Thread: Blog Started, Care To Read?

Well, I read your blog. The layout is nice, but your post about relaxation is a little off. For one, instead of linking us to a Google search about "how to relax," and making your readers do all the work (which is not why they're reading!) how about posting links to specific pages or guides that you have read and approve of? One more step for you, but one less step for your reader -- perhaps a step they can take towards another blog post!

Also, you really miss the mark on cigarette smoking. "Relaxation" is a primary reason for smoking, but it's not the ultimate. Boredom is another. What about social habit? There is a social aspect to smoking, after all. You can also pull out a cigarette due to excitement, or habit, or even comfort. You can pull it out to focus, to think, or even, yes -- to wind down. There are many modes of reasons for smokers to keep cheefing, and if the point of your blog post was to help cigarette smokers quit then you'd have to address a lot more than just relaxation. Hell, it's going to take at least that to even make a smoker consider quitting (or find alternative methods to relax).

As a non-smoker, and admitting that in your blog post, you've already lost credibility to smokers. If your blog post was up against the same blog post by an ex-smoker, a lot more traffic would go to the ex-smoker's page. After reading your post, a smoker may say -- "but you don't smoke. How would you know?"

To address your topic, "Why would you pay for it?" here are some things you could alternatively tackle:
-Cigarettes are easier than "manual relaxation"
-Nicotine, as an upper, actually feels good (versus a "normal" state)
-Oral fixation (this is a big one) and having something to do with your hands

Just a few ideas. Hope it helps.

Alright, some very good insights I'm seeing. As you can tell from the post, it's not about helping smokers quit smoking so much as offering alternatives for relaxing themselves if that's the reason they smoke. I understand there's a lot more to smoking than just that, yet I see where you're coming from on the subject.

I agree that the loss of credibility is an issue; in retrospect, this blog post probably should be directed only at options for relaxation and exercises to achieve lowered stress levels, as opposed to offering alternatives to the relaxing element of smoking.

And to lastly address the first point you made, I had thought a little about looking for other relaxation methods and resources, and unfortunately my choosing not to go look for those resources has made me look like a lazy blogger.

I think I'll go for the core aim of the blog post - offering methods and exercises for relaxation - as opposed to how you could reduce your stress during the day without cigarettes, as there's a lot more to it than I can get into, being a non-smoker and also having only limited knowledge at best of what to do to quit the smoking habit.

Thanks for the post, I'll do some rethinking of my blog entry and make it more accurate. Didn't expect to have quite this reaction to the entry, but it's by all means welcomed, and I'm not afraid of going the extra mile to make a more insightful and accurate blog post for readers.

EDIT: Okay, got the new post up, now with a new direction and far more content, read through and filtered for my readers! Thanks again, b12!

Clyde Brings You Ways To Relax! http://clydemachine.blogspot.com/201...-to-relax.html

I really enjoy reading your blog, adding it to my favs : D keep it up! Very inspiring to me, I've always wanted to start a blog!

Hey, thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. If you're thinking of starting a blog, I've got something for you to read: The 70% Solution. In short, if you're 70% sure you want to do something, don't wait until that impossible 100% certainty level comes along - just do it when you're at 70% certainty!