All posts tagged Ministry Blogger Challenge

Build a Better Blog: Improve Another Blog

By | May 3, 2011 | 31DBBB, Resources | Comments Off
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For this week’s task (#26) in the Blogger Challenge, you are to improve someone ELSE’s blog.  Not only will you leave a good impression with a fellow blogger, it’s just an all around nice thing to do.    I remember when I first started blogging and had signed up with Beacon Ads.  Tony from Ministry to Children was the first one to buy an ad space.  He did it to show support for another ministry blogger.   I have to say, that left me with very positive feelings toward’s Tony and his blog, and I send readers there whenever I can.  (Speaking of which, check out the great Mother’s Day ideas over there!)

What Are Some Ways You Can Improve Another Blog?

  • Write a high quality guest post that will be useful to another blog’s readers
  • Leave helpful and insightful comments
  • Link to the blog and share your readers with them
  • Recommend to your readers to subscribe to their blog
  • Email the blogger with some suggested topics you’d love to see them cover
  • Check out the workbook for more ideas and tips on guest posting

My Favorite Way: Link Love

It’s hard to make your way around the web, checking out all the great content every day.  Whenever possible, I try to link to other blogs, highlighting their great content.  Check out some of these link-loving posts:

Blogs I Hope to Improve

Out of all the super quality blogs out there, two I’ve really clicked with are Ministry to Children and A Different Way.  They always seem to have something helpful on the radar, and the guys who run them are always willing to give back.  Over the next month, I hope to leave some helpful comments and direct readers their way whenever possible.

What About You?

What blog do you hope to improve this week (or month)?

 

Build a Better Blog: Call Your Readers to Action

By | April 5, 2011 | My Thoughts | 1 Comment
Flickr by anne_grbr

This week’s task (#23) in the Ministry Blogger Challenge is to write a post that contains some kind of a call to action While this type of post might not be one that you’ll use all of the time, it’s a handy style of post to have in your tool belt of blogging techniques.  There are different types of actions you might be interested in seeing your readers participate in:

  • Implementing an idea that you’ve written about
  • Subscribing to your RSS feed or an email newsletter
  • Buying an affiliate product
  • Writing a comment
  • Voting in a poll
  • Making a donation to a charity
  • Voting for you on a social bookmarking site
  • Buying a product that you’ve developed
  • Visiting another site
  • Hiring you for some service that you offer
  • Reading another piece you’ve written on your blog

Some of the actions will benefit you as a blogger and others will benefit a cause you’re writing about.  Some might do both.

I’ve done a few posts along these lines

Of course, I ask for comments on most posts.  I’m also thinking about adding some polls to regular posts.    I’m  hoping to walk in our local Women’s Care Center’s walk-a-thon coming up soon and was thinking about asking readers to contribute support to that.   What about you?  What could you do to call your readers to action?

 

Build a Better Blog: Pay Attention to a Reader

By | March 29, 2011 | 31DBBB, Resources | 4 Comments
Flickr by timailius

For this week’s task (#22), you are to choose one (or more) of your current readers and do anything out of the blue that acknowledges them, shows them that you value them, and highlights them to your other readers.  Darren Rowse, aka Problogger, shares a few ways to do this:

  • Promote a Comment to a Post—sometimes readers make insightful and wise observations and tips in the comments of your blog. While they’ll be read by a handful of people in the comment thread, why not pull it out and use it as the basis for one of your posts—highlighting the wisdom conveyed and the person who made the comment.
  • Write a Post about Their Blog—visit the blogs of those leaving comments on your blog and pick one that resonates with you to post about.
  • Send Your Readers to Comment on Another’s Blog—write a post that links to another’s great blog post and suggest to your readers to head over and comment on it on that person’s blog. Shutting down the comments in your own post and saying that you’ve left a comment already on their blog can help make this more effective.
  • Give Readers an Opportunity to Promote Themselves – invite them to link up or share something about their own blog in your comments.

I think I’ll dive head-long into this one and take a few angles.

Top Notch Blogs

First, here are some of my favorite bloggers.  Check ‘em out and let them know I sent you!   You could also check out the March Madness on Ministry to Children for some great kidmin blogs.

Top Notch Posts from Readers

Kidmin Blog Madness: Making it Work for You (by Wayne Stocks)

Nine Do’s and Don’ts of Post Tantrum Follow Up (by Adriel at the Mommyhood Memos)

Presenting the Gospel, Part #1 (by Wanda at Kidtrek)

Five Ways to Connect to Other Children’s Pastors (by Jeff at Kids Ministry Blog)

Talking to Your Kids about the Sermon (by Joey at a Different Way)

Now, Your Turn!

If you’ve got a great blog or know of a great blog, leave a link and a short description in the comments.  Maybe you’ll be the featured reader soon!

Build a Better Blog: Breathe Life Into a Old Post

By | March 15, 2011 | 31DBBB, Resources | 4 Comments
Flickr by kreg.steppe

Sometimes I’m amazed when I go back and look at some of my very early posts.  You can tell I was anxious to get started and didn’t always think about the long-term picture in my posts.  Today’s task (#21) is the perfect time for me (and you!) to spruce up some of those less than stellar submissions.  Darren Rowse, a.k.a. Problogger, shares these reasons for updating an old post:

  • You rushed the initial writing of the post and it was poorly written
  • Your post lacked depth in some way
  • The information is now dated
  • You’ve changed your opinion on what you wrote
  • A key element in the post (like the title, formatting, or opening lines) was poorly done
  • You were wrong in your post and it contains factual errors
  • You know more now about the topic than you did when you first wrote it

There are many ways to freshen up an old post.  The ones I’m going to be focusing on are new titles and adding depth.

Here’s a few posts I’ve updated titles on.  Check them out let me know which is your favorite:

What will you be working on?

Build a Better Blog: Write an Opinion

By | February 28, 2011 | 31DBBB, Resources | 1 Comment
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This week’s task in the blogger challenge (#19) is to write an opinion piece.   While many bloggers avoid writing about their opinion, Problogger, Darren Rowse, gives several reasons to take the plunge:

  1. It often encourages others to share their opinions, in comments or on other blogs. Often opinion posts draw out interaction and productive conversations.
  2. You help your readers to translate news and understand how information applies to them. This makes your content more useful.
  3. You show your readers that you go beyond just reporting news; you’re actually engaging with it and interested in the topic you’re writing about. This is infectious and will draw your readers in too.
In Children’s Ministry blogs, we often give advice on certain programs, curriculum choices, music, and more.  This week, let’s take it up a notch and give a little more defined opinion on a particular topic.  Stumped for an idea?  Check out the forums on Ministry to Children or CMConnect and pick a topic that seems to generate a lot of conversation.  Then write a post giving your take on the whole thing.  Be sure to link up in the comments so I can share your posts with other readers!
In the meantime, you can check out some of the opinion pieces I’ve done in the past:

Build a Better Blog: Update a Key Page

By | January 10, 2011 | 31DBBB | 4 Comments

Flickr by aaipodpics

This week’s blogger task (how many bloggers do we still have on board, anyway?)  is to update a key page.  Check out page 40 in the workbook for full details.  (Need a workbook?  Click on the link in the left sidebar and pick one up today!)

I especially like this advice that Darren gives about the Front Page of your blog:

Think about Objectives and Call to Action—one question to ask when looking at your blog’s front page is: what are your objectives? What do you want people to do when they arrive on your blog for the first time (remember, your front page is a logical place for new people to visit)? Do you want people to subscribe to an RSS feed or newsletter, click on an ad, tell a friend, be driven to your best content, buy a product, and hear your story? What do you want them to do? Once you’ve identified your objective you can then position a call to action in a prime location on your blog’s front page.

For me, I did a little cleaning up on the Front Page and updated my About page.  Check it out and let me know what you think!