Just One Girls Head Noise

this entry is my attempt to answer some of the questions i've been receiving lately from new journalers who are interested in increasing their readership

i have a few suggestions, please, just keep in mind that these are MY personal opinion .. i am confident that there is more than one way to skin a cat and not everyone will agree with my suggestions, but here are a few things you might want to consider ... 

first, be aware of the simple fact that not everyone appreciates or enjoys an identical type of journal content or format, so the more people that read your journal, the better chance you have of finding regular readers who are considerate enough to leave encouraging comments

ADVERTISE YOUR JOURNAL !! i would suggest that you pick a handful of journals you consider enjoyable .. journals that have the same "audience" that you feel might be interested in your journal

make it a point to visit those journals on a regular basis and introduce yourself .. let them know how you found their journal .. then keep going back and leave comments along with the FULL url for your journal (http://journals.aol.com/yourscreenname/yourjournalname)

remember that the url for aol journals IS case sensitive (there is nothing more frustrating than for someone to leave a comment with a note to "visit my journal" yet they don't take the time to let you know where their journal is .. or worse yet, give the wrong url !!)

if someone is considerate enough to leave well thought out and encouraging comments in MY journal, you can bet that i'm going to be motivated to return the favor !! 

put the links to those handful of journals in your Other Journals section .. that section is one of the deciding factors when i choose to visit another journal on a regular basis .. if their other journal section is empty it is an indication to me that they have no interest in other journals and i quickly lose interest in their journal

TARGET YOUR READERS !!  is the font you use in your journal large enough for most readers to see?  are your selected journal colors inviting?  while a size 10 purple font on a burgundy background might look good to you, what you might be doing is eliminating a large number of aol members that simply can't see what you are attempting to share

CHOOSE YOUR CONTENT !!  be aware of who you envision is your "target audience" and when you write, keep them in mind .. if it is your desire to attract people who complain and moan .. then by all means, fill each journal entry with complaining and negativity .. but remember that if you intend on attracting humorous thoughtful readers then you need to post similar content so that they want to come back for more

are you a collector of jokes, memorable quotes or recipes? are you are family oriented?  then visit journals with similar content and target those readers !!

BECOME INVOLVED !!  there is a growing community of aol journalers who are connected by one single commonality, we each have an AOL Journal .. become "involved" in the community .. start by joining and becoming involved in the Born to Blog Community and the AOL Journal Message Board .. you might also want to check out the member guided message board J-land Bar and Grill

MAKE AN EFFORT TO FIND READERS !!  you need to go out and find your readers !!

USE YOUR JOURNAL to share other journals that you find interesting .. both by using the other journals section and perhaps highlighting selected journals in entries

BE CONSISTENT .. be patient .. be uplifting and encouraging .. if you are just now finding your way to aol journals,be aware that most of us have already used up the allotment of links in our other journals sections .. its just a tad more competitive than it was 4 months ago for that limited and valuable space to add links to other journals

even i was forced a few days ago to sit down and take a serious look at the links in my other journals section .. i was finding new and interesting journals to read but there simply wasn't room to add them all .. i had to sit down and decide which links to eliminate .. those that were filled with constant negativity or had fonts that were too small to read or had backgrounds that were too dark, or journals that were no longer posting daily updates were the ones to be removed so that i could add new links to journals with more appealing content

if its not your nature to compete with the established journals then go out and find other new journals and target them !!

show them how to entice readers through adding comments to other journals .. put up a link in your journal to the Born to Blog community

MAKE A COMMITMENT !!  it does take a lot of time and effort to get your journal established .. if you are just starting out, plan on spending several hours a day to compose your journal entries and make the rounds to leave comments .. the established journalers can vouch for the fact that you can't expect to take a few days off and retain your readership until well after you are established 

above all, try to have fun !!  although it hasbecome more competitive .. the rewards of having regular, considerate readers makes this all worthwhile

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• #6 Comment from promiseluv372 
  5/12/05 5:00 PM | Permalink

  Thanks for pimping the journal jar sweetie!!
  ~ Promise
  http://journals.aol.com/promiseluv372/TheJournalJar/
  http://journals.aol.com/promiseluv372/PromiseMe/
• #5 Comment from blufaery84 
  5/12/05 4:30 PM | Permalink

  This is great! You are amazing! Thanx! :o)
  ~Kandi
  
  http://journals.aol.com/blufaery84/AStarwasBorn/
• #4 Comment from lioneyes4you 
  5/12/05 1:51 PM | Permalink

  Thanks for sharing your tips I am posting a link to this entry on all my journals.
• #3 Comment from his1desireEntry Author 
  5/11/05 4:06 PM | Permalink

  All GREAT tips, Pamela. Journals are a lot of hard work. But once you've got a small group of regular visitors, it makes everything seem worth it.
  Comment from slowmotionlife - 11/14/03 11:23 PM
• #2 Comment from partylvr8 
  11/28/03 6:32 AM | Permalink

  Thank you 4your tips...they are very helpful, being new at all of this. I was wondering if you could tell me how 2 make sure my journal's address becomes a link, so all the person who wants 2 go there has 2 do is click on the name. I try & type in the address on the message boards, it never comes up as a link. Hope you can help me out & if you get some time maybe you can check out what I have done? http://journals.aol.com/partylvr8/TheCrew/
  Please email at partylvr8@aol.com.