Blogging Tips : What I Learnt From A Trip To Holland Village

Over at Problogger, Darren suggests that one of the ways to make your blog a better blog is to simply go shopping and do some observations.

For those who check my blog regularly, you would know that I was at Holland Village today eating my breakfast.

One of the other things which I did not mention about was that I spent a fair bit of the morning walking around Holland village too.

What does this got to do with Blogging Tips? Well...I guess that I have learnt quite a fair bit from observing this certain shop at Holland Village and I believe that if you understand the psyche of shoppers, you would also understand the psyche of people who surf the web and visit your blog.

The Indian Newspaper Stand

There is this particular newspaper and magazine stand that has been at Holland village for years.

It is directly opposite crystal jade and you will find it if you just walk from the Holland V bus stop to Holland Village. For those who are familiar with the place, you most probably know which news and magazine stand I am talking about.

For the uninitiated, this magazine and newspaper stand literally sells like thousands of magazines and newspapers from all over the world. It is not a huge stand but lining the walkway are rows and rows of magazines and your daily newspapers.

If you are blogger in Singapore, this is a treasure trove.

No...I am not asking you to buy your newspapers and magazines from there. What I am suggesting is that you observe how such a newspaper stand operates and incorporate the ideas into your blog.

What Are People Interested in Reading?

There are only 5 million people in Singapore. Less than 10 per cent (I am guessing) ever makes it down to Holland Village.

Yet, this stand is loaded with so many magazines and newspapers. It gives you an idea of what people are interested in reading. Not only that, it shows you what are the things that people like to read based on the quantity of certain magazines on the shelves.

If you ask me, I notice that there are a few sections to this particular magazine stand.

1 . Newspapers from all around the world. Apparently, alot of expats go to Holland Village as it is sort of a yuppies place. Thus, you can find newspapers from all over the world being sold here. One thing for sure...newspapers are updated DAILY. If you want people to read your blog, you need to make the effort to update it DAILY. Imagine having to visit the newspaper stand everyday without knowing whether the newspapers being sold belongs to yesterday or the day before... the same principle applies to readers of your blog. If they have to go to your blog each day to check for new content, they might get tired pretty soon and simply stop visiting because of the lack of new content.

2. Entertainment News. Yes, Lindsay Lohan without makeup and lots more... A fair bit of the magazines sold have to do with this kind of tabloids. It is not wrong. People read to be entertained and your blog should be as entertaining as possible. Notice that this kind of magazines are always loaded with pictures. Your blog should have pictures too to be entertaining. All words but no pics makes your blog a dull read.

3. Lifestyle Magazines. These are the fashion, travel, cars and home furnishing magazines. they take up another huge chunk of the magazine sections. Basically, these magazines are focused on THINGS that people enjoy looking at, doing or owning. They are dreams being sold and people are buying these magazines to find out how they can have the LIFE they always dreamed of. In your blog, you need to paint these kind of dreams too which people can relate to. Talk about your travels, your car, your home renovations... People just love to compare with others so help them by revealing a little bit of yourself.

Blogging Tips:

Okay, I might have lost some of you in the mountain of words. But here are just 3 simple blogging tips which you can take back with you based on my lesson that I have learnt from observing the magazine stands.

1. Update Your Blog Regularly (Once a day if possible)

2. Make it Entertaining (Include Pictures if Possible)

3. Make Your Blog Personal (Reveal what you wear, drive, earn or eat. People love the details sometimes)

So there you have it! Some simple blogging tips which you can apply to your blog. Treat your blog as a e-magazine and you should not go too wrong.