On a comment from today's post, I discovered another food blogger in Howard County -- Elizabeth on Fiercely Fresh.
Then drafting this post, I stumbled on another -- The Soffrito, where Victoria writes about gardening and cooking. I loved her post about rain barrels and wondered if I could get those installed while Mrs. HowChow is on this business trip.
I try to link to local blogs. I vividly remember nice people who shared my early posts, and I enjoy connecting readers to local blogs. We have a nice mix of local food blogs -- some reviewing restaurants, some sharing recipes, some people writing broadly but with "food posts" noted with categories. I keep a list in the right column. If you're writing regularly from Howard County, feel free to email me.
My blogging advice: 1) Post regularly. People return to blogs that update a few times a week. 2) Relax. Regular posting is harder than you think, so just get back on the horse when you have a slow period. 3) Take photos. They make the page interesting, and they tell Google that you're a real person. 4) Use categories. I link to some blogs using the "food" category. 5) Get listed on HoCoBlogs.
Jessie X -- If we get a bunch posting regularly, the "food section" is going to need an extra long area like those "community" blogs.
I write from Howard County and check out some local places from time to time.
ReplyDeleteHowChow - Thanks for the shout out and suggestion. Handling the flow of posts in each category is a CHALLENGE. We don't have any way yet, and it's a technical thing (code to be written) to figure out how to limit some people's posts so that they don't dominate a category.
ReplyDeleteI hear you, though. I hear you.
Oh, I'd add to the suggestions you list for food bloggers that if they tweet their posts that are about food in Howard County, use the hashtag #hoconoms.
ReplyDeleteAnd for all those who blog about food+Howard County but by chance are not in the food category on hocoblogs, when you do blog about local food venues, issues, stuff, add to your post this exact phrase - hocofood@@@. Doing so will push your post into the food category of hocoblogs.
Thanks for the nod on your blog-roll. I've been in the county for 14 years and just launched The Soffritto last spring. I blog 3-5x/week and tend to focus on organic cooking & gardening. I recommend trying the rain barrels - they went up In a snap. I'm kicking myself for not getting 4....this rain filled the barrels as of last night.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Victoria
I'm from Howard County but haven't lived there in a very long time. Thanks again for linking back to my blog when I wrote about Cafe de Paris.
ReplyDelete