My poetry blog has just passed the one-year mark, and I am pleased with the response from readers so far. Though they have been a bit shy on commenting, Blogger’s tracking feature does a comprehensive analysis of their geographic location as well as the keywords which led them to my blog. And the librarian in me has been paying close attention to those search terms. In fact, I am particularly excited about monitoring the search terms, because not only do they help me to respond to the readers’ information needs, search terms also provide me with numerous ideas for interesting blog posts that I would not have thought of.
One such post, which has turned out to be my most viewed, and commented on, was written after I noted that several visitors to my blog were searching for a list of Caribbean poets. I decided to create a draft list which readers would help me build, and I threw out the challenge for visitors to give feedback on poets not included on the list, or any errors noted. The response was very positive, and I received comments on the works of poets I had not been aware of, allowing me to refine the list in the process.
So, if you have not been doing so, and you have this feature, take a closer look at the search terms of your visitors. Are there specific, recurring themes that they are looking for? For example, I noted that Dutch Caribbean poetry has been popping up lately, so I have made a mental note to focus soon on that topic. Are the search terms in sync with your blog’s focus? If they are, then you have the perfect opportunity to use them to generate future posts.
And while you are at it, aim to make it as interactive and fun-filled as you can. It is an interesting way to involve your readers and allow for symbiosis. After all, there is always so much that we can learn from our readers.
Bio: Yasmin Morais is a librarian and poet. She blogs at Poets of the Caribbean (http://www.poetsofthecaribbean.blogspot.com), and is the author of From Cane Field to the Sea, and Mommy and Daddy are Soldiers.
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