Jan 15, 2013 / Advanced

Lessons from The Daily Post bloggers

Hi folks. Remember me? I’m the guy who used to pummel you with ideas for blogging every day. I’m back with a report on the awesome things I’ve watched happen here since I left.

Two years ago this blog began as an experiment (see The Daily Post’s first ever post). I started with some coworkers at WordPress.com. We wanted a way to share what we knew about blogging, while learning at the same time, and the daily post competition was a simple way to start. As things rolled along Sara, Daryl, and Erica joined in with posts about photography and writing. And by the time I left the company in May 2012 it was clear there was something valuable here, but we all knew something was missing.

In July 2012 Michelle Weber and Cheri Lucas joined Automattic’s editorial staff. Michelle led the charge to reorganize and refocus the entire Daily Post project. And the results have been dramatic. Traffic and engagement at The Daily Post have more than doubled. Which is awesome to see.

dp stats focus

I bet many of you want similar things to happen at your blog.

With that in mind I spent last week interviewing your band of Daily Post hosts and here’s what you can learn from them:

  • Ask your readers. If you remember, back in August DP posted a survey and shared the results with you. This helped Michelle and the Daily Post crew refocus the project. It’s easier to create popular content if you know what your readers want. Merely asking your readers’ opinions in a poll is a way to get people who haven’t engaged before to vote, making it more likely they’ll comment or click like something next time.  
  • Have a schedule. The biggest change I see, from the outside, is how Michelle not only puts together a schedule each week for all the contributors, but acts as a shepherd, nudging and shaping all the contributions to fit together, and to do it on time. Blogs are like newspapers or TV shows in that having a schedule and sticking to it gives readers a rhythm to expect, which makes it easier to tune in and participate. The hosts use a private P2 themed blog to plan future posts and co-ordinate the work.
  • Have a team. With eight people making contributions there’s more resources and energy to go around. Depending on what your goals are, partnering up with a few people who have the same interest can transform three fledgling blogs into one vibrant one.
  • Find partners. There are definitely advantages to having friends with blogs. Daily Post has gotten some exposure in the sidebar of blog.wordpress.com and a few other places. None of these are ads exactly, since with Daily Post’s renewed focus the content here fits well with what visitors to these other WordPress.com pages are looking for. There’s a good marketing lesson here: exposure to 1000 random people isn’t as valuable as exposure to 100 of the right people who are already interested in what you’re doing.
  • A simplified redesign. Over time blogs grow in ways you never expect when you start. As Michelle explained “before, when you landed on DP, it was hard to figure out what it was *for*. Why am I here? What am I going to get out of this?” The redesigned theme clearly states what the team thinks readers want, since now they know after 2 years of running this place. It’s not a grab bag anymore. Daily Post now uses a customized version of the premium Linen theme.

dp originaldp now

I’m very happy to see The Daily Post doing so well and I hope to drop by with a post now and then. Happy Blogging.

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  2. I enjoy the Daily Post challenges, but only enter them if they fit in with my blog which is really a “work in progress”. They do help make contact with other bloggers, which is quite difficult for newbies. Sue

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  4. I like Daily Post because it gives me an excuse to post every day. I had been feeling guilty about barraging my readers with posts EVERY SINGLE freakin’ day, but now that y’all have given me carte blanche, as it were, to do it, I darn well haul off every day and let ’em have it. Not to say that I use the prompts; I don’t. I have enough junk jostling for space in the attic of my mind; all I need is permission to vomit it out on, er, paper; oh, you know what I mean. Thanks for the validation, and love all y’all.

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  6. I post on a schedule, three times a week, but add posts as necessary in between—sometimes using the daily post. But I depart from the suggested one-theme suggestion, preferring on CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS to develop a magazine style, which includes multiple topics and genres, mostly written myself but occasionally posting a guest writer.
    Yesterday my site reached 198,000 visitors, but my subscriber list is woefully small. I’d like to improve on this.
    I like the idea of a poll, but will have to figure it out to do it.
    Thanks for the great work on post-a-day and other prompt ideas.

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  7. I am just getting my blog started. In part, because I feel it will be a good discipline measure as i start a new writing project goal. Secondly, I have a lot of life experience in a vast array of real life: Recovery, an adult child that is schizophrenic, failed marriages with some true novella moments, saving lives, witnessing death, cumulative effects of “always being the strong one” until one day I wasn’t. Friend-stories, near death experience, living with cancer, having an attitude of gratitude, and having thoughts of life ending. Pulling myself up from the boot straps and wallowing in self pity and depression. Hearing and going and being deaf. Just to name a few. I am ready to start!

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