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RPG Blogging 101: You need to have a thick skin!
21July 7, 2011
In light of recent events I thought it would be a good idea to come back to my RPG blogging advice series. Whenever you post something on the internet you risk that someone might disagree with your opinion or even be offended. If this person is a nice and reasonable member of the human race this might not that much of an issue.
But especially the anonymity of the internet seems to bring out the worst in people. Especially when it comes to controversial topics you might attract what we usually call “a troll”.
Some advice for the new RPGBA members
3When I woke up this morning I was amazed to see that the number of member sites with the RPG Blog Alliance almost doubled since yesterday. It’s good to have you, guys!
And aside from a few minor hiccups everything worked great so far. But one of the issues is that the RPGBA Announcements from the official forums don’t appear in the feed yet. That’s why I use my blog to share some tips and advice with you. I’ll put this post into the forums later, also.
So, let’s get to business:
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Site logo
You definitely should create at least two logos for your blog: a 80×80 pixels one that is shown with your posts at the RPGBA main page and a 150×50 pixels one that is shown in the banner rotation on the right of the RPGBA site. If the sizes are a bit off, the site software automatically makes sure the logo fits, but sometimes this leads to weird results. -
Sign up at the forums
We have decided to use the RPG Table Talk forums for the official RPGBA forums. Registering there is not mandatory for members of the RPGBA, but it’s highly recommended. You can not only discuss with other RPGBA members there, but it’s also the place where you can post your tech support requests or ideas how we can improve the site. -
Link back from your site to the RPGBA
Support the RPGBA and your fellow members by linking back from your blog to the RPGBA main site. If you wish, you can make use of the official RPGBA logo we created for that purpose. -
Follow @RPGBlogAlliance on Twitter
If you are on Twitter, you can subscribe to the RPGBA feed by following us on Twitter. All the new posts from member blogs will be announced there. -
Get involved in the community
In my opinion a blog community shall be more than just a glorified RSS aggregator. Check out your fellow members’ blogs, follow them on Twitter, start discussions with them on the official forums and be an active part of the community. Again, I cannot force anyone to do so, but trust me, it really helps you and your blog. Making friends in the RPG blog community is one of the best ways to attract new readers and isn’t there anything better than sharing your hobby with friends all over the world?
By the way, we have set up a wiki which is meant as a place where you can share blog and podcasting advice. If you have the time, make sure you check it out. The wiki is still under construction, so some things may be a bit rough around the edges, but there’s already some great information there if you want to start a new blog/podcast or learn a few new tricks.
The RPG Blog Alliance is now open for business!
4May 23, 2011
Jeff Uurtamo just announced the start of a new blog community for RPG-related blogs and podcasts. For quite a while now Jeff and I have been more or less secretly working on our vision of a blog community and now we can finally share this vision with the RPG blogosphere.
So what sets the RPGBA apart from similar services? Check out the full text of the official announcement after the break…
RPG Blogging 101: Be different!
2May 17, 2011
As someone mentioned in the comments section of the second post in the series, the RPG blogosphere feels pretty saturated right now. The RPG Bloggers Network alone has over 300 member blogs and the RPGBN itself is only a small part of the whole RPG blogosphere.
Even if you follow all the tips I’ve given so far, you might still have a hard time attracting readers and getting noticed. Distinguishing yourself becomes a real challenge nowadays.
Content, content, content
Of course everything comes down to this. If you have quality content people will actually start reading your stuff, provided they actually find your blog. But if you have followed my advice so far, we should have this covered. But there are a lot of blogs with great contents, so what can one do to rise above the crowd?
Help a friend…
0May 3, 2011
A friend, fellow member of Puerto Rico Role Players and all around swell guy Rallaster, has been working on new base classes for the Pathfinder RPG. I’ve been looking over his creations, the Mystic Knight and the Shadow Knight, both in beta versions in his blog. He’s looking for constructive criticism on these classes, so if you like the Pathfinder RPG system and can give a friend a hand I invite you to visit his blog. He’s got some other stuff there as well.
If you drop by make sure you tell him I sent you! I had told him I was going to write this and I have taken my sweet time… Sorry for that my friend.
RPG Blogging 101: Attracting Readers
2April 27, 2011
So you’ve started your RPG blog but for some reason nobody is actually reading your stuff. Especially if you want people to read your posts and give some feedback this can be a very disheartening experience and it’s probably one of the main reasons why new blogs die after just a few weeks. So what can we do about this?
Regular content is the key
Having good and regular content is the most important thing in blogging. You can try all the tricks in the book but without content everything else is futile. Try to find a schedule you can work with and try to stick to it. If you have decided to post three times a week, try to do so, even if you don’t feel like blogging. Especially if you go on extended hiatus, people might lose interest in your blog. On the other hand, provide your readers with regular posts and they’ll come back for more.
RPG Blogging 101: Writing posts
8Writing posts is actually the hardest part of running any blog. Everything else up to this point was mostly theoretical or technical stuff, but now we come to what really makes a blog. A nice theme may help grasp a readers attention, a good blogging software might make things easier for you, but if you’re unable to get any posts written your blog has already failed.
The first post
In my opinion it’s ok to have a first post that basically says “Hello, world! Here I am!”. Sit down again and ponder why you wanted to start blogging in the first place and what the topic of your blog is going to be. Then write all of this down. There’s nothing wrong with starting with a “teaser”. It helps you to get in the right mindset and tells new readers what your upcoming posts might be about. And perhaps you can even reuse this post for your about section!
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