September 19, 2022, prompt: Write a story about mud on the tires in 99 words (no more, no less). The tires can be from any conveyance or serve as an analogy. How did they get muddy, and why? What impact does mud on the tires have on the story (plot) or characters (motivation)? Go where the prompt leads! Click here for details.
An Annoying Speck – by Hugh W. Roberts
It was the tiniest speck of mud on the tyre, but it annoyed him. He couldn’t leave it there on such a special occasion.
“MARSHALL! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” bellowed a voice.
“But sir, there’s–“
“I DON’T CARE. BACK TO YOUR POSITION, NOW!”
“YES, SIR!”
A few seconds before setting off, Marshall retook his chance and removed the mud while his leader turned his back.
Then, on the sound of his boss’s bellowing voice giving orders, Midshipman Marshall joined the other 97 royal navy sailers in towing the carriage containing the Queen’s coffin as the sound of bagpipes played.
***
An Annoying Speck
Written for the 99-word flash fiction challenge hosted by Charli Mills at the Carrot Ranch.
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Enjoyed this piece of flash fiction? Then you’ll love ‘Glimpses.’
***
Glimpses
28 short stories and pieces of flash fiction take the reader on a rollercoaster of twists and turns.
Are you participating in Wordless Wednesday? Leave a link to your post in the comments section, and I will visit it and leave you a comment (providing it is Wordless). I will also share the post on Twitter, providing you have connected your Twitter account to your blog.
September 12, 2022, prompt: Write a story about balloons on a bumper in 99 words (no more, no less). Is it a spectacle, an occasion, an eccentricity? Why are the balloons there? Who is involved? Go where the prompt leads! Click here for details.
Future Things – by Hugh W. Roberts
“Why pink balloons?”
“I feel that in 50 or so years, pink will be the colour for people like us,” replied Giles.
“I hope they don’t damage the bumper of my new Ford Model C Ten,” responded Roger.
“Damaging the bumper of your new car is the least of our worries. What happens when we get there matters more.”
“Yes, you’re quite right. We may not be married in law, but the reaction of our parents when we tell them we married each other is something I dread. I wonder if same-sex marriage is a thing of the future?”
***
Future Things
Written for the 99-word flash fiction challenge hosted by Charli Mills at the Carrot Ranch.
***
Enjoyed this piece of flash fiction? Then you’ll love ‘Glimpses.’
***
Glimpses
28 short stories and pieces of flash fiction take the reader on a rollercoaster of twists and turns.
Getting readers to engage with you by leaving comments on your blog posts is something many bloggers crave.
And when those comments clearly show that your post has been read, it’s one of the best feelings in the world.
However, once you get visitors reading your posts and leaving comments, you need to do all you can to ensure they keep coming back.
Writing good quality posts that make your readers want to engage with you and each other is one way to keep your readers returning, but you also need to ensure they can easily find your other similarly themed posts, which are often buried deep in your blog archives.
Need more readers and followers? These 5 blogging tools will help
Here are five blogging tools that work for me. Not only do they give my readers a way of finding more similarly-themed content, but these tools have also helped bring me many new readers and followers.
1. The Search Bar
The other day, I was writing a new blog post and wanted to include links to some posts I had read on other blogs.
However, try as I might, I couldn’t find one of the posts I wanted to link to. Even worse, there was no search bar on the blog concerned.
It wasn’t long before I gave up looking for that blog post. I didn’t have the time to find it.
You can make it easy for readers to find what they are looking for by including a search bar on your blog.
Does your blog have a search bar? If not, WordPress has a ‘search’ widget. Click here to find out how to install one.
Once you’ve installed a search bar, open up one of your blog posts and check you are happy with its position. Ensure it’s visible and easy for visitors to find. The search bar on my blog is the first widget on my widget bar to the right of all my blog posts.
Remember, too, that you can use the search bar when looking for your own posts. You can save yourself a lot of time by doing this instead of scrolling through all your blog posts on your blog’s dashboard.
2. The Menu Bar
Navigation is of prime importance on any blog. Make it difficult for visitors to navigate or find more content, and they’ll probably give up and never return.
That’s why it’s essential to have a menu bar on your blog.
A menu bar allows your readers to check out what is on your blog and helps direct them to other parts of your blog they’d like to explore.
Many bloggers can be frightened by including a menu bar on their blog or adding items. However, it’s an easy and straightforward process.
Click here for details on how to set up a custom menu bar on your WordPress blog.
However, don’t overload the menu bar on your blog, as it can look overwhelming. And ensure you keep it updated and check that everything works on it.
3. The ‘Contact Me Page
Just imagine another blogger, a magazine editor, or somebody from your local radio station wanting to contact you to invite you to write an article or appear on a show. How exciting would that be? But they can’t find a way of reaching you privately!
Not everyone wants to leave a comment when they want to invite you to write a guest post, be interviewed, or ask you to appear on a show. If you don’t have a ‘contact me’ page, and nobody can find a way of contacting you privately, then they’ll probably move on and give that opportunity to somebody else.
On the menu bar of my blog, you’ll see a ‘Contact Hugh’ button. That’s how people can contact me privately.
I get lots of people contacting me every week. As a result, I’ve written guest articles, appeared on radio shows and recorded podcasts, all of which have allowed me to promote myself and my blog. In return, I’ve got hundreds of new readers and followers to my blog.
Make sure you’re contactable. Click here to find out how to set up a ‘contact me’ page.
4. The ‘About Me’ Page
Ever since my early days of blogging, I’ve been told and know that many new visitors to a blog will want to find out a little about the blogger behind the blog before deciding whether to follow or not.
When I visit a new blog, I first look for an ‘about me’ page to find out more about the blogger.
If the blogger doesn’t have an ‘about me’ page or it’s difficult to find, I’m more likely to move on than check out the rest of their blog.
If you do have an ‘about me’ page, ensure you allow new visitors to introduce themselves by allowing them to leave a comment on it. And, don’t forget, a friendly reply is more likely to keep that visitor returning to read your posts.
Click here for details on setting up an ‘About Me’ page and what to include.
5. The Gravatar
The image that appears next to all comments is known as a Gravatar. A gravatar is created for you as soon as you leave your first review or comment on the internet.
How many times have you clicked on the gravatar image of somebody who has left an excellent comment on a post and not been able to find their blog details? Frustrating, isn’t it, especially when you think it may be a blog you’d like to follow.
Unfortunately, one of the biggest mistakes many bloggers make, as soon as their gravatar is created, is they forget about it. Many don’t realise they can add an image and leave links to their blog and social media accounts on their gravatar.
If a reader then clicks on your gravatar, they’ll see the links to your blog and social media accounts and be able to visit them. That means more visitors to your blog and social media accounts which could result in more followers.
Click here to find out how to add links to your blog and social media accounts to your gravatar.
Let’s wrap it up
Many blogging tools can help readers notice your blog and keep them returning.
Make sure you have a Search Bar on your blog to help visitors find other content.
Ensure your blog includes a menu bar, but don’t overload it with too many items.
Ensure the links on your blog’s menu bar all work. Check for broken links at least once a month and fix any that have become broken.
Ensure your blog has a page where readers and visitors can contact you privately. Not everyone will want to leave a comment inviting you to write a guest post or to appear on a radio show or podcast.
Many new visitors want to know a little about the person behind the blog before deciding whether to follow or not. Tell visitors a little about yourself on an ‘about me’ page.
Ensure your Gravatar has links to your blog and social media accounts.
This is an updated version of a post originally published on Hugh’s Views And News in September 2018
What powerful blogging tools do you use on your blog, and why do you use them? Share them with us by leaving a comment.
Wordless Wednesday – No words, just pictures. Allow your photo(s) to tell the story.
Is this what the past looked like?
Not sure what Wordless Wednesday is or how to participate? Click here for full details.
Are you participating in Wordless Wednesday? Leave a link to your post in the comments section, and I will visit it and leave you a comment (providing it is Wordless). I will also share the post on Twitter, providing you have connected your Twitter account to your blog.
September 5, 2022, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story using the word “swimmingly.” which means “smoothly or satisfactorily.” What is the situation? Who is involved? Let the word take you into a story. Go where the prompt leads! Click here for details.
Kate’s Date – by Hugh W. Roberts
Kate couldn’t believe how swimmingly her date with Vera had gone.
They may have both been in their eighties, but sixty years ago, when they first started dating people of the same sex, life was more difficult. You could hold hands without drawing much attention, but a passionate kiss on the lips was a no-go area. Murdering someone was easier.
Looking at Vera’s lifeless body, Kate carefully removed the poisonous lipstick from her lips and took a swig of the antidote to be on the safe side.
Murdering someone was still as swimmingly as it was sixty years ago.
***
Kate’s Date
Written for the 99-word flash fiction challenge hosted by Charli Mills at the Carrot Ranch.
***
Enjoyed this piece of flash fiction? Then you’ll love ‘Glimpses.’
***
Glimpses
28 short stories and pieces of flash fiction take the reader on a rollercoaster of twists and turns.
Wordless Wednesday – No words, just pictures. Allow your photo(s) to tell the story.
What can you see in the Welsh Valleys?
Not sure what Wordless Wednesday is or how to participate? Click here for full details.
Are you participating in Wordless Wednesday? Leave a link to your post in the comments section, and I will visit it and leave you a comment (providing it is Wordless). I will also share the post on Twitter, providing you have connected your Twitter account to your blog.
Performing housekeeping on your blog has many benefits. After all, who doesn’t want their blog to look like a friendly, easy-to-use and inviting place old and new visitors will want to keep coming back to?
If you’re a blogger looking to expand their readership, performing housekeeping on your blog is something you should seriously consider.
But what blog housekeeping jobs should you consider doing?
This is why blog housekeeping is essential.
During a 4-day heatwave last month, I couldn’t venture outside, so I took the opportunity to do some blog housekeeping. Here’s what I did.
1. Delete old, out-of-date blog posts.
I always feel that old, out-of-date blog posts that can not be updated or rewritten do nothing but drag down my blog.
They hang around like some uninvited members of the family you hardly ever see or have contact with. You know they are there but feel afraid to ask them to leave.
I had over 400 blog posts on my blog, some of which were doing nothing apart from attracting spam comments. They were dead ducks. They were not attracting any new views, visitors or comments.
I ended up deleting over 80 posts. Not only did I feel good getting rid of what I considered clutter, but I was also able to cut the number of spam comments by deleting those old posts.
After deleting them, I felt a lot better about my blog. I felt much more positive knowing I had removed all the deadwood.
Some bloggers claim that deleting old posts is not a good idea because they can look back and see how much they have improved since those early posts. But when you’re somebody who never goes back to read old posts, mainly because you don’t have the time to do so, deleting these old blog posts is like cutting away the string tied to the brick holding your blog down.
2. Fixing broken links.
A downside of deleting old blog posts is that any pingback and links you have to them will become broken.
I used Broken Link Check to run a report showing me broken links on my blog. It’s free to use.
Since SEOs like Google rank blogs lower that have broken links, cleaning up and fixing broken links is a job every blogger should consider.
That first broken link report could be long and overwhelming, but once you start running a broken link report every month, you’ll soon conquer that job.
Fixing broken links was the best bit of blog housekeeping I did because it improves your blog’s overall ranking, meaning more traffic and visitors to your blog.
3. Categories and tags
When I checked how many categories and tags I had on my blog, I was shocked by the number.
What amazed me was that many categories and tags were no longer active. Like some of my old blog posts, they were deadwood.
Checking which categories and tags are no longer active is easy.
Follow this guide.
On your blog’s dashboard, click on Posts and then Categories. (Click on Tags to manage Tags).
How to manage categories and tags on your WordPress blog
A list of all your categories will show how many posts you have under each category.
To delete a category, click on the meatball menu next to the number and click on ‘delete.’
How to delete categories on your WordPress blog
Follow the same process for managing the Tags on your blog.
4. Menu Bar
I also took the opportunity to tidy up the menubar on my blog. Although it was not what I considered ‘top heavy’, I moved some items to sub-categories.
Here’s an example. I moved some fictional stuff to sub-categories under ‘Fiction.’ When you now hover over ‘Fiction‘ on the menu, you’ll see the sub-categories pop up.
Blogs with top-heavy menus can look overwhelming and messy to visitors.
Once you start housekeeping your blog, it will make you feel much more positive about your blog.
Try and get into the habit of housekeeping your blog at least once every six months, although I’d recommend running a broken links report at least once a month.
Let’s wrap it up
Performing housekeeping on your blog is something every blogger should perform at least once every six months.
A well-kept blog is a blog that old and new visitors will want to keep coming back to.
Fixing broken links on your blog will improve your blog’s SEO rating.
Run a broken link report for your blog once a month. Fix any broken links.
Delete categories and tags that are no longer being used on your blog. Too many categories and tags can confuse readers.
Delete old out-of-date blog posts, especially if all they are doing is attracting lots of spam.
Try and keep the menu of your blog to a minimum. Top-heavy menus can look messy and overwhelming.
How often do you perform blog housekeeping? What do those jobs involve? Do you have any simple tips for housekeeping your blog? Share them in the comments.
Remember that a well-kept blog is a positive and friendly place for your visitors and readers.
Follow Hugh on social media. Click on the links below.
August 28, 2022, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story that features a red convertible. Who is driving or riding? Where is the car going? Maybe it isn’t even a car. Have fun and go where the prompt leads! Click here for details.
The Toy Car – by Hugh W. Roberts
I’d spent all my pocket money. Mum wouldn’t buy me the toy red convertible car, so I stole it after hearing somebody say the seller was blind.
That night, I woke to the roar of a car engine and was shocked to see the toy car I’d stolen now full-sized.
Behind the steering wheel was a figure I recognised with dark glasses, who was shaking a white cane.
My screams got drowned out by the constant sound of the car horn while full-beamed lights blinded my eyes. Now I’m deaf and blind.
I wish I hadn’t stolen the car.
***
Image Credit: Charli Mills
Written for the 99-word flash fiction challenge hosted by Charli Mills at the Carrot Ranch.
***
Enjoyed this piece of flash fiction? Then you’ll love ‘Glimpses.’
***
Glimpses
28 short stories and pieces of flash fiction take the reader on a rollercoaster of twists and turns.
Wordless Wednesday – No words, just pictures. Allow your photo(s) to tell the story.
Can you see the ghost in the shower?
Not sure what Wordless Wednesday is or how to participate? Click here for full details.
Are you participating in Wordless Wednesday? Leave a link to your post in the comments section, and I will visit it and leave you a comment (providing it is Wordless). I will also share the post on Twitter, providing you have connected your Twitter account to your blog.
I’m delighted to have been asked back by Charli Mills to contribute guest posts over at the Carrot Ranch blog.
If you have dyslexia or struggle with reading and writing, not all the advice you are given and read will work.
My post outlines two pieces of advice that don’t work for me. It also offers four tips that do work for me when it comes to writing and reading. Click the following link to be taken to the post.
Why My Ears Work Better Than My Eyes When It Comes To Advice About Writing « Carrot Ranch Literary Community
Hugh's Views & News 