• Mistake #1: You don’t post enough. Hobby bloggers may go weeks between posts. But frequency is what separates the men from the boys. You cannot build solid traffic without frequent posts. I have seen time and time again (via Google Analytics) that there is a direct correlation between frequency and traffic. The more I post—within reason—the greater my traffic.
• Mistake #2: You post too much. Yes, this is possible, too. I don’t need to hear from anyone more than once a day—unless it is a group blog or a news site. You would do better to focus on writing one really great post a day rather than several mediocre ones. The trick is to find your frequency sweet spot. For me, it is four to five posts a week.
• Mistake #3: Your post is too long. Seth Godin is the master of the short, pithy post. His are usually in the 200–400 word range. I shoot for less than 500 words. But I often post 750 words and sometimes more. You can get away with this if your posts are “scannable”—that is, you make use of subheads, lists, and other devices that keep people moving through your content. If a post starts getting too long, consider breaking it up into several posts.
• Mistake #4: You don’t invite engagement. When I talk about “engagement,” I am referring to a combination of page views, reader comments, and social media mentions. Postrank.com is a great tool for measuring this kind of engagement. The posts that generate the most engagement for me are those that are controversial, transparent (especially about failure), and open-ended. This is why I try to end every post with a question.
• Mistake #5: You don’t participate in the conversation. When bloggers don’t participate in conversation by commenting on their own posts and responding to their readers, it is like hosting a party at your home, making a brief appearance, and then disappearing. In any other context, this behavior would be perceived as rude or odd. The same is true in blogging. People want to have a conversation—with YOU.
• Mistake #6: You don’t make your content accessible. Since I am in the publishing business, I often get asked if I think people are reading less. The simple answer is “No.” In fact, I think they are reading more than ever. But they are reading differently. Readers have shorter attention spans. They are scanning content, looking for items that interest them. When you use subheads, lists of bullets or numbers, it draws readers in by making your content accessible. Shorter paragraphs also help.
• Mistake #7: You don’t create catchy headlines. According to Brian Clark, who runs the must-read site, CopyBlogger, “on average, 8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest.” This means your headlines are the most important thing you write. Fortunately, Brian has an entire series of posts called “How to Write Magnetic Headlines.” I suggest you read every post.
• Mistake #8: Your first paragraph is weak. This is critical. Assuming that you have written a great headline, people will next read your first paragraph. You must use this paragraph to pull them into the rest of your blog post. Start with a story, a promise, or a startling fact. The idea is to grab their attention and hang onto it. Many bloggers spend too much time trying to setup the post or provide context. Just get to the point.
• Mistake #9: Your post is off-brand. I have often been guilty of this one. If you are a hobby blogger, you can get away with the occasional post that strays from your primary message or brand. But if you are trying to build traffic, you need to find an editorial focus and stick to it. A tighter focus leads to higher traffic. This is why I have tried to narrow my own focus to three areas: leadership, social media, and publishing. If I want to write on something else (e.g., fitness), I do so through one of these three lenses.
• Mistake #10: Your post is about YOU. Unless you are a mega-celebrity, readers don’t care about you. Not really. They care about themselves. They want to know what’s in it for THEM. Your personal stories can be a doorway to that, but in the end, the best posts are about your readers’ needs, fears, problems, or concerns. Always ask, “What’s the take-away for my reader?”

There are other mistakes, too; I doubt this list is exhaustive. But I think I have covered the major ones. If you can avoid these, you will be well on your way to increasing your traffic and growing your audience.

© 2010, admin. All rights reserved.

Fr. James Coles is the writer of one of the most enjoyable, thought-provoking, and whimsical Orthodox blogs in the blogosphere –

No one, except maybe my wife, is laughing more than me that I am being asked by Preachers Institute (www.preachersinstitute.com) to blog about why I blog! I would have never thought that I would become a “blogger.” In seminary my wife had to fiercely and radically edit all my papers. Writing seemed to be a skill I would never have. But, I have always enjoyed creative writing and the creative crafting of sermons and talks. Blogging, it turns out, is just a good fit.

But the rumors are not true. My parishioners were never begging me to blog. I would be surprised if even half of them have ever URLed their way to my site. Ultimately, and this is the secret you have been waiting for, I blog because I enjoy it. It is a spiritual discipline akin to journaling. But I had grown to hate my journal entries. My journals always began great. But then they would slide into one long complaint about my life. It was like I was constantly rehearsing problems and frustrations. I had to kill that sick discipline and begin a new work.

And while blogging promises to make one a better writer, I really have no idea if I am better writer because of my blog, Scholé. I am confident that the discipline of blogging has made me a better preacher. Why? Blogging forces one to coherently organize and communicate what is going on in the mind and heart. Blogging is way more of an extension of myself, my faith and my ministry than I ever thought it would be.

I blog because with all the preaching, teaching, public speaking, reading, writing, playing and praying there is always something bubbling to the surface. Putting fingers to keys is inspirational. Thoughts line up and the Lord shows up.

And, I feel compelled by God to put it out there.

You can find Fr. James blog, Scholé, at this address: http://frjamescoles.wordpress.com.

Fr. James Coles is the priest of the St. Ignatius Orthodox Church in Mesa, AZ.

© 2009 – 2010, admin. All rights reserved.