Reading blogs by Susan Sanderson

 Do you blog? Or do you know some bloggers?

When I began blogging back in 2012 I knew one blogger – our daughter*, who had blogged about her gap year. I didn’t realise that blogging was a form of social media. In March 2013, when I signed up for the Bloggingfrom A to Z in April Challenge for the first time, I realised that it was not only a challenge to write blog posts, but also to visit other people’s blogs and leave comments. Now I have met a good number of bloggers either in person or online.

Previews on More than Writers

One thing that has struck me during this year’s A to Z Challenge is that people, who have been blogging for a long time, don’t always seem to know how to find their way around other people’s blogs.

There are various ways people can organise their blogs or websites with a blog, but some things are common to all of them. Certainly on Blogger (like this MTW blog) and on WordPress, where my blogs are, all the blogs have a banner at the top, which is clickable. This either takes you to a list of the latest posts (Blogger) or to the latest posts (WordPress). Then there are buttons for older posts. On WordPress the latest posts are displayed together in a batch of three, or possibly a number chosen by the blogger. The comments for the individual posts are not displayed. To see these it is necessary to view one post at a time. Usually it is fairly obvious how to move backwards or forwards through a blog and how to comment.

How to find the way around my blog (in spite of a Navigation page, contents page, etc.) is not always obvious to readers. I have a lot of clutter in my sidebar, which is often longer than the post, so that the << and >> signs are out of sight until the reader scrolls right down. Comments are disguised as likes with a heart button.

There are various ways of following a blog. Often a pop-up appears asking the reader to subscribe. WordPress provides a Reader, where the URL of a blog may be entered to subscribe. (A URL looks like this: https://suestrifles.wordpress.com) There is a website called bloglovin’ where blogs may be followed. I signed up for it a few years ago and have some followers there. The anonymous ones are all called bloglover! I’m not sure how useful it is and when I tried to leave the site I didn’t manage to do so. It gives subscribers a preview of posts, as does the WordPress Reader.

Preview of two of my posts on Bloglovin'

I have to confess that I spend too much time reading blogs even though I do not click on every post, which appears in my Reader. Subscribing to one’s own blogs (which I haven’t done) gives a view of the ‘shop window’ you are creating. It is one way of seeing ourselves as others see us (well, our blogs anyhow!)

 

Colossians 3:23 (NRSV) Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters.

* Anne-Marie Sanderson

Susan always wanted to be a writer.  In 2012 she revived her interest in writing with a blogging project to collect the kinds of sayings, which were much used in her childhood.

Susan experiments with factual writing, fiction, humour and poetry.  She does not yet have a book to her name. Her interests include words, languages, music, nature study and gardening  She has experience of the world of work, being a stay-at-home mum and an empty-nester.   She is active in her local community and Church. She and her husband live in Cumbria, where she co-ordinates Cumbria Christian Writers.

Follow her on X (ex Twitter) https://twitter.com/suesconsideredt