Nature Blog Network

Meet Larry Jordan, the blogger behind The Birders Report. Larry and his wife Brigitte moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to Northern California more than thirty years ago to get out of the rat race and back to the land.

Their subsequent story will sound familiar to many of us. In Larry’s words:

We were immediately taken with the beauty of the area and the number of wild creatures living here. Coyote, mountain lion, raccoon, skunk, fox, deer, bear, squirrel, bobcat, rabbit and even elk live close by.

And then there were the birds. We put up bird feeders and were amazed at the variety of birds that came to visit. I built birdhouses and we watched as the birds built their nests and raised their young. This is where our intense love of birds began.

We saw so many birds we couldn’t identify that we bought a guide so that we could learn what they were. Then one night, on the way home from town, we saw the bird that sparked our birding enthusiasm standing in the middle of our dirt road. We didn’t know what it was at the time, but with the aid of our Field Guide to the Birds of North America, we found that we had a Burrowing Owl living here. We never looked for its nest but we would see it for several years, late at night on the road.

You can also find Larry at the website for his birdhouse plans ebook, BuildYourOwnBirdhousePlans.com, at his bird product website BirdsInMyYard.com, and on Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter. You can contact him by email to Larry {AT} TheBirdersReport {DOT} com. Here’s what Larry shared with us about nature blogging and The Birders Report.

Larry, why do you blog?

Blogging is the best way to relate your passion of any subject to a large audience of interested people, and help important causes like conservation, come to the forefront of public thought and opinion. The more I read about birds, the more interested I became in their well being and their survival.

When I learned of the plight of the bluebird in North America, I set out on a quest to increase the bluebird population where I live. Having never seen a Western Bluebird on my property, I decided to create a bluebird trail and I became the Shasta County Coordinator for the California Bluebird Recovery Program. I now maintain three bluebird trails within twenty-five miles of my home and enjoy the company of bluebirds in my own yard.

I wanted to share the joys of what I had discovered with anyone interested. I began blogging about the birds in my yard and how anyone could attract birds to their yard too. How easy and inexpensive it is to bring this incredible peace and joy into their lives that birds and other wildlife offer. How with the simple combination of a bird feeder, a water source, and a birdhouse, you could create a paradise in your own backyard and help your kids learn about nature first hand.

As time passed, I wanted to see more and different birds than just the birds living here and traveling through my yard. I joined the local Audubon Society and began going on bird walks. This one, simple action, increased my knowledge of birds and birding ten fold. If you want to learn more about a subject, hang out with a nice group of people that know more about it than you do. Then share your knowledge through your blog.

What’s the best thing about blogging?

The best things about blogging are meeting people who have the same interests as you and learning new things about your favorite subjects every day. If I didn’t blog about birds and birding, I wouldn’t have learned as much as I have about my birding passion. You see, if you need content for your blog, you go out and make things happen! or involve yourself deeper and deeper in the things you love the best. If you are going to start a blog, it must be about a subject you are passionate about. Otherwise you are wasting your time.

Has blogging changed how you think about nature, or how you write?

Blogging and nature photography have changed my behavior enormously. I am much more aware of my surroundings and look for stories and subjects my readers may be interested in as I go about my daily business. I am constantly aware of the birds that are always around me and how I can help conserve our environment for future generations.

How do you promote your blog and attract readers?

I promote my blog in several ways. First, I have a subscription sign up at the top of the front page so people can get on my email list and get blog updates via email. Along with that, readers can subscribe to my RSS feed or my comment feed. These are three must have items for your blog and they should all be at the top of your front page.

I use social marketing to promote my blog as well. I primarily use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr but I also use several other sites represented on my blog with a MyBlogLog widget. These include StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, Delicious, Technorati, and Digg, to name a few. Whenever I link to one of my photographs on the blog, I link to my Flickr page for a larger image.

I would say that Twitter is the fastest growing social networking site on the net. People can learn about your blog very quickly and pass the word to hundreds or their followers just as fast. It is becoming the best networking tool in my opinion. If you don’t have a Twitter account, sign up for one ASAP.

I also promote my blog on my other two websites. I have a bird product site at www.BirdsInMyYard.com where I have a link to my blog, and a site where I sell an ebook on how to build birdhouses at www.BuildYourOwnBirdhousePlans.com that links to my blog. Conversely, I have a Widget Ad Generator widget on my blog that advertises my other two websites for me.

Right under my subscription form, near the top of my blog, I have a link for folks to get a free “I Brake For Birds” bumper sticker. The bumper sticker has my blog address on it so wherever those folks go, my blog address goes with them. Plus they are getting something from me for free. This is a great idea I got from 10,000 Birds.

One of the main things I do to get traffic is participate in blog carnivals and memes. Of course I And The Bird and Bird Photography Weekly are two of my favorites but there are several out there now. I will, of course, participate in Gunnar Engblom’s Birdbloggers Tweet Club which is just getting underway.

I could go on but there is one very important thing I want to mention about promoting your website, your About Me page. I cannot stress this enough because I visit people’s websites and some don’t even have  such a page! If I cannot find out who the person I am visiting is, why would I read their blog? Your About Me page is the most important page on your blog. Make it irresistible to readers and let your light shine through to them. If they like you, and they trust you, they will come back.

How did you choose the name of your blog?

I spent a long time deciding on a name for my blog. If you want to have a successful blog and get traffic, the name you choose is the first important decision you will make. I have bought over 100 domain names in the last couple of years and currently own around 80. I have a PDF file available on my website with my rules on choosing a domain name. You can get it at http://www.thebirdersreport.com/ChoosingADomainName.pdf

The Birder’s Report was chosen, as I say, after much deliberation. I made a list of the available domain names I liked and slowly narrowed it down to a couple of choices. I asked my wife Brigitte for her favorite too. I wanted the word bird or birder to be in the name for SEO reasons and started thinking along those lines. Then I took an idea from one of the top blog marketing gurus, Jack Humphrey of “Friday Traffic Report” and came up with The Birder’s Report.

Do you feel you’re part of a community with other nature bloggers?

I have made many new friends through nature blogging. It is a wonderful caring community of bloggers that are open and giving people. We are all involved in some degree to conservation and love of the great outdoors.

I am looking forward to meeting some of my blogging friends through the new site started by Dawn Fine and John Briggs, Birders Who Blog Tweet and Chirp. This is a way to setup birding trips with your bird blogging friends. Is that great or what?

Any words of wisdom for new nature bloggers?

Blog about your passion, whatever that may be. Let your true self shine through, people will love you for it. Use a self-hosted WordPress blog platform (it is the most versatile platform out there). Take your time to choose an exceptional blog title. Write an incredible “About Me” page and let people know who you really are. Use photographs for every post if you can (we nature lovers love pictures). Most of all, HAVE FUN!

Thanks so much, Larry, for sharing what you’ve learned about blogging – you’ve given us a lot to think about!