[Kim, Sophisticated Dorkiness] This week, blog basics are in focus. As I am reasonably satisfied with my six-week-old blog, I think it is too early for major changes. Instead, these are my musings about where I am right now.
When I started out two things were clear:
1) I was going to write about crime fiction and related subjects. (I do digress when Kim or some of my geeky friends tempt me, but not too often, I think)
2) I wanted to write in English and Danish.
Obviously, I also wanted people to see my blog and to comment. Recently, I put my little feedjit down in the right hand corner (which tells me where my visitors come from) so I know that I have around thirty guests per day. That is okay for a new blog, I think. Now and then I also google "DJs krimiblog" and conclude that google likes me :D
With regard to comments, it is clear that when I write short and humorous posts with interesting pictures, I get good response. It seems that people also appreciate my ´article posts´ (e.g. this one about the Scandinavian femikrimi), and my Bait-in-the-Box posts go down really well when the book is not too obscure. My reviews are the ones which get the least response on the blog itself; on the other hand I discuss reviews and other crime related subjects in my crime and mystery fiction room which is a place where I feel well integrated among nerds of my own kind.
Besides, I have found quite a large number of fellow bloggers whose blogs I really enjoy - many crime fiction readers obviously - but also people who read other genres or whose blogs I just enjoy for social reasons.
Finally, many English-speaking visitors comment on my bilingual blog, and generally, even though I have just as many Danish visitors as foreigners most days, the English-speaking ones leave more comments. Thank you; they are much appreciated!
- and should you have suggestions which you think would improve my blog, please leave a comment.
Blog Improvement Project # 4 - hvad er en blog?
[Kim, Sophisticated Dorkiness]
Denne uges projekt går ud på at se på de grundlæggende sider ved ens blog. Eftersom jeg er nogenlunde tilfreds med min seks uger gamle blog, tror jeg det er for tidligt at foretage større ændringer. Jeg har i stedet valgt at filosofere lidt over, hvor jeg står lige netop nu.
Da jeg begyndte at blogge, lå to ting fast:
1) Jeg ville skrive om krimier og lignende emner. (Jeg snyder af og til, når spændende bloggere som Kim og mine Weekly Geeks-venner frister mig, men vist ikke alt for tit).
2) Jeg ville skrive på engelsk og dansk.
Selvfølgelig ville jeg også gerne have folk til at lægge mærke til min blog, og kommentere. For nylig installerede jeg min lille feedjit i nederste højre hjørne (den fortæller mig, hvor mine besøgende kommer fra), så jeg ved, at jeg har omkring 30 gæster dagligt. Det er vist okay for så ny en blog. En gang imellem googler jeg også "DJs krimiblog", og hver gang tænker jeg, at google i hvert fald har set mig :D
Med hensyn til kommentarer, så er det tydeligt, at når jeg skriver korte og humoristiske indlæg med interessante billeder, får jeg masser af respons, og mine Gæt-en-bog-indlæg går fint, når bogen ikke er alt for svær. Det ser også ud til, at mine læsere værdsætter mine ´artikler´ (f.eks. den skandinaviske femikrimi). Mine anmeldelser får færrest kommentarer på selve bloggen, men på den anden side diskuterer jeg anmeldelser og krimier generelt i mit "crime and mystery fiction room", hvor jeg virkelig føler mig vel-integreret blandt nørder af min egen slags.
Desuden har jeg jo mødt en masse andre bloggere hvis blogs jeg virkelig nyder - selvfølgelig en masse krimilæsere - men også mennesker som læser andre genrer, eller hvis blogs jeg slet og ret nyder af sociale grunde.
Og endelig, så er der mange engelsktalende gæster som roser min tosprogede blog, og generelt kommenterer de mere end danske gæster. Jeg ved ikke helt hvorfor, men det kan nogle af mine danske besøgende måske fortælle mig?
- og hvis du skulle have forslag til forbedringer af min blog, så læg endelig en kommentar.
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15 kommentarer:
I think this is a good bending of the rules :) I google "Sophisticated Dorkiness" every once in awhile and I still get a little thrill when I see it come up or see new links. I don't know if that ever gets old!
Kim
Thanks Kim!
- and even though I don´t always do exactly what I am told, I am certainly inspired by your great blog improvement posts :)
I have noticed myself, having a Danish and and English blog that the English bloggers comment more often. I keep my English and Danish blogs in two seperate places and while I do update the Danish one, it is more or less just the reviews I do there these days. There are not enough comments and activity to keep both blogs 100% alike. All the challenges, Blog Projects and so on get much more feed back on the English one.
I think that there are just more interested book-bloggers blogging in English than in Danish. When I check popular non-book blogs, they have large followings and many comments, but the book blogs only have a few. I may begin a bi-lingual blog as you have here and skip doing it in two separate.
Hi!
I think it's amazing doing your posts in English and Danish! I'm afraid I'm a follower, have been all my life. When I see something written I will follow all the rules. Go figure! Have a great day!!
Sherrie
Louise: I think Dorte's bilingual blog works well. It's very easy to find the English part, and it's not off-putting at all.
Dorte: It took a while for me to get comments on my reviews. In fact, some reviews still get only 1 or 2 comments. You should submit your reviews to Semicolon (http://www.semicolonblog.com/) every Saturday. That helps generate some readers and comments.
But I think your blog is great! I'm always interested in your reviews.
Thanks Louise, Sherrie and Beth.
Louise, I really think it makes my life easier having only one blog to focus on. And after I made my detour-signs, I think anyone can find the version they prefer (Beth is not the only one who has said so).
And Beth, I quite understand that people find it difficult to comment on a review if they know neither the book nor the author. It doesn´t matter, really, because I know some of you appreciate them anyway.
You've only been blogging for 6 weeks...?!?
Julia:
Yes - and no.
I began a blog somewhere else (myopera) Dec 3rd 2008, but people did not comment because they had to be members of my opera to do so. Then Louise suggested I try Blogger, and I began this one Jan 6th this year.
Dorte, I have been watching the conversation on FriendFeed about Feedjit. I'm not going to participate in it there (mainly because the person who raised the topic and I don't see eye to eye) But anyway, I persist in using Feedjit because it does give me useful info about what people are searching for when they arrive at my blog. Sometimes I think they must feel very puzzled by the search results. I notice that your version of Feedjit actually gives different information to what mine does.
I'll be interested to see how you feel about the Blog Improvement Project. I did contemplate in doing it but am not sure about doing it.
Thank you Kerrie (I am trying off sitemeter; if it works, I´ll drop my feedjit - I just like to see number of visitors + countries).
I think the Blog Improvement Project is useful for me because I am so new to blogging. On the other hand, there are parts of it which I cannot use simply because this blog is about crime fiction. I just incorporate what I think is useful and ignore the rest.
I haven't joined this year's blog improvement project. Maybe next year, if there's gonna be one. I wish I had but there's just not enough time in my day.
Shucks!
I agree with the other comments about you posting in two languages. That is amazing. I agree about photos. I know I love them. Love the one you posted above. Also, you asked on my blog to post a photo of Rippie. That's coming this weekend. I'd like to post more photos. I think time is a big issue...and then I do forget.
Lilly, I agree there is not enough (blogging) time. Right now I have 26 essays I should be correcting. I really like teaching, just not that part of it.
J. Kay: I do not consider myself a good photographer but my husband has a good camera so I try to post interesting photos sometimes. I want to stick to the principle of a crime fiction blog but it is hardly against the rules to add some photos :)
It's your blog, you make the rules!
I try to stay with bookish posts in general, but every once in a while I post more personal essays, trying to connect it to a book/author somehow (however tenuous that connection may be).
Your bait-in-the-box with pics is a great weekly feature, and can tie in to your mystery/crime focus.
Dawn
She is Too Fond of Books
Dawn, I know that I make the rules, but sometimes other people have cool or funny suggestions for posts or memes which can make your blog even better :)
Last week I participated in Cathy´s post "Scene of the Blog" (which I could also relate to crime), and I think we both enjoyed this shared post.
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