Tips For Better Blogging

I have just spent the last 15 minutes looking at the ever expanding amount of blogs about TSW.

I have 65 on my list at present, but new ones are being added every day.

I love the diversity represented in these blogs. We have opinions from parents, young people, carers, partners and long-term sufferers. Everyone going through TSW will find someone to identify with on this list.

Now, when someone types in something like "eczema" , "worsening rash" or "steroid cream side effects", our blogs have risen high in the Google rankings and may be the first thing that someone clocks on, the first step on a path towards healing. It is a great feeling to know that you have helped someone to find the answers, just as I am grateful for finding Kelly Palace’s original “Addicted Skin” site which was where I first learned about TSW.

Many thanks to those who spend countless hours blogging, photographing and logging their personal TSW experiences. We may not think we are doing much, but we could well be helping to shape future attitudes towards medicine.

We have so much to learn about TSW. Our shared experiences fill in the gaps to form a big picture which will hopefully prevent others from falling into the steroid addiction trap.

Hints for Bloggers:

I thought I would share a few hints with you all to help your blogs become more successful and reach more people. Here are a few things that helped me.

1. Get your blog listed on the Itsan blog page. If you are registered on the Itsan forum, make sure you get your blog added to the big list on there. That is where I found most of the blogs on my list.

2. Link to other blogs. Ask other bloggers if they will include a link to your blog on their blog and do the same in return. This creates a network and is very useful to those searching about TSW as they can instantly access related content.

3.Comment on other blogs. Network and make friends. A big part of blogging is making connections with people and helping each other. We are part of a big community, a blogging family.

4. Add photos. I hate taking photos, but my posts with photos have much higher pageviews than those that don't. I think this may be due to the fact that many Google searches are specifically for images.

5.Update Regularly. This is so important. Nobody will follow a blog that is only updated once every couple of years and it will slide down the google rankings.

6. Create backlinks. You can do this by commenting on websites and forums and leaving a link to your blog. You could also write an online magazine article with a link to your blog underneath.

7. Its all about the SEO. Think about what people are searching for and use these phrases in your writing. Some good terms may be "steroid rebound", "eczema cream" and "steroid cream side effects". Use these phrases regularly, but keep it natural. Don't cram them into the text artificially.

8. Be true to yourself and write for your audience. Think about your target audience and write about what will interest them. All the time, develop your own unique writing style that will hopefully keep people coming back for more. Include plenty of useful information, balanced with personal stories and articles.

9. Think about grammar, spelling, presentation and international appeal. It pays to run a spellcheck after writing a post. It also helps to think about presentation. Text is more readable when set out in paragraphs with headings rather than a single block of text. Also think about colour. Black text on a white background is easy on the eyes whereas a dark background can sometimes be offputting. If your readers are coming from different countries, keep your wording simple, so that the translation bots can do their work. Local phrases and slang are not a good idea and won't be easy to translate.

I hope this helped everyone and that you all get an increase in pageviews after reading and applying this! The more people we can reach, the better.

Happy blogging!