How to Create an Effective Broadcast at BlogCatalog

Every blogger who is working up on his social network to make it bigger and better knows about BlogCatalog. In case you don’t, BlogCatalog is a premiere social blog directory and network that can help you to promote your own blog or to find blogs on various topics. BlogCatalog is a big social network just like the MyBlogLog from the Yahoo camp.

Out of the many, one reason I particularly like BlogCatalog over MyBlogLog is the ability to shout out messages to everyone in your friends-list (mutual friends, actually!), which is more properly termed as “Broadcast” over there. Ability to broadcast a message helps you to engage actively inside the social network that you have created for yourself by interacting with other bloggers.

You can use Broadcasts to share the latest post on your blog or to notify/announce something to your friends who can potentially be the readers at your blog (or the to-be-readers, if you do it right!) But like everything else, this can be done effectively only if you don’t misuse this feature.

Try broadcasting every time you pick your nose or brush your teeth and soon your broadcasts will find a place in nothing better than the recipients’ trash folder in his mailbox. Then, it’s quite probable that your broadcasts won’t even be read before deletion, later, even if they might contain something that deserve their attention.

So, let us discuss how to create an effective BlogCatalog broadcast that will potentially bring in readers & comments to a blog-post and probably even more subscribers to your blog.

There are 5 prime aspects to creating an effective broadcast that you should take care of while writing one for sending out to your friends.

• · Title of the Broadcast: Some bloggers in my network are in the habit of posting broadcasts with titles such as “Hi, Please Read This”, “Ultra-Useful Post” or “Check my latest post out!” etc. I click the delete button the very instant I see such broadcasts. I may like your site for the great content I saw when I visited once… But such broadcasts can never bring me back to your blog to read a post that you linked to in the broadcast!Generally, non-informative and non-descriptive titles are irritating and tend to be ignored very easily. Write the title of your broadcast wisely. You can safely use the title of your post itself as the title of your broadcast. In the simplest terms you should chose such a title that relates to and describes your blog post nicely. It’s very obvious that catchy titles will bring in more readers. But take care, be catchy but not confusing!
• · Structure of the Broadcast:
  Refrain from writing very long broadcasts. Giving away the entire post in broadcast defeats the meaning of this feature to help you promote your blog/blog-post. Bloggers can reply to broadcasts just as they can comment to your blog-entry. Where do you want them to leave some feedback and share their opinion?You can follow my 3-parts rule in structuring your broadcast to make it all the more effective.The simple 3-parts rule goes as follows:
  Write your broadcast in 3 short parts, namely
  1) the content,
  2) the link, and
  3) the end-note.By the use of short parts, I mean to say that you should only outline the very necessary elements of your blog post in such a way that it catches a recipient’s attention. But, it’s important that you take care not to eat up the vital description or someone might not be able to comprehend the message you want to convey. Be Short yet so Complete.Let us now see, how to use these 3 aspects of the 3-part rule as the elements of your broadcast.
• · Content of the Broadcast:
  The content of your broadcast should only be a brief introduction to the subject of your blog post. Instead of copy-pasting a part of your blog entry as the content of your broadcast, try reviewing your own post and describe it in your own few words. You can explain the objective of the particular blog entry you are promoting and how it can interest the recipients of your broadcast such that it compels them to check out your blog entry at once.
  DO NOT make it too long and DO NOT give away your entire post as I have fore-stated.
• · Linking to your Blog/Blog Post:
  If you review some of the broadcasts that you receive, you’ll notice that some bloggers post broadcasts with nothing except the title and a link to their blog post. This is a bad strategy and will not help you much with your blog promotion. The only readers who might visit you will, generally, be those who read your blog regularly and find this way of notification better than checking your blog out every other time, manually.The best way to link to your blog/blog-entry is to write the title of your post and then providing the link to it in the next line. This can add to the “catchiness” of your blog-post when combined with the content that you include in your broadcast (as stated above.)
• · Add an end-note to your broadcast:
  Adding an end-note to your broadcast is generally a very good idea. Use a one sentence footer to thank your readers who’ll take time to read your blog entry, ask them to share their opinions and experiences regarding the subject of your post or ask them for feedback and criticism through a comment. You may even ask your readers to bookmark your post at their favorite social networks or subscribe to your RSS feed if they like what they read.

This is your guide to posting powerful and effective broadcasts at BlogCatalog.

Also, if you write multiple posts a day, do not post a broadcast for each of them. Instead, prepare a compilation of all in a single broadcast using the guide-lines I shared above, and post the broadcast at the end of your blogging day. This way, you can make the maximum out of your BlogCatalog broadcasts and feed your blog with more readers, comments and some respect from your social circle at BlogCatalog.

Recommended:

• This post may be a bit lengthy, so if you find it hard to read in one go then read in parts.
• If any part of this post is unclear, give it another quick read. If something is still unclear, feel free to ask it in a comment.
• Read the review and comparison test of MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog & BlogRush to educate yourself about various features available with these social networks, in case you don’t know and decide what will be the best for your blog.
• You can bookmark this page for reading in future by pressing CTRL + D
• If you liked this blog entry, bookmarking it to various social networks by using the buttons below would be so cool.
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