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How to: Run a sticky blog, by Mimi New York

Posted: 13/07/05 By: Jemima Kiss
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I received an email the other day:

We're looking for a funky, innovative new writer to start a blog promoting our dating agency. It'll be fictional, but no one will know that. We want it to be big. The character will be a 27-year-old human resources employee who has just been dumped by her long-term boyfriend and has committed to dating a different guy every night for a month until she finds Mr Right. Are you interested in being that writer?

I pressed 'delete'. The next email was from my mother:

Dear, what's this post on your blog about something called 'deep throat'?

There are a number of steps one can take to promote a successful blog. Call it intuition, but advertising oneself as a recently dumped human resources employee is, perhaps, not one of them.

Here's my guide to running a blog.

• Controversy

When I started a blog detailing everything from the sexual habits of the New York male to the inclination of the male species to excessive masturbation and the politics of immigration policy, I certainly didn't expect the kind of reaction I received.

Perhaps it was the unusual combination of a woman writing candidly about sex as well as politics that both incensed and hooked people from an early point. Whatever the reason, it led to a lot of -

• Fan mail

And hate mail. And to keep people guessing, I replied to both. I received emails from immigrants stuck in the US without status and unsure how to proceed, crazed right wingers threatening me with minutemen and worried housewives seeking advice about their husbands' addictions to strip clubs.

People like a response, and responding early on maintains people's interest and loyalty to the blog.

• Links

I sent out links to every editor I pitched with an article, frequented other blogs and tried to leave thoughtful or funny comments under my name, and handed out the site address to acquaintances and friends - who were either flattered, or deeply offended to find themselves fictionalised online.

Blogrolling, linking other blogs on your blog, and registering with sites such as Blogwise and Britblog can also generate traffic to your site.

• Anonymity – or not

I was compelled to remain anonymous on my blog, which created a certain degree of interest, as my situation in the US as a visitor working without proper documentation could have caused a great deal of problems with immigration.

However, other successful bloggers have created a cult following by their self obsession. Stephanie Klein, the Queen of Manhattan bloggers, has a site entirely devoted to 1001 things about herself by herself and the pretty pictures to go with it. I find it slightly vomit inducing, but the Independent didn’t and neither did the publishing company who gave her a six-figure pre-emptive book deal.

Make it pretty, people will come back.

I did slap a picture of my ass up on the blog one day. But it was for a purely academic reason, I assure you.

• Good writing

As Green Fairy has proven, a well written blog can be, well, about nothing really. The mundane can be caricatured just as well as the insane.

Whereas my life as an illegal, lap dancing freelance journalist in New York currently dating a rich English socialite may turn people green with envy at the prospect of such a lurid plot, some of my best posts have been about encounters with people on the street, or interviews with immigrants society is all too aware of but often chooses to ignore.

• Perseverance

It's easy to get bored, but as a journalist, a blog is an opportunity to show off many different styles, and it's fantastic practise.

My blog went through a dark, depressive period when I was working in strip club hell, which was a complete contrast to the light, humorous tone I started off with.

The display of different styles and the evidence that you are a prolific writer is all important for a journalist promoting work to a potential employer.

And sometimes, something you wrote almost without thinking can prove to be the inspiration for an article that sells. That was the case with my first article for the Village Voice and for the Cyber-Pope, he is in discussions with book publishers and that all started after he sold the Pope's email address on eBay.

• Do it for love

Love and peace baby, yeah. Seriously, bloggers are compulsive people. You should not run a blog if the thought of an online journal, however impersonal or personal, fills you with dread.

Online readers are an astute bunch - people can sense the fear.

I think every journalist should have a blog or website of some description, and if they don't - then it's their loss. I highly recommend it.

However, experience tells me you should think twice before giving the link to your mother.

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Mimi's blog is at http://miminewyork.blogspot.com.

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