Need some honest feedback

Usman Sheikh · 02-11-2009, 03:06 AM

Please review my blog at Usman Sheikh's Entrepreneurial Journey

If you are an entrepreneur or want to be one and you land on my blog is their enough relevant information on the first page?

What else could I add to make your experience better?

Look forward to hearing your feedback.

Thanks

SIMPLEROBB · 02-11-2009, 04:17 AM

Pretty cool.

discountedclothing · 02-11-2009, 04:55 AM

It's a nice site. Keep it up!

akula · 02-11-2009, 07:31 PM

hi usman..
ok, the good bit is, you've included your bio on the blog, because if you hadn't, that would be a deal killer right there. there's no point reading a blog about business if you don't know who is writing it.

now, in terms of improvement...
blogging isn't like writing non fiction..if you continue hammering out unilateral articles, like what you are doing now, you will soon get burnt out and quit posting..blogs have 75%+ mortality rate for that same reason
if you want to have a successful and engaging blog, you need to accept that foremost, blogging is a form of conversation between you and other bloggers, as compared to you and the "audience"

practically, it works like this..pick an issue like "Losing a Key Client", and then start hyperlinking like there is no tomorrow..look up technorati or whatever and pick some influential biz bloggers who are also writing on the matter..link to their posts in your posts and send then a follow up email...subscribe to their rss and when they post something new, write a rebuttal or expand on what they said in one of your posts..blogging is like a forum a thread across multiple websites..it's a timely, dynamic, hyperlinked conversation

...and that's what blogging is about, as compared to one way intellectual "venting"...which is what you're doing, and soon you will run out of things to vent about. follow the steps above for 6 months and soon you will have an audience, and your business contacts will grow also..which are the probably the objectives for why you started blogging in the first place

Usman Sheikh · 02-12-2009, 12:57 AM

Hey Daniel,

First off I wanted to thank you for the detailed level of feedback I greatly appreciate it. A little history about my blog to give you a better understanding of how it started off. I usually make one or two new year resolutions and blogging every day was one of them for 2008. I didn't know what I was getting myself into. During that year I solely concentrated on just writing everyday. My blog was hosted on wordpress.com and my entire focus was on content building.

In 2009 I have bigger aspirations for my blog. Growing the readership, adding new authors, making it more interactive with my readers and possibly even monetizing it through a book that I am working on currently. Your feedback was like a breath of fresh air as I was always told things like comment on other people's blog or join forums etc. The point that you made about making it conversational really made me stop and think about my blog in a completely new way altogether.

Thank you very much for the feedback. I hope to get a little more insight from you regarding possible developments of my blog. I have DM you some more questions.

@Romane & @discountedclothing Thank you for your responses

terryxu · 02-12-2009, 01:43 AM

pretty good. l
earn lots

mauco · 02-13-2009, 02:50 PM

akula really poured out some great advice for all bloggers!

rogercbryan · 02-13-2009, 03:02 PM

I didn't see any advertisements (Adsense) and what not... I would add that in ASAP.

rogercbryan · 02-13-2009, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akula

hi usman..
ok, the good bit is, you've included your bio on the blog, because if you hadn't, that would be a deal killer right there. there's no point reading a blog about business if you don't know who is writing it.

now, in terms of improvement...
blogging isn't like writing non fiction..if you continue hammering out unilateral articles, like what you are doing now, you will soon get burnt out and quit posting..blogs have 75%+ mortality rate for that same reason
if you want to have a successful and engaging blog, you need to accept that foremost, blogging is a form of conversation between you and other bloggers, as compared to you and the "audience"

practically, it works like this..pick an issue like "Losing a Key Client", and then start hyperlinking like there is no tomorrow..look up technorati or whatever and pick some influential biz bloggers who are also writing on the matter..link to their posts in your posts and send then a follow up email...subscribe to their rss and when they post something new, write a rebuttal or expand on what they said in one of your posts..blogging is like a forum a thread across multiple websites..it's a timely, dynamic, hyperlinked conversation

...and that's what blogging is about, as compared to one way intellectual "venting"...which is what you're doing, and soon you will run out of things to vent about. follow the steps above for 6 months and soon you will have an audience, and your business contacts will grow also..which are the probably the objectives for why you started blogging in the first place

Wow... this is great info... I know exactly what you are talking about when if comes to blog burn out... I'm going to give these ideas a try