Requesting help from readers: Routine Schedule?
“John! For once in ya life, shut ya bloody mouth and farken listen.” – So I did…
A good old friend of mine since back in the day of rabidness decided to give me some advice on blogging… Not that I asked for it, he was just amazed on the responses I give to other people, than look at the quality of my own blog… “Mate, you really could do a more sensible blog. Even if ya typing style is somewhat unique in a fucked up way.” thanks mate, really hit home with that one, I mean, me not sensible?
Okay, so I take life on the chin and smack back harder if it didn’t initially knock me on my ass. From that I learnt too…. wait, I got this habit of getting off track and having to do a loop around to get myself back on track later through the post. That annoys the shit out of me, all that typing to say, “well done!” or “Thanks!” or just “G’day asshole!”
So we got to talking about my stories of dumb workers and how lately it’s been a little light on the dimwitted scale around me. So apparently I keep posting stuff, just to keep people interested… Wait, I’ve done 4 reblogs, kept followers updated with events on site and why shit keeps changing, a couple of humorous poetry, got some REALLY great help from readers with picking a book or two (hundred) to read and a quick and very uninformative post about some god forsaken town that interests me.
I did this, because I was bored, I spend 90% of my after work hours reading emails from the… just checking… spot on 150??? No bloody wonder I have no time! I need to reduce that later on… For the sake of time management or some shit like that… Anyways, so I read and get an idea and quickly typed it up or reblogged / copied it (with credits). After explaining this to my mate however… (Paraphrased and LOTS of insults and crude language removed)
“But your site is about dumb workers right?”
“My blog, my rules” – the code of a blogger right?
“Righto, so why don’t you do daily updates?”
“’cause I don’t have time after reading emails or I just can’t be buggered”
“Why not set up a schedule for each day, many bloggers do this to keep a routine. For example, a prime one you could take a note off is Triple J’s (radio station) Friday Fuckwit”
“You want me to post on Fridays all about you?”
“John! For once in ya life, shut ya bloody mouth and farken listen.”
“Okay…” 😛
“Right, so lets say you post 5 days a week, Monday to Friday, so you can have your weekends free. One day post about on topic, next day post about another topic and so forth. Keep it all relevant to you, and post around the same time everyday. You’ll grow your ‘online community circles’ (inverted for my expressions of followers….) to a broader range and will be able to read their blogs to get inspiration…”
“Shit, I promised a Vegemite post…”
“What?”
“Inspiration…”
“Well see, now you can keep in the theme of Mining, Australia and dumb assed workers. You can even ask others to come along and do a guest post about dumb workers.”
“I got guest posters… 3 of, then I have my business partner..”
“Your wife doesn’t count as a business partner… She’s a guest blogger…”
“Damn… and she’s got a post in the works too…”
“Just think about it. A routine schedule will allow you to organise yourself, your blog and keep your readers entertained. Themed days will allow the ‘community circle people’ to participate more.”
“They are entertained or they wouldn’t have liked my blog, unless they are mass spammers… Can you get mass spamming followers?”
*Looks at me with evil intent*
“Righto mate, I’ll ask my Online Community Circle of fiends friends”
——————————-
So his advice is to the point, and being a succesful writer of articles, blogs and news events, he must know a little something about it… Right?
So what the hell is an Aussie Miner that now only occasionally bumps into the odd idiot suppose to post? Tell me what you think of the following ideas and throw some at me… Now keep in mind, I want to keep it at least, Aussie, Mining and/or Dumb worker posts… Dumb workers are welcome from around the world, mining I know little about outside of Oz, with a few exceptions and Aussie, is just Aussie stuff (in humor)…
So the topics are:
- Aussie joke of the week…
- A post about a mine or mining town or both!
- Photography from me of Aus with story behind photo/place/object/thingymajig!
- Some humorous thing of Australia…
- Idiot Australian of the week
- Dumb workers post (mine/guest/reblog/whatever I can get my hands on)
- Response night (awards, mentions, fav comments, plugs for other wordpresses, fav comments I wrote, whatever I can add into ‘response’ category)
I dunno, maybe I can set this up with the publishing timer… I’ve decided Wednesdays is the day for my other blog (It’s not a fucking novel, it’s just an online story)….
Whaddya Reckon? Got any suggestions what days I should do what? Or should I burn his suggestions?
John The Aussie 
Lol your more ambitous then i
Dammit Nori (now to confirm I know Nori outside of WordPress, go Cookbook challenge! His cookbook creation will be posted up soonish (days-ish) by me…. Now where was I?)
Dammit Nori, I was looking for suggestions or “Why the hell ya changing ya ‘drongo’. It’s good as is” or “May I a suggest cutting out this, or adding this, or have considered swapping….” or even “Wait? When the hell did the site change around, man it’s been to long since I’ve visited ya site SI/John.”
Ya dink!
BTW Is work still impeding your next story? ’cause I’m missing you twisted sense of direction. What’s ya next one gonna be about?
Have ya read my new project over at me other blog? Tell me what ya reckon over the little bro!
I have been wrestling with the same problem. The best answer I have is to pick the best times for you and publish regularly even if that’s just once or twice a week. You can always add more posts if you have something interesting to share. This seems to be the best compromise between consistency for your readers and the flexibility of your schedule.
My main concern is shift work. I get up and leave my room and don’t return until 15 hours later.
The roster of 5 on 5 off 5 on 4 off is an annoyance too, meaning I never get a solid week of the same working days… But the ‘publish timer’ is something I can handle and use.
It’s not that I don’t want to post, I could find lots of reasons not to. It’s more of a “Can you handle so much of this Aussie prick? If so, what would you like to see more of from him?”
Sorry for the lateness of the reply. I have a stinking day job too. In regards to timing it is not crucial as most people will read at their own leisure and pace. I usually schedule posts to come out when I not home so I can check feedback when I return. I have had a misfire or two but that may have been my fault. You seem to need to be logged in for schedule to work. The one thing you do NOT want to do is fill people’s inboxes with blog spam. Try to limit yourself to once per day max unless somethin can’t wait. As to content, I think it is a mistake to ask other people what to publish. A blog should be about your voice and your interests. But if you want feedback, try setting up a poll and you will get some hard data on what your followers are interested in. Alternately you could run more than one blog and cross-promote them. Followers could subscribe to the ones they like. Hope that helps you.
I hate polls, they don’t allow people to answer correctly and the poll answers are not broad enough. But still, I appreciate the feedback and suggestion.
More than one blog is a good idea, I threw up another blog for me to write up an ongoing story. I may go ahead and make another blog for something I got planned instead of cluttering this one up with something off topic.
Thanks heaps mate, and don’t let the man/woman work ya to hard.
Your suggestions I like the most…
Aussie joke of the week…
Photography from me of Aus with story behind photo/place/object/thingymajig!
Some humorous thing of Australia…
Dumb workers post (mine/guest/reblog/whatever I can get my hands on)
My favorite of this list is the idea of Photography of Aus. Australia has so much wonderful scenery and more to offer, but U.S. folks (who are afraid to fly such as myself) and others miss out on a lot of it. I share all interesting stories on my facebook profile to be sure that more of my American friends are getting a chance to experience it as well.
I also have to say that I agree with Sean Sandulak above. I am fairly new at the blogging game, so I have very few followers, but my schedule keeps me from being consistent or posting at a regular schedule. But it’s all I can do. Not to mention, I only have content to post when I finish a story. Anyway, I think you are doing a good job or else I wouldn’t be following or even reading your posts.
Keep up the great work, mate!
Joke, Photo, Aus Humor and Dumb Workers.. Get a vote…
I suppose it also depends on what type of blog ya got going…and your doing a great job yourself… Which reminds me, I downloaded ya short story to my phone and haven’t read it yet.
Thanks heaps mate!
I say dump that dude off yor friends list and ignore his good sense. If we all started thinking about organizing what’s in our head everyday this place would be chaos. It’s impossible to stick to a regiment of righteousness, good will and common sense. Be your Aussie self and delight us with everything Aussie. I’ll share my system with you. My right brain is my inbox and my left brain is my outbox. LIfe is too short to complicate matters. If you want to increase followers write a sex blog. I would reserve that topic for Monday. Aussies do have sex right? No matter where you are, it’s all about survival of the fittest. Hope this helps. May you and your friend have a great day…from Boston, Mass.
Random posts with Aussie-ness. Sex blog? My wife would murder me… Even if i only stuck to my younger years before we dated, she’d kill me.
I’m not really after new followers, it’s hard enough to keep up with who is who already. I follow 99% of all my followers. Some I just can’t because they need a pat on the head, with a hammer… Twice…
I love you Aussies. A couple of years ago, I had serious surgery and while laid up at home I saw this movie on IFC called “the Nugget”, it helped me laugh my way through my recovery. In any case, as a retired Photographer with over 10 thousand images, I really only Photo Blog. I try to give things clever titles and a few words. The most important thing, I believe is to Blog every day. I also scan the weekly digest from my followers (like you) and respond to interesting things (like this). I have only been doing this WordPress blog for three months but have more followers, click throughs and sales than on any of the other blog or sites that I have written for. I just sold a Frank Zappa T-Shrt yesterday that was from a blog click through. Also, use as many tags as you can think of. I know if you published images of Australia I would love to see them and probably look at everyone. I can help you with advice on how to scale your images and some thoughts on Copyright if you need some help in that area. Hope this helps a little. Good luck!
I enjoy your photography. Actually it was a witty comment that made me follow you. Whilst I’ve only been blogging since July, I’m up to my 51st post! I’ll do something special for 100th.
Daily ya reckon? I keep getting advised that daily’s keeps readers happy. A bonus feature of being in Aus that most of my followers and those I follow are on the opposite time line, so I could pick any time to post. Just keep consistent with the times. A major concern with daily posts is the effort put in.
Congrats on the sales by the way.
I’ll contact you once I’ve gotten home to chat about copyrights. Cheers mate.
Aussie historical facts (interesting, weird or both)
Aussie issues of the day…
Weird Aussie legends/places/ people…I’m sure I can think of more lol
Aussie Aussie Aussie.
Understood.
Thanks bud.
I dig on the Aussie legends idea… and “Idiot Australian of the Week” sounds strangely compelling…
Everyone loves idiots, just not being in company with them.
Legends however, we have/had a few.
thanks for the input.
I set up a schedule for myself as I kept getting off track. I use it generally and don’t worry to much about missing a post here and there, but it does what I needed, keep me organized. That to me was the key, keeping my thoughts organized. Give it a shot and however you want it is good.
Your the 3rd blogger I know who has a schedule. Even if i don’t five it a shot, I at least know what kinda posts I can share my short listed knowledge with.
However you do it, I’ll still be reading
Thanks John (what an awesome name)
Ok. You just made my head hurt (too early for me to think that hard). But you’re friend’s got a good point with the schedule.
Sorry about the headache, I’ve usually got my 2nd or third cup of coffee in hand by the time i check emails… I got a habit of just deleting them all when I get cranky…
4 for some sort of schedule… Thanks!
Glad I found your blog. It’s good whatever way you slap it together. I’ll keep reading.
Veggiewitch ♥
Thanks Veggie.
I’ve used that suggestion on a previous blog and it worked. In fact I had a subject I posted on Tuesdays that some people tuned in to see despite not having interest in anything else I wrote. Stick to it, and you don’t have to start off with a full five topic/days a week schedule. But if you have a routine then people will check in at least once a week to catch up.
I think it’s a great way to keep from exhausting the readers. They have an idea of what to expect from you and then your readers also set up a schedule of when to come and read you. Like how some people read the paper in the morning or the evening.
Realizing you have shift work, perhaps you want to schedule your times by day (ie I will post this topic on Wednesdays between Tuesday Midnight and Wednesday 11:59). This will cut you some slack on when you have to have your post up rather than by 5:00pm each day having a specific posting ready.
On all accounts I like your thinking. I don’t want to exhaust people with spam blogging.
I’ve worked around my working shift long enough to know my limitations, but a general day instead of time makes it so much better.
Thanks heaps.
Dear John,
Do what you feel is best, there’s no point committing yourself to a schedule or a certain amount of posts per week on top of all your work hours or the blog might start becoming more of a chore than a pleasure.
Saying that, I loved your Coober Pedy post – if you did that sort of thing and maybe, if it interests you, odd posts on the history of Australian mining, (including folk tales, old stories, etc etc) it would be great, alongside all your funny stuff.
Love Dotty xxx
G’day Dotty,
I promise there will be more posts similar to Cooper Pedy.
John
This is a total hoot! I think you should post about what you want to post about… love Aussie humour, I really do! 🙂 I also think you should do the 1. Aussie joke of the week! 🙂
I’m starting to think Aussie jokes should be my backup plan for when I’m snowed under, busy at home or just can’t be fucked posting something good.
But there will be jokes none the less so don’t fret. 😛
Thanks Katy.
If you want to post about stupid Australians that would be funny. I’m always up for some laughs. As an American I have a request. I’m a stupid American so a lot of the Aussie slang is hard for me to figure out. Maybe do a post on Aussie slang definitions.
In any case, don’t kill yourself with schedules. Blogging is done for fun. Blog about what you want, when you want and never blog if your not in the mood.
Most Aussie’s don’t understand me either. Between common slang, old expressions, words people apparently stopped using 30 years ago, bush talk, mining lingo and gaming expressions/words.
I mean who understands:
Last fortnight the 1-10 jumped on the blower and hit me up about the 777c while I was fucking the dog. He was curious if the retard was up to scratch….
It’s not as bad as it seems, here’s the conversion:
Two weeks ago the truck maintenance supervisor contacted me via the two way radio about the modified Caterpillar rear dump truck , class 777c while I was doing an easy job and taking my time. He was curious if the mine truck air & pneumatic braking system was working properly without hindrance.
We didn’t butcher the English language, we minced it…
But a post or two about Aussie slang wouldn’t go astray. In any case, blogging is fun and looking back at the end result and thinking “good enough for me” is good enough for me, no matter how much time I put in.
LOL! I think you’ve come up with your own language “Johnglish.”
Nah, I can’t take credit for that… It’s Australian Mine Speach…
I think the idea of reader interaction is interesting.
However, I don’t think you should fix a routine. I started my blog because I was not w
Damn fat fingers & iphone keypads.
Anyway, like I was typing, I only started the blog because I wasn’t working & a friend thought I should try blogging. A post a day.
Not easy.
I think blogging should be more spontaneous?
My fat fingers keep hitting the follow and like buttons… Some members may notice, sorry all…
Reader interaction is fun, second time I’ve tried it and the feecback is good.
Spontaneous blogging? A whole new term to me. But originally it was what I was doing as ‘dumb workers’ presented themselves, but business was slow and I was asked to post some Aussie stuff.
So a post a day is trouble, starting small looks the way to go.
Thanks Pendorphin.
John, you are a fibber. You can not be but a fibber. The ridiculous notion that Aussieland is lacking in idiots is frankly… idiotic! Open your eyes, man.
I am not a fibber. The idiots are evolving and to my eyes they seem to have learnt their lessons over time, in reality they have learnt to hide their idiotic tendencies away from the common (sense) folk…
There are common sense folks in Aussieland? Now you’re really havin’ a giraffe!
Now that’s a new round about way to say I’m an idiot…
I stand corrected! You might have some sense after all… *grins!*
*sigh*
Ya Drongo…
Had ya going there for a while, didn’t I John!?
Reckon 3 times a week is jus fine. I tried to post every day but it soon turned into a chore to keep readers happy rather me enjoying a rant or two when the mood took me. These days I try and stick to a 3 blog a week limit, and even then I sometimes don’t get round to it. Life and that gets in the way. Sucks huh!
I’d rather read a well written, interesting, funny, inspiring blog post where the passion really comes across than something every day by someone who’s obviously phoning it in than loving their blogging.
Personally I love seeing your updates in my inbox whenever they come!
Decent well written posts, gotchya. Thanks Dave!
All of the above sound good. Good luck just follow your gut. I would start with the pics of Australia.:-)
But where and what shall I start with? Hrmm I think I got a funny named Australian feature…
don’t over think it
Hey John – thanks for the support over on my site. I really like what you do here. You could be like me and always have good intentions to post three times a week and then always be three or four steps behind everything I want to do. Like how I wanted to leave a reply here yesterday morning… I like all seven of your options up there. Maybe you should try and weave in the movie “Undead” into something – ha ha.
Here’s an Oklahoma (U.S.) strange person behavior for you: the other day the wife and I went to a fast food joint for some drinks. While we were waiting in line, at the McDonald’s next to where we were we saw a very strangely clothed man digging something out of the back of his van. Apparently he intended to utilize the new “Starbucks-style” McDonald’s WI-FI and enjoy some relaxing time connected to the internet. First he hauled in his cords and his keyboard… then he hauled in his giant CRT monitor… then he hauled in his desktop PC. I guess you got to do what you got to do but we thought that was pretty funny.
Keep up the good work, sir.
That is deidcation!
Thanks for you input and story IPC
Say – i don’t know the etiquette – but do you care if I link your site over on mine? If not – I do understand.
Go for it mate.
I think you’ve got a great style & people will follow you as you evolve. People are following you now, right? Any changes that you do make will be trusted & found entertaining.
Bloody obvious logic…
Thanks Marc!
I’m struggling with this same thing with my blog. I’m trying to find time to write and post between work, school, and other life-ly things. I can definitely relate to this.
This week is a hectic one as I finish the fort for the kidlets over the next couble of days that my father and I are building. Oh the swearing, cursing, arguing, that bonds my father and I are great fun. (Not sarcasm).
Paintball this weekend too. Oh god I’m gonna be sore.
I realized everyone is busy, but the most time challenged person(s) are stay at home parents. We all make do, somehow.
Thanks for stopping by!
http://birdmartin.wordpress.com/2012/04/21/the-kreativ-blogger-award/
Hi! I nominated you for the Kreativ Blogger award!
Hope you have a really nice evening..
— Bird
Thanks very much Bird!
You’re welcome. I love your site!!
I see no reason why you should have a fixed cycle for any particular content. So long as you regularly post something that amuses you, that gets the job done. It’s your time, your place to write, so you get to decide what goes in it. Hopefully, those that already follow you will accept it no matter what it is.
I hope so, I’ve been flat out like a lizard drinking lately and hope that I havn’t put a damper on things…
I can’t believe nobody is doing anything stupid at work… Whilst ever so grateful, just amazed.
If no-one is doing stupid things where you work, it’s time to start a few urban myths.
Urban myths eh? we have the travelling yarns… as in everymine site had the same thing happen at that mine…
If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. From what I can see, you are doing fine with your blog.
It seemed the general consensus… Thanks mate.