OK Folks, read Mike Maynard’s latest comment on: http://sharisax.com/DrivingMissShari/2010/09/guest-blogger-mike-maynard-wit-farmville-strategies/
. . . which I’m re-posting here, as well. Mike’s lonesome. He wants to know his readers will miss him IF HE DOESN’T WRITE ANYTHING FRIDAY.
Please read this post and let him know we don’t want a Mike-less Day!
Wednesday, 24 November 2010, Sierra Oscar I’m back…
Blogging
My last two blogs here were about hypnosis and psychology. I intended to do collective psychology today but have an assignment to edit for a Chinese student and so this one will be shorter. Most people blog if they want to make an impact in social networking. A writer read one of my blogs yesterday and commented ‘Mike can write’ which was probably a nice surprise for her. Someone else said it was ‘mesmerising.’ That was the blog I posted here 2 days ago. The one I posted on here yesterday will go on my personal blog tomorrow!
Why am I changing when I post?
There is method in my madness! People want quality blogs and good writing, and they want fresh information they can’t find else where. Everyone and their pet parrot is writing about social networking now, but who is writing about collective psychology in the context of social networking – me! 
People will be busy on Friday; I know I am and so I may give up this blog on a Friday, it makes sense. If I am busy and you are busy, I don’t have time to write and you don’t have time to read – why not take a day off? I will post to my personal blog tomorrow and I have it ready written, the stuff on hypnosis and psychology I wrote yesterday. I think Saturday may be a better day to post a blog and so an effective blog on collective psychology posted on Saturday morning may be effective and reach my audience. I don’t think my readers have time to read 1,000 words every day, and so I’ll consider carefully when to post to my own blog. This one is different because Shari picks out the stuff she likes and re-posts it; even so Friday may have to go!
Blog length
I think a blog should be between 500 words and 1,000. I tend to like enough words to say whatever I want to say and it comes easy. Yesterday was too long at close to 1,500 words, but the stuff that wasn’t on psychology will be cut and the rest will be posted in my blog. The quality I am happy with, and I now need feedback; so I will post to my blog on a Thursday and link it on Facebook, Tweet the link and maybe mention it on LinkedIn where I have people interested in psychology! I will then just have to hope I get comments. I think the lack of comments is because people are just too busy. It seems we are more into interaction on this side of the pond than the side with no frogs!
Money
I am saving the topic of money for a blog that will concentrate on enrichment and money. You can make money from a blog. My first post on hypnosis was read by a hypnotherapist. Some therapists charge $100 an hour and they need to do what is often called a script. This is a routine to take the client into a trance-like relaxed state. Some hypnotherapists buy a script written by a writer who understands hypnotherapy and can write, obviously. The writer also needs to understand rhetorical devices and psychological devices and be able to write a really effective script that is easy to memorise. It needs to be similar to the speeches I write for my Chinese students that they have to memorise. These scripts can be very expensive costing as much as $1 a word and so a 1,000 word script is a little expensive. Who do I know who could write them?
It is of course coincidental that I have one or two hypnotherapists following my tweets and blogs. It can be helpful though to target your blog to specific audiences. I didn’t really think about food, but there is a new website devoted to food and a page on Facebook and they are linked to a group (thread) on LinkedIn. They want my recipe for Chinese stir fry and have figured out how to get better photographs. My last photo was a little blurred but my Chinese friends are very interested in my cooking. I think they are hoping I will get really interested in Chinese cooking and buy a wok! They intend to study at the university near my home, and so have offered to cook me Chinese food. I suppose they think if I eat Chinese food this could be easier! I can of course make use of this in my blogs. I can write about Chinese stir fry and give the recipe and tips like getting your wok hot enough. I think if we have knowledge of anything we can blog about it!
800 words… that is enough for a Wednesday!
I’ll be back…
Shari,
Very nice insights and tips on blogging. I agree that a blog between 500 – 1,000 words are decent with fresh information and fresh writing.
PS Your recipe for Chinese stir fry must be really good
Hey Justin, THX for the kudos, but you owe them to our friend Mike Maynard — over the pond. Is that where you are?
I have bought that wok today. My stir fry gets better. I can’t eat spicy food or onions. Yesterday the stir fry contained rice, tomato puree to bring out the flavour, chicken. peas carrot, corn, bean sprouts, Chinese leaves and soy sauce. A little rice wine or sherry helps.