Improve Your Blog with a Sparring Partner
Get a Blog Sparring Partner
At this point, it’s more theory than substantiated fact, but, I think it can be a helpful technique.
If you use it wisely and have fun with it, and don’t get too serious about it.
Based on the idea that competition can lead to improvement and what does not kill you will make you stronger, having a blog sparring partner can help you better your blog, while increasing readership by creating a game that (hopefully!) readers will want to follow.
That’s the theory anyway. Time will show how this all pans out.
My Blog Sparring Partner
As has been mentioned before, my new sparring partner is Joanne, the Laidback Buddhist. (She really needs to get her own domain name before her blog gets too popular!)
And, her name rhymes with mine. Whether that’s important or not in a blog sparring partner, I don’t really know.
At last count, I was ahead by 4 to 2. But, now she has linked to 3 of my posts and quoted me.
That brings the score to 4 to 6. But, in this post, I linked to her post, so that brings me up to 5 to 6.
All I need to do is quote her and link to the post with the quote and I’ll retake the lead!
Easy enough! You see, when I first found her blog exactly two weeks ago, I read more of her blog (beyond the post I linked to in my “Are You Free?” post) and saw that she was pretty smart. Specifically, there was a particularly cogent comment that (I think–if I remember right) would have been worth quoting.
Ha! Just need to find that quote and I’m in the lead again.
But, I cannot find it! So, perhaps she deleted the post in anticipation of my needing to find it. Sneaky. I have skimmed through every entry on her blog, and even utilized the Find feature to locate words I thought were in the quote, and no luck.
Is she devious enough to have anticipated my need to quote her and thus removed the prime quote material from her blog? She admits in one post that she’s an HTML neophyte, so I doubt she coded the blog to hide those particular entries just from me.
Devious, this one is.
On the other hand, for all the single guys out her way, if you grab your bow and arrow, a pack of sparklers and a bouquet of flowers, and don’t act like a twit, you have a good chance of winning her over. Bonus points if you can sing like a Belgium Bing Crosby.
I will have to do a more thorough read for a good quote. She cannot have hidden them all. Maybe I’m just overlooking it. But, the Find feature should have found it. Hmmm.
I’m still not really sure why I started keeping track of points, but, to quote Joanne, “it’s so on.” Indeed. (Hey, does that count?)
Choosing a Blog Sparring Partner
Even though my blog sparring partner was by accident and not design, it is probably best if you and your partner share some similarities, but also have some differences. (My “dueling reviews” are probably a good example of similar yet different blogs.)
At any rate, in searching her blog for the quote she has so stealthily hidden from me, I have found some similarities and differences.
1. Our names rhyme.
2. She likes to quote Henry David Thoreau. My quote files have several quotes from Thoreau, as well as Ralph Waldo Emerson.
3. She procrastinates. I procrastinate.
4. She admits being a nerd. I don’t admit to that.
5. She likes sparklers. I once tried to make my own fireworks.
6. She likes a Belgian singer. I like Belgian waffles.
7. She quotes Voltaire. I read Candide. My high school psychology teacher would be so proud, “in this, the best of all possible worlds.”
8. She writes, “Whoever said it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all is delusional.” I don’t agree with her on that, but that’s a subject for another post.
So, where was I? Oh, yes, gotta find that quote. But that’ll have to be a job for later…
In the meantime, find yourself a blog sparring partner and see the benefits for yourself (and report back here with your results!)
LOVE it. This post is hilariously educational. And, if I ever write a dating ad, I’ll know who’s my go-to person for help.
I am quite flattered (and pleased) to be called “devious” and “sneaky.” So, I’d like to draw attention to the fact that while I admit to being a nerd…you seemed to have scored higher than me on your own “How Nerdy Are You?” quiz!! =P
SAF seeks sweaty SM hand-model with delightful derriere, full head of hair and baritone voice for outdoor adventures.
I was at 35%. You said you were at 41%.
OH!
Haha, whoops. I went back to look at my comment and I don’t know where the % sign came from…I had meant the total points were 41. I didn’t calculate the percentage, which is actually 33%.
I remain yours truly,
Less Nerdy
[...] Also, be sure to visit Joanne and encourage her to get her own domain name before her blog gets too popular and makes a move that much harder! She currently only has a Technorati Authority of 11, but most of her link love has come in the past week, so she’s growing fast! And, I think if I can help get her up to 15 by the weekend, I should earn a point. [...]
[...] it’s also a lame excuse to quote and link to her marriage post in a pathetic effort to get my point score [...]
[...] This is another benefit of having a blog sparring partner. [...]
[...] Why? Well, it has nothing to do with Joanne’s post, but I mention and link to it to score my point. [...]
[...] ago, I thought I would share the one I had last night, er, Sunday morning–whatever! A bonus point for Joanne if she can interpret it. (I’ve been trouncing her in the [...]