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I'm looking for ideas on how to get more views on my blog. I get plenty of spam comments, but not that many views. I'm not that good with computers, so any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
BF Hirleman
The blog I need help with is bfhirleman.wordpress.com.
First things first, get rid of all your spam comments in your posts and use paragraphs! Your blog needs to be presentable, if you want to attract more readers.
I agree with noirciplume. I clicked on the blog and thought you were doing pretty well. 43 comments on the post about the "Terran Civil War"! Then I noticed that it was all spam. The spam filter that comes with WordPress is actually supereffective, and it's actually going to help you a lot if you turn it on. Even if people don't show up to the site to post a comment, at least they will feel that the site is at least of professional quality when they scroll down to the comments.
Second, the whole layout is very ... dry. There's no variety. After a while, everything looks the same. The paragraph suggestion is a good idea, but you might also want to look into a less minimalist theme as well.
Ack. I immediately started scrolling, just to see how long the posts were. When you don't use paragraphs or break up blocks of text in some way, most people will click on through.
I know it sounds juvenile, but add some pictures. It adds interest and will break up that wall of text. A widget or two wouldn't hurt and neither would a header image. Actually, color of any kind would help.
What everyone else said. I thought the topics looked interesting, but no way would I scroll down to read them in that format.
Ok, how do I import pics? Thanks for the suggestions though.
If you go to timethief's blog, you'll find everything you need to know.
http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/
In the meantime, changing your theme will help. Twenty Ten or Twenty Eleven are popular choices (and still minimalist, if that's what you want.) Both themes have preset headers you can use until you create your own.
Good luck figuring all this out. It takes a while but you'll get the hang of it.
You go to the little camera image on your draft post and click on that. Then it asks you to load a pic from your computer or a url.
You can do a blog without pix, but the main thing is paragraphs, paragraphs, paragraphs.
One of the main components of graphic design is the use of (white) space. When I last looked, you had none.
No good importing pix if you don't break up the text, that should be your first change.
Then come back and ask us know-it-alls again :)
What kind of pics do you think I should add based off the content I have?
Ok, here's are some suggestions for images based on your content.
Images of the terrain your soldiers are fighting/marching in.
Maps of battle sites.
Weaponry.
Uniforms of the time.
War art.
Photographs.
Trenches and trench warfare.
So, hope that helps. I have had a quick peruse of your site and I like your writing very much. Good luck.
@bfhirlman - your site is interesting but as others have said, it's very dry and needs some images. There are a lot of things you could do, but it'll take time for you to find your way around WordPress.com (and blogging in general if you're new to it). There's an archive of posts I wrote in my previous blog that you can look at here:
http://blogginghelpfornewbies.wordpress.com/
That should help you find and use images, and also help you find and keep readers and followers/subscribers.
Sorry, I misspelled your username. Just a typo.
How do you import photos if you don't have any on your computer? Sorry, but terrible wih technology.
@bfhirleman
Do a search on Google for "Getting images onto your computer" (In double quotes). It'll turn up loads of stuff. Use whatever seems right to you.
Google:
http://www.google.com
I'm going to be off the forums for a while, so can't help anymore at the moment. Sorry.
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