Besides maintaining one of the most popular web publishing blogs on the Internet, RexBlog.com, Hammock has built his own innovative publishing outfit from the ground up. Drawing from his experience as a political speechwriter, author, and public relations executive, Hammock created the business publishing network, Hammock Publishing Inc.--producing publications like My Business for small business owners and the patriotic American Spirit magazine.
For all his work as a small press supporter and a dedicated blogger, I picked Hammock to participate in my deceptively simple feature: Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing...
Jason Boog:
How did you build your web readership for your blog? How long did it take?
Rex Hammock:
Do I have a readership? I don't think about my blog that way. I think I'd have writers block, if I thought about having to increase my readership. I blogged for months thinking only my employees were reading it...
If I were starting today, I'd try to build readership by conducting interviews with other bloggers who blog about the topic I blog about. :- )
Also, I'd make lots of posts that were like: "Top Five Ways ______ is Changing Our Industry." Also, I'd make relevant, thoughtful comments on other blogs in the category.
I'd be all over setting up RSS feeds of Google news searches and Technorati searches that turn up items containing the keywords related to the topics I follow.
Linking out to others is key, as well.
Jason Boog:
What are the best tools for a fledgling writer to build a web footprint (i.e., which blogging platforms, editing programs, or search engines do you recommend)?
Rex Hammock:
I have tried to make reading blogs and maintaining my blog a seamless process. I use NetNewsWire (I'm a Mac user - I'd use FeedDemon if I used Windows).
I subscribe to hundreds of feeds that are extremely organized into different topic folders. Some of the feeds I read in real-time, others I save for evenings. Still others are weekend or "when I get around to it" reads.
Some of the feeds are from blogs, others feeds news sites and others are Google news searches I've set up. I rarely, if ever, browse or surf websites. I may click through from an RSS feed when a blogger links to another site, but I'm never surfing around.
When I see something I want to blog, I click to a blog-editor, typically MarsEdit, but I'm using an editor called Ecto now because I like it's Technorati tag function.
Again, I read RSS feeds and post to my blog using non-browser tools that are integrated with one another. It makes the whole process extremely streamlined and efficient. It's also difficult for me to explain as I see now by reading by through my answer to this question.
Want to break into business writing?
Wondering how to get more people to visit your site?
Tune in for the exciting conclusion of Five Simple Questions for Rex Hammock tomorrow...
» Five Easy Questions: Rex Hammock, Part Two from ThePublishingSpot
Yesterday, Rex Hammock blogged his opinion about star-studded bloggers that chase popularity like high school cheerleaders: "I suggest a re-reading of the book The Millionaire Next Door, that reveals that most 'wealthy' people in America don... [Read More]
Tracked on: February 14, 2006 11:11 AM | Permalink to Trackback