Blog Feedback Please!

Li_Akahi

I was wondering if you guys could give me some feedback on my blog. No one really comments on it, so there is no real way of getting any feedback on the content and the writing without asking people to do it directly.

ElJoe0

Maybe using some more photos or shots from the film in the post to help illustrate points,

Not nine

That's a lot of fucking Disney films. Enjoy.

Li_Akahi

Maybe using some more photos or shots from the film in the post to help illustrate points,

I've added a few more pictures to the review that will be out today.

jtvh

Blogging about Disney is kinda hard, at least in terms of audience building/engagement. Disney is so broad that it alone doesn't usually serve well as a focus, especially since the market's already clogged with Disney fan blogs. The Disney blogs that seem to draw an audience and/or create a unique and compelling project usually focus in more narrowly, and/or give a unique spin, like Passport to Dreams Old and New, 2719 Hyperion (both of those pretty academic and analytical), or Long Forgotten (Haunted Mansion). Either that, or they came to market early and cover things pretty comprehensively, like The Disney Blog or Lou Mongello's various projects. And of course my favorite Your Souvenir Guide, though its infrequency probably messes with its audience-building.

Do you have a particular focus for your blog? Your recent 51 days of Disney project is pretty damn ambitious, and I'm not sure how it fits into the overall body of work you're trying to create. Also, what are your goals? Draw an audience, start conversations, educate people on a topic, etc? Spelling out what you're trying to accomplish (even just for your own eyes) might help you figure out whether the posts you're putting up (and clearly putting a TON of work into) are heading towards that goal.

Li_Akahi

My main goal for the 51 Days of Disney was a cheap publicity stunt combined with making myself update the blog regularly. Honestly, the blog is not supposed to just be a Disney blog, it just so happened to turn out that way because of the ambitious nature of the 51 Day project.

I would love to educate people about the animation field, as I fancy myself to be a minor animation historian, but I also want to talk about video games, TV shows, or non-animated movies occasionally. My goal is to focus on topics that many people consider to be "kiddie" in nature, but write it for an adult audience. I want to show them that there is something actually there that they should consider when looking at these particular topics.

Anrild

Research. I remember being a bit irked when I read your Beauty and the Beast review and you briefly mentioned Cogsworth's speech about the castle being full of bullshit. Having been in a really in-depth academic discussion about that SPECIFIC scene (in my Decoration and Ornamentation class (aka the History of Furniture)), I really wished you'd taken the time to flesh out what he said and why it was relevant. Not all he said was bullshit, it just wasn't put into the proper context nor does it fully line up with the time placement of the movie.

That's just a specific example though. Flesh out your history/backgrounds in the Disney/animation aspect, that's great. It's even better if you can do the research on what time periods and stories and elements the original designers were going for.

Also be careful about making blanket statements about things being "bad". You got a few people a little ticked when you started making judgement calls about the music in certain movies or the animation style without noting the influences or reasons for using those styles in the slightest. "Bad" is an opinion, if you're aiming to educate you should keep your bias in check a little more and provide reasons why the styles were used, animation technology AS WELL AS musical and artistic period influences.

jtvh

My main goal for the 51 Days of Disney was a cheap publicity stunt combined with making myself update the blog regularly. Honestly, the blog is not supposed to just be a Disney blog, it just so happened to turn out that way because of the ambitious nature of the 51 Day project.

I would love to educate people about the animation field, as I fancy myself to be a minor animation historian, but I also want to talk about video games, TV shows, or non-animated movies occasionally. My goal is to focus on topics that many people consider to be "kiddie" in nature, but write it for an adult audience. I want to show them that there is something actually there that they should consider when looking at these particular topics.

I think it's easy to get mixed up and think it's a Disney blog, between the current ongoing series and the Peter Pan reference in the name (plus, your tag cloud seems to suggest that there hasn't been much tagged with the other areas yet). So, I guess my main suggestion would be to publish more of a mix of content (maybe switch to 51 weeks, and publish one Disney movie review a week?) and blend in more of the other stuff.

Anrild

>
I think it's easy to get mixed up and think it's a Disney blog, between the current ongoing series and the Peter Pan reference in the name (plus, your tag cloud seems to suggest that there hasn't been much tagged with the other areas yet). So, I guess my main suggestion would be to publish more of a mix of content (maybe switch to 51 weeks, and publish one Disney movie review a week?) and blend in more of the other stuff.

This. Also, while I understand what you're doing by the one-a-day-until-the-new-release stunt, it's kind of impractical. I go back to my suggestion about research. You could have much more in-depth, interesting, and educational posts if you spent more time on research and had a higher percentage of the post be analysis and further information rather than a recap of the plot. Right now recaps take up a good portion of what you write when you could do so much more with your posts to make them more engaging.

Matt

I think I can give you some good feedback, myself being a blogger that has been going at it for about 2 years now and climbing the ladder. I need a bit more clarification on what you are looking for though: do you want people to review the quality of your writing, or are you trying to gauge people's interest in the topics you write about to know if you are covering the right things (i.e. is my blog relevant?)

Li_Akahi

I really wouldn't mind getting some feedback on the actual writing for the articles as that is something I have been wondering about myself.

As for switching to weekly reviews of Disney movies, I only have 11 more to do, I might as well just finish it. As to having longer content on the actual film rather than a plot summary, sometimes there just isn't enough there in the actual film to make a post that has more than just a plot summary. The compilation films from the 40's were a good example of that. There just wasn't enough different things to say about the individual films.

After the 51 Days posts are finished, I'm going to move to doing 2 posts a week. I'm going to do weekly posts about my trip to Disneyland and a different topic on the other day. After I'm done with the Disneyland content, I have a secret weekly project that I've already started resarching for.