Listen people, it isnt hard to garner popularity when you are in an anonymous forum, but for those of you who wish to know exactly how I got to this imaginary (yet coveted) state called Xangalebrity, I will break it down for you. Those of you who don't care, and don't wish to know you can go and watch this : You described the hell out of that man!How to become a Xangalebrity.
Start with a name.We all started xanga with our original screen names we keep hidden just like the skeletons in our closets. Luckily, xanga has rolled out the ability to change your screen name and has given you the chance to redeem yourself in the eye of the public. However clever you can be, put it into those 18 or so allowable characters for your screen name. It shows people who you are, and what you might be about.
It's not ALL about content, but thats a big part of it. People won't come back to your blog if you are boring. With so many choices at our fingertips, xangans have become a fickle breed. If you want to bring people back to read what you have to say, start with some decent writing. The only way to truly fail at writing is to write about something you do not understand. Pick something that people might be interested in, and try to keep within the realm of your topic. Find your passion and let people know about it, there are bound to be other weirdos like you out there. Good writers brings good readers.
Call me a comment whore, so what!Commenting is building the outline of your personality in one tiny snippet. No matter what anyone says, they will judge you from one single comment, and either visit your site or block you from theirs. When you leave a comment, you are basically opening a door to your own website, remember that wherever you go. Try to comment where commenting is necessary, and always read the post before commenting. Saying "great post" to every post out there will get you labeled as a fraud.
Hey, Its nothing personal.Blogging is about anonymity, or at least it is supposed to be. But many of us bloggers want nothing more than to be featured on the front page for all the world to see, or to be starred enough to get more readers. The thing is, even I, the so called xangalebrity antisoccermom, have never been featured. If you start taking this to heart, your feelers will end up getting hurt and life as you know it will crumble around you. Some people will like you, many will not. Some people you can instantly become friends with, and some will stalk your site to leave you nasty-grams at every turn. When you start caring what other people think, you are losing sight of your goal. And when you start whining about it, you are going to lose readers.
Keep a connection.You know those fickle xangans I talked about a few paragraphs ago? Right, well if you happen to go a few days without posting, they are going to forget you. Keep a schedule of when you plan to post, and post at those times. If you read me, you know I rarely follow this rule other than to post once a day. If you look at popular blogging sites elsewhere, they tend to follow a routine. If possible, let your readers know when to expect something new. But never let go of their hands, because out of sight is out of mind. (Though most xangans are out of their minds anyway.)
Let's get physical.Join some blogrings. join a
weekly_writing_challenge, get your ass moving around xanga a little bit. Join the weekly chat, with
natalia and whoever else decides to drop in. Get comments onto the
xangateams website, and start visiting the bigger sites if you can. When you get yourself out there, people will start noticing you.
If blogging is something that you want to do, its easy, and its fun. If writing is a talent of yours, send me a link, Im always looking for good writers. And as always, leave me some stars, or recommend me to a friend.
Comments (33)
I have to unlock the secret code to featured.
It just doesn't make any sense.
oh my, i'm in the presence of a xangalebrity. can i have an autograph? where is the popparotzi?
@A___Beautiful___Disaster - if you figure it out, let me know.
@FogOfConfusion -
if you dont recognize snark when its happening, my site is not the one for you.
Some good advice I reckon. I have fun with my very small circle of friends. Don't have the talent for a big readership so I don't worry about it.
Ah the joy of being who you want to be on the Internet when you can't be that person in real life.
Wait, are we talking about you or me here?
hehehe...snark...
u forgot show some T & A
:D Thank you! I hope I do. I just bombed a Vocab quiz today. >> An A would really help.
Nice post as well.
Educational! And not one enormous guy bit in sight! Woot!
Hopefully people will pay attention to this post. It's true, after all.
@FogOfConfusion - Why, I'd be thrilled to give you my autograph! Here you- wait, you weren't talking to me?
So all I gotta do is follow those simple rules and I will become a Xangalebrity. What's the catch? How much is this gonna cost me?
@Lmoisan -
It will only cost, your soul. Payable up front.
Thanks for subbing me. I used to get featured a lot - now I don't care. If it happens great, but I do like to recieve lots of comments so I guess that makes me a comment whore! LOL.
You want to make featured, start a major controversy that effects xangas biggest bloggers.
@trunthepaige -
eeek. Im afraid I dont have that kind of power.
I have never been featured but came close........I know why too....It is because I am on xanga lock..........They want those wo are featured to be open to strange footy prints and not sign in......
Hi there!
@antisoccermom -
Ether did I, but I hit the right subject and the right target
i thought the key to success was being a xangsta?
In a world of Xangalebreties, I'm a Xangapariah.
But if I can pull off a semi-decent post on catnip, I'd like to think that would classify me as a half-way decent writer... unfortunately it also means that I'm clearly out of my mind.
Yeah... but how do you become a C-level Xangalebrity?
I wanna tell the community that cheating on my Husband was the best thing that I ever did.
It also helps if you're filled with awesome, like myself.
Nice Post! ha ha Let's see..."something brilliant" "something brilliant" I use to look on the featured page, but now that a certain sub of mine has been recommending such excellent blogs, I don't have time for the featured page. Shall I name her? Oh yeah, shhhhhhhhhh.
I have been featured but not since they changed the way they pick the site they feature. Used to be the ones that the most posts. Judi
I've seen a lot of good featured posts still out of the flawed system. I think mine are just too whyerd for them as well as I don't have that many friends. Well you checked out my site earlier and may have seen some of my work. So, am I a good, crappy, or non-memorable writer in your opinion?
Or am I just to whyerd to judge?
All valid tips. I've come back from a year and a half hiatus, had to start a new account after loosing my password completely to the old one which was about 4 very active years old. Even now, what you write here, some of it is new for me because I was pretty much a hermit about my blogging, but I think I've chosen to come out of my shell a bit and see how many people I can actually speak to through my posts. Thx for this entry.
- phalsius