Pint-Sized Party Ideas: 3 Fun Games to Make Your Kid’s Birthday Party a Hit
So your kid’s birthday is coming up and you’ve already started preparing for this exciting day. While the food and the decorations are essential parts to any celebration, the games are where the real heart of the party happens.
Games are always a great way to bring your guests together and make each child feel included. If you choose the right games, they will create an environment for bonding. You always want all of the guests to leave feeling like they had a really fun time.
3 Awesome Birthday Party Games for Kids
Birthday Party Game #1: Messy Egg Relay Race
One thing that all kids have in common is that they love making messes. So why not kick off your kid’s party with the messy egg relay race?
The best place to play this game is outside in the yard. Separate the kids into two teams. Each team will line up and have up to 10 players each. Each team will have a bowl with 15 raw eggs placed on a chair next to the first person in line. On the opposite side of the yard, there should be a large table with two empty bowls where the kids will put their eggs.
Each player will have to balance a raw egg on a spoon to the other side of the yard. If they let the egg fall they need to go back and get another egg. There are 5 extra eggs in the bowl for this purpose. When they reach the table, they will place the egg in the bowl without cracking it. Then they run back to their team and tag the next player in line.
The first team to fill the bowl with 10 eggs wins. If you would like to play this game indoors, then you’ll have to previously boil the eggs so that when they fall on the ground, they won’t create a mess.
Birthday Party Game #2: Treasure Hunt
It’s amazing how kids love those little prizes that we can find for cheap prices. When you’ve taken the day to run errands, stop by a Dollar Store and purchase lots of cute prizes such as tiny cars, masks, fairy wands, candy, chocolates, whistles, and even soap bubbles.
You can also buy them in the theme that you chose for your party. So if you chose a theme like Backyardigans, you can buy backyardigans party supplies and favors that can be used during the treasure hunt. Before any of the kids arrive, hide all of the prizes in different corners of the house and out in the yard if you have good weather.
When it’s game time, each child will receive a small plastic sack for them to put all of the trinkets that they find. Kids will have 10 minutes to find as many prizes as they can. The child with the most prizes in their sack will win an extra special grand prize.
Birthday Party Game #3: Playdough Sculpture Competition
Stimulate the artist in each child by having a playdough competition. To tie this game in with the theme that you’ve chosen for the party, have them make sculptures out of the main characters.
For example; if you’ve decided to throw a disney cars birthday party, have them make scupltures of Lightning McQueen. Give each child 3 colors of playdough. They could also make a second creation of whatever they felt like doing.
Have different categories so that everyone can win. For example: the funniest, most unique, most creative, prettiest, etc. Buy prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. By doing this everyone will end up winning something and feeling happy about it all.
Eren Mckay is a work-at-home mom who loves to help others with their home and family lives.
10 Twitter Time-Management Tips – How to Avoid the Time-Vortex of Twitter
Twitter is the ultimate temptation because day (or night), there is always someone there tweeting, something interesting to read, some raging debate or trending topic. It’s especially dangerous for those of us who work-from-home (read spend most of the day alone in a home office seriously starved for human interaction).
Easy to see why a ‘quick stop’ in the Twittersphere turns into an extended Tweet-a-Thon.
How to Avoid the All-Powerful Sucking Time-Vortex of Twitter
Twitter Time-Management Tip #1: Set Strict Time Limits
Keep your Twitter sessions to short, powerful bursts of interaction. In even as little as 5 minutes you can catch-up with your friends, retweet interesting posts and check on your Direct Messages. If you find yourself losing track of time, use a timer to stay on track!
Twitter Time-Management Tip #2: Leverage Technology
Technology tools, like Hootsuite, allow you to schedule a day’s worth of post in one quick upload. What that means is you can get out the information you wish to share that day and use your power sessions to focus on engagement.
Twitter Time-Management Tip #3: Go Mobile
Surprisingly, a lot of my daily interaction happens via my mobile Twitter app when I’m in-between other activities, whether that’s waiting for a conference call to start or in line at Starbucks. Because it’s in-between other activities, there are already boundaries for those of us who are tempted by Twitter.
Twitter Time-Management Tip #4: Use Automagic Posting
Twitter Feed is a common automagic (automatic + magic) tool for maintaining your social media activity. Again, it’s not a replacement for interacting, but a useful tool for pulling fresh content into your tweet stream.
Twitter Time-Management Tip #5: Get Help Finding Content
If automating your tweet stream isn’t your thing, try getting a little help from Zite! It’s a handy iPhone/iPad app that allows you to set topic preferences and then it learns what types of content you like best. The more you use it, the better the content match. All you have to do is connect it to your Twitter and click Tweet on the content you’d like to share!
Twitter Time-Management Tip #6: Create Twitter Lists
Chances are you have a strategic reason for using social media, whether that’s to engage with bloggers and journalists or connect with your target audience. That’s where Twitter lists come in handy. It means that you can quickly connect with exactly who you need to with very little effort.
Twitter Time-Management Tip #7: Set Tech Blackout Zones
Being ON all-day, every day is a recipe for social burnout. Give yourself technology downtime where you don’t interact. How you determine your tech blackouts is up to you – some people choose to take the weekends off, others take entire tech blackout vacations.
Twitter Time-Management Tip #8: Post from Other Platforms
The key to being successful in social media is maintaining an active profile. That means continually updating your status, which is the reason Twitter is such an effective time-vortex. If you interact on other social media platforms, like Facebook or Pinterest, make those posts do double-duty by posting those updates on Twitter at the same time (often it’s just a click of a button to post in both places).
Twitter Time-Management Tip #9: Get Help
What is so amazing about social media is that (most often) there are real people behind every profile so don’t take this tip as permission to ‘outsource’ your Twitter. But if you are like me and manage more than one account, chances are you will need a little help. That’s why the official MOMeo Magazine Twitter account is managed by myself and @HeatherSBroad!
Twitter Time-Management Tip #10: Extend Your Interaction
One of my favorite ways to maintain my Twitter activity is to post my retweets into the future. I do this for two reasons: #1 to avoid overwhelming my followers with too much information all at once and #2 to benefit the person I am retweeting by giving the post the best chance of garnering attention. The added bonus from a Twitter time management perspective is it makes it easier to maintain a consistent tweet stream.
Are You a Business Wallflower? How to Embrace Your Inner Bad Ass
“Well-behaved women seldom make history.” —Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
This quote is posted on my inspiration board above my desk to remind me that sometimes is you need to be a little bad assed in business. Sometimes you need to stretch the rules just a little, push the boundaries or do something no one else would dare to do.
Don’t think of this as permission to go and do wrong things – that’s not what I mean at all. Think of it as permission to do what makes you feel uncomfortable, what the wallflower in you wouldn’t normally do, what you know you have to do to get that one little break.
Perhaps it’s boldly walking up to that editor who has a say in whether or not you get a book deal, perhaps it’s asking that really big client to trust that you are the best choice and to sign on the dotted line today or perhaps it’s forging a strategic alliance with a company that is way out of your league.
Wallflowers would shrink at doing such a thing. That’s why you need to embrace your inner bad ass. The you who doesn’t shy away from challenge, the you who can bullshit her way into a meeting that perhaps she doesn’t belong in, the you who gets that break because she pushed for it.
How to Embrace Your Inner Bad Ass When You Feel Like a Wallflower
It’s easier to stay comfortably cozied up to the wall where it’s safe and predictable. Stretching the rules, pushing the boundaries or doing something bold and daring is scary. That’s when you need to embrace your inner bad ass.
Let go of the results. The results don’t matter! It’s business – you are going to hear “No!”, you are going to run into roadblocks, you are going to experience failures. Often what holds us back is getting overly concerned about the possibility of a negative result that we are unwilling to take even the smallest step.
Try role-playing the scenario as someone else. Ask yourself how a friend would handle the situation and play that role. Sometimes it’s easier to imagine yourself as someone else because you can role-play doing something you aren’t comfortable doing. You aren’t being you asking for that big sale – you are being your friend who does this kind of stuff all the time.
Dare yourself to do it anyway. Close your eyes and do it – even if it scares you. Chances are it usually isn’t as bad as you thought and even if it was THAT BAD, it’s over before you know it. So what if the fancy-shmancy editor thought you were annoying. Success comes to those who wouldn’t give up (whether or not their persistence was annoying to others).
So what is the bold, daring, bad ass you going to do today?
Tired of Battling the Harsh Canadian Climate? Take the Dove Real Canadian Hair Challenge
To say Calgary is a dry climate is a bit of an understatement. It’s an extremely dry climate (technically a semi-arid desert if you want to be specific). That means itchy skin, chapped lips and dry everything, which makes caring for baby fine hair a particular challenge.
Not enough conditioner and you end up with hair that stands on end and a husband who grabs onto your shoulders to ground himself before giving you a kiss goodbye in the morning. Too much conditioner and you end up with greasy hair that even you don’t want to run your fingers through.
That’s why when Dove asked MOMeo Magazine to test out their Nourishing Oil Care line, we were intrigued and a little hopeful that finally we would get the conditioning we needed without the grunge look. They claimed that the weightless moisture absorbed completely into your hair leaving behind no greasy residue.
What MOMeo Magazine Editor and Publisher, Carla Young had to say…
“Looking at the bottle of Nourishing Oil Care Leave-in Smoothing Cream, I was a little skeptical. I have literally tried every leave-in conditioner on the market and they all left my hair looking and feeling greasy.”
“My to my surprise – it worked! A tiny dot was all it took after my morning shower followed by the Nourishing Oil Care Anti-Frizz Serum and my flyaway hair was gone without the slightest bit of greasy feel. Both instantly absorbed into my hair.”
Enter to Win the Dove Real Canadian Hair Challenge
Want to put Dove Nourishing Oil Care to the test? There are two ways to win:
#1: Enter via Facebook – LIKE Dove on Facebook and tell them why you should win a one-on-one styling session with Dove and renowned stylist Mark Townsend LIVE on Breakfast Television BEFORE February 29th 2012!
#2: Enter via MOMeo Magazine – Enter to win a one-year supply of the complete line of Dove Nourishing Oil Care products via MOMeo Magazine. Winners will receive 6 of each of the following:
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- Nourishing Oil Care Anti-Frizz Serum
Prize value $275.70
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* Contest is only open to residents of Canada only. Contest closes March 31st 2012.
* WOMMA Disclosure: MOMeo Magazine received product in exchange for this promotion.
The Nitrate Debate: Good for You? Bad for You? Stop Changing Your Minds Already!
The “earth is flat” food battle of our time is being fought and it’s called “nitrates are bad for you”.
On the one side is the 10 year old theory that nitrates in food mix with the bacteria in your gut to create nitrosamines which can lead to cancer . The new science refutes that claim and posits that more than 90% of the nitrates consumed come from otherwise healthy plants. Leafy greens are a particularly rich source.
If the old theory is true, the new science says, it means that the very things meant to protect us from cancer are capable of causing it. But that can’t be right. Head scratcher.
Professor Andrew Jones presented his findings at a food science conference about a year ago. This exercise physiologist explained how nitrate from beetroot juice widens blood vessels, reduces blood pressure and allows more blood flow. (It was verified, by the way, by isolating the nitrate in the juice and retesting. The nitrate free juice did not have the same effect). They are now studying the effects of this isolated nitrate as a…get this…performance enhancing drug.
Well, that’s a game changer. What about the link to cancer?
The problem with science is that it doesn’t jive with human nature. The scientific method poses a theory and tests it. The conclusions must be retested by other scientists to either prove or disprove the findings but once a theory is entrenched in the human lexicon it is almost impossible to remove.
The layperson just throws up his hands and says “First you said this, now you say that?! Forget it; I don’t want to listen anymore”. But we have to keep listening and keep letting the new information in if we are going to move ahead.
The studies on nitrates and their link to cancer are in that process right now. The story is moving in slow-motion but the questions being raised make enough sense for us to hit pause and listen. If nitrates exist in soil and plants then why don’t we all have stomach and colorectal cancer?
The epidemiological studies based on self reported diet history indicating that high levels of processed meat consumption and colon cancer cannot prove cause and effect. Epidemiological studies can only raise enough questions that need to be further investigated.
What heats the whole debate up is the use of said nitrites and nitrates are in deli meats. Know that nitrites, as a preservative, are mandated for use in deli meats. In other words, if you make and sell deli meats, the government says you must use them in your product to prevent other, more pressing problems like deadly bacteria. They can choose from a synthetic source or from a natural source like the vegetables stated above.
As a follower of the story you want to find the best course of action. It’s more about what you DO in the meantime that matters. Vitamin C in plants helps to prevent the conversion of nitrates to the risky and suspect nitrosamines. Smoked and cured meats have been consumed for millennia and they taste good, nitrites/nitrates and all.
So, if you are going to continue enjoying these meats do so wisely. Choose the best one you can find that has managed the other factors. Specifically, find the leanest, lowest sodium option made with the highest quality ingredients you can find. Enjoy it in moderation and eat it with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables (and keep reading to figure out whether the earth is round or flat…again).
Business Believability: How to Establish the Credibility of Your Business
Know, Like, TRUST – the key word being trust. As most start ups can tell you, introducing a new business to the marketplace requires building awareness, but more importantly, it requires building your credibility. Your target audience needs to know about your business and TRUST that you are a worthy supplier.
The dilemma for start-ups being that its hard to prove how great you are when you haven’t yet had an opportunity to prove how great you really are. Regardless of your business model and your target audience, trust is something that needs to be garnered in order to gain customers and create brand loyalty.
Start-ups soon learn that credibility can be quickly generated by word-of-mouth. One happy customer tells another who tells another and so on. With the onslaught of social media, it has never been easier or faster to spread the word about a good product or service. At the same time, it has never been easier or quicker to permanently tarnish a reputation.
How to Establish the Credibility of Your Business
There are several strategies, regardless of your industry, that you can be put into place with the goal of gaining brand building momentum and credibility.
#1: Are you an expert at something? If so, let the media know about it. Reach out to the key media influencers in your sector and introduce yourself and your expertise. Make yourself accessible to them so that they know that they have a reliable resource available to them on an as-needed basis. A simple mention in a byline or a television appearance is the first great step in building trust with your target audience.
#2: Do you have a few happy customers? Let the world know about them! Incorporate written testimonials and video testimonials from these clients wherever possible. Include the testimonials in all proposals and e-marketing materials. Every positive reinforcement helps turns a potential client in to a paying client.
#3: Does your industry have a certification or awards program? Nothing sounds better than hearing about an “award winning” product or service. Endorsements from credible third-party organizations go a long way in establishing trust.
#4: Build a network of “Brand Ambassadors”. This is a very natural way to help build brand credibility. Offer users an incentive to start talking about you. Sampling programs, and freebies to the right individuals go a long way towards building your credibility. What the “Brand Ambassadors” are saying about you will have more value than what you have to say about your company.
#5: Excel at customer service. As a business owner, you’ve heard this many a time, but these are truly words to live by. Nothing will impress a potential client more than impeccable and immediate customer service. Wow them from the outset so that they don’t even need to consider getting another quote from a competitor.
#6: Implement a social media strategy. If you are of the opinion that social media is a passing craze then perhaps you need to ask the over 225 million twitter users and over 750 million Facebook users what they think of that (Bosmol.com, 2011). Social media has made it incredibly easy to build a following and offer free promotional opportunities. If this is not your strength, outsource it to someone who knows what they are doing. The last thing you want is to have a converation happening about your company in the twittersphere and not be a part of it.
#7: Align yourself with strategic partners. Perhaps there is someone in your industry who offers complimentary services to your own that you can leverage to make your company more of a full service organization. The more services you can offer the client, the less chance they will go elsewhere. A one-stop shop is your ideal goal.
#8: Exceed your clients expecations. Even if it means making a little less money at first. Customers will appreciate the extra effort and will most likely be happy to recommend you to colleagues and continue doing business with you.
#9: Focus on your core competencies. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Establish your niche and own it by being better than everyone else.
#10: Ensure that you are constantly talking to your customers and getting their feedback on their experience with you. As a result, you will be ensuring that you are meeting their needs, but at the same time, you will be getting free market research on just how well you are doing as a business.
Implement these strategies no matter where you are in the lifecycle of a business and you will quickly see your credibility and brand awareness grow radically. Ignore these and be faced with the reality that your credibility might grow at too slow a pace to keep up with all of your competitors.
Winning the Video Game Battle: How to Get Your Couch Potato Kids Outside
There are days when the kids seem more than motivated to get outside and play with every toy they own (my front yard looking like a garage sale gone awry), and other days, I can’t convince them to move so I can vacuum under their feet.
Ever have those times when your kids don’t seem to move from the couch or from in front of the computer screen?
You suggest fun activities, you offer to pick up a friend, you list the benefits of getting outside and stretching their legs and still, nothing. There they sit. When it’s a cold, dreary snow-less winter, what’s a parent to do?
On a day-to-day basis, you can limit screen time the kids can enjoy, but sometimes managing that and filling in their time with other creative ideas is full-time job in itself. If they are kept busy with other activities, there is rarely time for extended couch surfing.
Before school everyone has responsibilities in our house – emptying the dishwasher, packing backpacks, practicing piano, getting out vitamins, making their own breakfasts, brushing teeth, and finding library books. This leaves little time for TV or computers before school and keeps everyone moving towards to door.
Regular weekly activities give the kids an outlet to learn a new skill and get much needed time to move after nap time or sitting at a desk all day. If your kids are too young for full-day school, plan morning outings to the library or a play date and in the afternoon plan something active like a walk.
You don’t want your kids too busy, but a paper route or dance classes a couple days a week for older kids keeps them active and away from the video game temptation with their free-time after school.
When we do have those lazy unstructured weekends void of any plans, birthday parties or trips to the mall, it’s time to play the Activities Coordinator and plan a family outing – something you know everyone will enjoy (once they finish groaning and moaning about getting up off the couch)!
Go for a walk to the park, take a hike in the nearby forest, go for a family swim at the local pool, play mini golf or head to the open gym at the community center. Older kids will enjoy a little indoor rock climbing, skating, bowling or sign up for a Zumba class.
The key is that Mom and Dad join in! The kids not only love the family time, but the whole family benefits from staying active together. The feel good laughs at Mom trying to climb a rock wall or Dad sinking a glow in the dark hole in one will be remembered. Not to mention the hugs, holding hands and family time! It makes it easier the next time you need to nudge everyone off the couch.
Want more tips on raising healthy kids? Visit her websites to learn more www.iron-kids.com and www.adultgummies.com!
Go to Your Happy Place: 5 Ways to Connect with Your Creativity
Creativity is a funny thing. Sometimes you have it, other times you just don’t, which makes life more than a little difficult when you are in the business of being creative (and arguably all businesses require creativity in some form or another to be successful).
So what do you do when that creativity dries up? When there’s nothing left in the well to draw from? When that spark of inspiration just isn’t there and no amount of staring at a blank screen is going to get you anywhere? Go to your happy place!
5 Ways to Connect with Your Creativity on a Daily Basis
Think of your creativity as a well – one that takes a while to dry up, but also takes a while to fill back up. If you spend all your time and energy draining your creative energy, expect that when you get stuck, you will stay stuck for a while.
That’s why it’s important to maintain your creative energy on a daily basis, adding to your well a few drops at a time (or bucket loads if your business demands a lot of creativity). A few ideas on how to stay connected with your creativity:
#1: Surround Yourself with Inspiration – Indulge your senses – any or all of them – on a daily basis. Treat yourself to a decadent morning latte, decorate your office walls with photos of people and places that inspire you, or dress yourself in your favorite comfy clothes. What you choose doesn’t matter as much as making inspiration a habit.
#2: Quiet the Clutter – That pile of bills that you keep thinking about paying? The flashing light that tells you new messages are waiting? The sticky notes loudly announcing the brilliant ideas you have yet to follow-up on? All of them only serve to distract and drain your creativity. Tell them to be quiet!
#3: Avoid Energy Vampires – Recognize the people, activities or situations that drain you. If it’s a toxic relationship or client, ditch them. If it’s a dreaded administrative task, delegate it or tackle it quickly and reward yourself after. If it’s a situation, like sitting through endless meetings, recreate your work rules to minimize them.
#4: Stay Grounded – Find an object that helps you stay grounded and focused on your values. For me, it’s a Plumeria flower necklace that I use as a reminder that I wish to live my life as a holiday – one filled with happiness, adventure and enjoyment. Just holding it makes me smile.
#5: Take Creative Breaks – Give yourself a break from all the thinking, creative work by including creative breaks in your daily routine. The purpose is to give yourself creative downtime so reading a business book does not count. It should involve a mindless task that you find relaxing and perhaps even a little ordinary or boring, like gardening or cooking.
What do you do to go to your happy place? Share your tips in the comments below!
A Smart Auto-Motive: One Mom’s Opinion on Must-Have Car Features
I attended the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit recently, and was pretty impressed with the range of eco-friendly cars that were being unveiled – from the tiny “smart” cars to the hybrids, the electric, and everything in between. It is of course imperative that we do all we can to protect our environment, and all of the car companies seem to get this, and are investing dollars and research in improving the way they do business, and the way the cars run.
But as a Mom, I often find that the environment inside the car can be just as offensive and polluting as the environment outside the car. If you have children, I know you agree with me. So, I am providing some helpful advice to the car manufacturers on some features they might like to start developing for 2013.
#1: Purse holder for Moms: We don’t want to put our purses down on top of the sticky, dirty floor mats, and if we hand the purse to the teen in the front seat, he’ll throw it in the back (making sure first that it’s unzipped), whacking an innocent younger sibling on the way back. If we put it in the clean trunk space (let’s assume the trunk space is clean, play along, please)we can’t reach it for the inevitable stop at the coffee shop/fast food restaurant/nice officer with the ticket book in his hand.
#2: Sound Barrier: Just a simple sliding glass door between the driver’s row and the back seats would suffice. On certain occasions (ultra long road trips), having one to separate the driver from the instruction-issuing passenger would also be welcome. You know who you are, Mister.
#3: Self-Cleaning: I’m imagining something like the self-cleaning public toilets they have in Europe. The entire car/van gets a shower and drains out of the bottom of the floorboards perhaps once a month. Self-heating/air blowers would help hasten the progress of drying the seats prior to the next infestation. Maybe blow out a lavender scent as well.
#4: Cones of Silence: These cones need to be installed over every seat. The driver needs to tune out the kids fighting in the back; the kids sitting next to each other wouldn’t be able to hear the insults being hurled at them; and Dad wouldn’t hear that child in the back row who just spilled their blue raspberry slushy. Noise pollution is a real thing; and no more real than when you’re subjected to listening to the repeating and inane video game techno-music coming from the eight year old’s latest hand held device.
#5: Signal Blocking: Of course the driver should be unable to text or surf the Internet on their smartphones, but if I can’t do it, I don’t want my teens BBM’ing either. It’s not fair. Unless I’m the passenger and they’re the ones driving me around, then it’s totally fair.
Now these features would make for a really “smart” car.
Kathy Buckworth loves her Buick Enclave. Especially when it’s toxin (i.e. child) free. Follow Kathy on Twitter @KathyBuckworth. Kathy’s next book, “I Am So The Boss of You” will be released by McClelland & Stewart in Spring, 2013.
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- Healthy You: Spring Flowers Bring Nasal Showers: Nutrition Tips for Dealing with Seasonal Allergies - http://t.co/Om5ppzws
- #MOMeo Tip: Include a short meeting agenda in all calendar appointments when you set them up
Readers Giving You the Silent Treatment? Why No One Comments On Your Blog (and How to Fix It Fast)
Posted by Lisa Robbin Young on February 21, 2012 · 18 Comments
When it comes to the business of blogging, one of the ways to gauge the success of a blog post is by comments. The other ways of measuring the success of a blog post include retweets, shares, stumbles and of course, traffic.
So you wrote a rock star blog post, got the thumbs up from your trusted inner circle before pressing the publish button and you got nothing. Zero, zip, nadda. Not a single comment. Why the silent treatment from your readers?
Why No One Comments on Your Blog (and How to Fix It)
Blogging Mistake #1: They haven’t seen it – This seems obvious, right? If they don’t know your blog exists, they can’t comment on it. How is your audience going to support your work when you’re not telling them about it?
There’s an important difference between sharing and pushing. It’s perfectly acceptable for you to share links to your blog posts with your different communities (social media, email, etc.). It quite another when you’re pushing out links to your work all the time, especially if you’re neglecting the key relationship building aspects of online marketing.
People have to know you, like you, and trust you to some degree before they’re going to commit to taking even a small step in working with you (and the first of those steps is usually reading or sharing one of your blog posts).
Blogging Mistake #2: They haven’t read it – People who gloss a post, or see your link, but don’t act on it, don’t have a reason to comment. They’re not committed to the content you’ve written because you haven’t pulled them into your writing. People won’t comment if they don’t know what it’s about.
Use powerful headlines that draw readers in. Be careful not to use dishonest headlines that make false promises. Once you have them, use all that formatting you were taught in English class (bullets, subheads, numbering) to keep your reader engaged.
Make it about them, about you, or make it controversial to open up conversation. At the end of your post, ask them for their comments. You’d be surprised how just asking for comments will often increase the number of comments you get on a post.
Blogging Mistake #3: They don’t feel compelled to speak – Ho-hum posts get far less commentary than something spectacular. Folks like @SarahRobinson make an event out of inviting guests to contribute to a blog series that’s centered on a particular topic.
Her 28 Days to Fierce Loyalty series garnered upwards of 200 comments on a single post. She replies to every comment, and invites folks to interact with each other in the comments section, but without a spectacular theme, the series itself would fall flat.
Create posts that are compelling. Length isn’t usually as important as telling a story, or sharing a perspective on a topic that matters to people in your area of interest. Both long and short posts can command an equivalent number of comments on the same blog. It’s the content that matters, and if you want more comments, the content better matter to your readers.
Blogging Mistake #4: It’s too hard to leave a comment – Ever give up after making multiple attempts to leave a comment? Your readers will not struggle to figure out the captcha code and simply leave without adding a comment. Another fatal flaw is when the comments area is below so many ads that your readers don’t even realize there is a comments area.
Make it easy for people to leave comments. Some pro bloggers have even gone so far as to put an arrow graphic on the page pointing directing to the comments area, along with a request for readers to leave a comment.
There are also several comment “systems” available for WordPress that make it easy to keep people engaged after they leave their comment. That way, if someone replies to their comment, they get notified, and can come back and continue the conversation.
These are the biggest reasons why your blog isn’t getting the comments you deserve. Keep it easy, keep it about them, keep it on their radar, and keep them reading. Do that, and they’ll keep commenting!
Don’t forget to leave a comment, question or tip in the comments below!
Filed under The Business of Blogging, Work LIfe · Tagged with blogging, blogging tips, how to blog, how to get more comments on your blog, the business of blogging