Blogs. What we'd like to see. Why we write them.
- Thread starter BandB
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone who enjoys boating.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Bruce B Wifey D
Veteran Member
- Joined
- May 15, 2016
- Messages
- 94
In response to the OP.
Bruce pretty much summed up why we do our blog. First, the new build, kind of a no brainer.
Second, now that we are cruising, it's mainly to keep our friends and family posted on where we are and what we are doing, plus our own record of our activities (so we don't argue later on about what we actually did).
I do think about audience from time to time. It gets complicated when I try to hard to write for a specific audience. You start to think about 'what does the audience(s) want/need to know', and it drags you down paths that you don't really want to travel. For instance, ours is not meant to be a "cruising guide", as we don't try to catalog every bit of information about a trip or a port that any/every cruiser might want or need to know. Instead, it is more about our experiences, and offering a sense of how we roll.
I don't expect anyone to follow the blog religiously (or at all). I do think that it might be an interesting reference for someone who is, for instance, thinking of buying a trawler or an American Tug, or someone thinking about maybe doing a Maine cruise. It might come up in Google searches for topics such as these, and thus specific posts might be of passing interest.
One of my big problems with the whole concept of having people (strangers) 'follow' the blog is that I hop around to completely different topics. Cruising Maine one day, Airstreaming on another day, and Scottish Terriers (or FOOD!) on a third day. Someone interested in trawlers is going to get totally confused, and possibly annoyed, when they start reading about Scottish Terriers.
So in the end, I write about things that matter to us. I hope someone, somewhere, might find some benefit, but in the end I do it for us.
Bruce pretty much summed up why we do our blog. First, the new build, kind of a no brainer.
Second, now that we are cruising, it's mainly to keep our friends and family posted on where we are and what we are doing, plus our own record of our activities (so we don't argue later on about what we actually did).
I do think about audience from time to time. It gets complicated when I try to hard to write for a specific audience. You start to think about 'what does the audience(s) want/need to know', and it drags you down paths that you don't really want to travel. For instance, ours is not meant to be a "cruising guide", as we don't try to catalog every bit of information about a trip or a port that any/every cruiser might want or need to know. Instead, it is more about our experiences, and offering a sense of how we roll.
I don't expect anyone to follow the blog religiously (or at all). I do think that it might be an interesting reference for someone who is, for instance, thinking of buying a trawler or an American Tug, or someone thinking about maybe doing a Maine cruise. It might come up in Google searches for topics such as these, and thus specific posts might be of passing interest.
One of my big problems with the whole concept of having people (strangers) 'follow' the blog is that I hop around to completely different topics. Cruising Maine one day, Airstreaming on another day, and Scottish Terriers (or FOOD!) on a third day. Someone interested in trawlers is going to get totally confused, and possibly annoyed, when they start reading about Scottish Terriers.
So in the end, I write about things that matter to us. I hope someone, somewhere, might find some benefit, but in the end I do it for us.
We do find it interesting. Among the more interesting to us as our knowledge of your current cruising area is very limited. As to meeting the audience needs, until they start paying I wouldn't worry much about that. Write what you like. If others want to read it, fine. If not, fine. We also like reading about the two of you and the Scottish Terriers. It's all what you choose to write about. If people like it, great. If they don't, they can get a complete refund of their subscription they purchased.
As I always tell my staff, let he who loves me follow me otherwise it doesn't matter, you can't please everybody.
Last edited:
My blog is for my personal pleasure. I like messing around with it. From time to time, I might post something others find interesting. Mostly, I focus on the work we are doing to the boat. It is a good way to keep track of it. At some point in the future we will sell the boat. I'd like prospective buyers to see that we have kept up with maintenance, fixed things properly, and generally made the boat more pleasant to be on. I post some travels, but not that much. We use the boat more than it appears from reading the blog.
I try to post photos of projects but usually forget to take the photos until I am well in to it. Since I am not much of a wordsmith, I usually post lots of photos.
If someone finds something useful on the site, that's great, but I am not writing for anyone else but me. That should be obvious by the quality of the writing.
The desire to blog ebbs and flows like the tide. I have five or six posts in the pipeline now. Just need to find the time to work on them.
I try to post photos of projects but usually forget to take the photos until I am well in to it. Since I am not much of a wordsmith, I usually post lots of photos.
If someone finds something useful on the site, that's great, but I am not writing for anyone else but me. That should be obvious by the quality of the writing.
The desire to blog ebbs and flows like the tide. I have five or six posts in the pipeline now. Just need to find the time to work on them.
