I often provide a link to blog posts on forums that I am a member of where I think there will be interest. I normally include a 1 – 2 sentence summary of what the post is about. There has recently been a thread on the Lead Adventure Forum where a number of posters objected to this practice (in general not targeting me specifically) although others defended it. It made me ask myself the question why do I do it?
The obvious answer is to reach more people. There are about 3500 members of the Lead Adventure forum against the 55 followers that I currently have on my blog.
Ah, came the reply, but surely it would be very easy to copy and paste blog posts into forums? This would allow forum readers to read and comment on it without needing to follow the link to the blog. The only reason for putting a link in is to publicise your blog and get more page hits.
This argument threw me a bit, until I realised the truth of it. I do like to get blog hits and value comments on the blog more than comments made in a forum. Having given it a bit more thought I then realised I don’t see anything wrong with that (although others obviously do). Part of blogging is posting, but the equally significant part is feedback which includes post count. It lets me know when people have found a topic interesting. I feel good about a topic that gets some comments and lots of attention. Also people that follow a link to my blog may well have a look at some of the other topics I have posted. So after careful consideration I came to the conclusion that I am happy with what I do (which is always within the rules of the forums that I visit) and see no need to change.
I would be interested in other bloggers thoughts on this, whether or not you also link to forums and if so where on the spectrum of title and link to full copy and paste you sit.
I couldn't agree more with all you have said, I too saw the TMP post and thought it was a little silly to be honest. I like yourself post links on the TMP forum and others as well, it takes me quite a while to get a post written for others to read and hopefully enjoy. If a one line introduction is not enough for some TMPers, that's their tuff luck. TMP is a great tool for gamers but sometimes you do get the do-gooder busy body types on there. I just ignore them as most people do.
ReplyDeleteMy friend with the bad spelling is right and I totally agree!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the two gents above
ReplyDeleteAs do I. I do try and make sure that the post on the forum/list is relevant to the forum, though - for example, I won't plug my Horse Of A Different Colour series on a WW2-only forum :D
ReplyDelete...also? I tend to go with short-summary + link, as, like you, I want the traffic on my blog where folks might, ya know... read OTHER stuff!!!!
ReplyDeleteI do the same all the time on Lead Adventure, usually with little more than one sentence and one or two pics on the forum plus a link. I don't know why I do it either, but if tracking hits for interest level, you can also see how many hits the thread on the forum received as well.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agree. I am a semi regular poster on several forums and providing I have a post that is relevant I don't see any problem putting a link in a forum post. Like you I enjoy feedback (comments) but I also recognise that many people will read my Blog and never comment. Personally I don't have a problem with that but its nice to know they have passed through.
ReplyDeleteI do it, one becaues it's easier and there are people (like me) who want to discover new blogs. I find on forums at times some people (no names mentioned) get LOADS of comments and other, unknown posters get none or few. On a blog, a comment is someone liking what you blogged, not someone just saying it for the hell of it.
ReplyDeleteThis.
DeleteAlthough, when I do post on the LAF, I try to post a couple of pics and the grist of what I've done, so that if someone wants to see what I've done, there it is, but if they want the waffle or more in depth information they can click on a link, but they don't have to. It seems everyone's going a bit silly at the minute though, it's getting a bit lynch mob esque...
I try and post the same content on my forums as I do my blog,some people don't follow the forums I'm on but follow my blog and vice versa,so really it's win win situation.It comes down to the fact really,that if you don't want to click on an link you don't have too,simple as that.
ReplyDeleteWe should all be happy with what we do so I quite agree with your post.
ReplyDeleteI'd prefer to read your post here as the design of the LAF is truly awful.
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