Ever come back from lunch with a piece of spinach stuck between your teeth? You didn’t know anything about it. For hours. Just greeted everyone with your dental greenery. Because : 1) You didn’t check, or 2) No one said anything.
That can happen in the blogging world, too. Example? This recent conversation between Mom and Kimber the Wonder Dog:
Kimber: Mom! Mom! You gotta optimize us!
Mom: Don’t bother me now, Kimmi. I’m writing.
Kimber: Mom! Mom! You gottta find a responsive theme and layout for our blog so we’re mobile friendly!
Mom: Kimmi. Can you give it a rest already?
Kimber: Mom! Mom…!
Kimber Continues:
It’s tough being brilliant all the time. But somebody’s gotta do it.
Well, I try to go easy on Mom. After all, she still remembers typewriters and carbon paper. White-out and 8-track cassettes. (I’m pretty sure she was on a first name basis with that Abe Lincoln guy. Don’t tell anyone, okay?)
As I was saying, I try to go easy on Mom. About the time she got the hang of desk top computers, they came out with those mobile device doo-hickeys. Then she had to figure those out, too.
So I wasn’t going to push her too hard on optimizing her site for mobile. Or switching to a responsive theme for the blog. Every time I brought it up, Mom said:
“Go lie down, Kimber. There’s a good girl.”
So annoying.
Eureka!
Then Mom had a Eureka! Moment. (About time.) “Kim,” says Mom. “I’ve been doing this blog thing all wrong!”
Duh.
That was the day Mom finally figured out that her blog had to be “mobile friendly.” It wasn’t. So she made some changes.
Can you see? Can you see? Can you tell the difference? Huh? Huh? Huh?
If she’d only listened to me sooner. But you know how moms are.
Anyway, this is what one of us learned:
- Writing for the internet is different than writing for print
- A good print writer does not necessarily a good blogger make
- Desktop computers aren’t the primary way most people access the internet anymore. They’re using mobile devices more and more. So make sure your blog is optimized for mobile. If you don’t, you’re likely to get left in the dust.
Remember the spinach-in-the-teeth thing? Mom also learned that some of the Biggest Blogging Mistakes Ever include:
- Thinking you know it all
- Being unwilling to change or adapt for new platforms and audiences
- Assuming that providing brilliant content alone will catapult you into the blogger “A List”
The truth is, reading on-line and reading print are two different critters. They require two different approaches. Mom used to think that because she’s a multi-published author, she could easily turn and pivot into blogging.
Ha!
A Whole New Approach
She had to learn a whole new approach for a whole new platform, including:
- Brief, pithy sentences
- Eye-catching graphics
- Bullet points
- Short paragraphs
- Make sure your blog is Mobile Friendly. (Find out how to do that here.)
Mom didn’t know about that last one until someone finally told her. Like getting rid of that pesky bit of spinach stuck between your teeth, sometimes you don’t know what’s wrong until someone points it out. So hurray for spinach!
Go lie down, Mom. There’s a good girl.
One last thing. What’s a “typewriter”? (Askin’ for a friend.)
XXOO,
Kimber
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