Measuring Up

by John Hewitt on 11/27/2007

A while back, Michael Stelzner over at Writing White Papers started a comment-based contest to name the Top Ten Blogs for Writers. He has now posted his official list of nominees, which I have included below. I was happy to see that my blog made the initial cut and I thank those of you who nominated it. For the final vote, Michael is planning to judge the blogs based on the following criteria.

  • Quality of posts: (55% of decision)
  • Frequency of posts: (15%)
  • Reader involvement: (15%)
  • Technorati.com Ranking: (15%)

The criteria prompted me to think about my own blog and where it is going, so I thought I would conduct a quick self-assessment and see what my readers think as well.

Quality of posts: November has, due to my commitment to participate in NaNoWriMo, not been my best month for quality of posts. I am, however, very happy with the posts I wrote in September and October, especially those concerning the 30 Poems in 30 Days project and the 10 Days of Character Building Project. Overall, I would give myself a B in this category, and plan to move back toward an A in December, once my NaNoWriMo participation is complete.

Frequency of posts: Again, this has suffered a bit this month, due to the novel commitment. In September and October, I held myself to a daily posting schedule, but I have slacked off a bit in November. Again, I would give myself a B.

Reader Involvement: Right now, I have about eight readers who comment with some regularity. That isn’t bad, but it certainly could be improved. I don’t know how I measure up to other blogs in this category, but I would give myself a C+.

Technorati Ranking: My current Technorati rank is 29,043. That beats everyone on the list except Copyblogger (which has an ENORMOUS following I won’t be surpassing any time soon) and Copywriting Maven. I think that Freelance Writing Jobs might have a bigger following than mine but for some reason Technorati won’t give me a rank for that site. I’ll give myself an A in that category.

Overall, I think my blog earns a solid B overall. A month ago, I might have rated it higher, but I am not thrilled with my November posts.

Now, I ask for your feedback:

  • How do you think my site compares with the others?
  • What would you like to see me writing about in the future?
  • How frequently would you like me to post?
  • Do you like ongoing projects or individual postings?

Be sure to visit the other nominated blogs below. They are all worthy of consideration.

Tagged as: Copywriting Maven, Freelance Writing Jobs, Golden Pencil, Technorati Ranking

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