Gauging interest of an in-state blog network

[Kevin]

How interested would you guys and gals be in having your own blog page on Arkansas Outdoors Online?

Basically, we would set up a page dedicated to you, and you would be able to sign-in and write your own entries whenever you wanted. You could talk about the days hunt, any strategies you used, new equipment, or basically anything else hunting related. We would keep it in-state only, so it would be like one large Arkansas hunting blog network, as opposed to a forum only.

You don't have to be a professional writer or anything of course, it would just be for fun. If you did have a really interesting post, however, we could feature it on the main page, on twitter and in the forum. It would be a really cool thing for your friends and family, and who knows, maybe you could become one of our regular content writers.

We would probably just put up a "blog" tab in the top menu, then when you went to that page, you could look up your name to navigate to your specific blog. To start off, we may have an approval process for the first little while until you get settled in.

We have the capabilities to set this up, but we are wondering if there is a need/want for something like this. Please post below with your thoughts and ideas.

[Jack]

  Hopefully the writers will tend to leave politics and religion out of this except when it directly involves hunting and fishing.  I'd love to read what others where thinking and experiencing.

[DeerSlayer]

I absoulutely would be interested in this. I love to write but never really have a good outlet. Sure you can set up on one of the blogging sites like e-blogger or something which i've tried before but it's hard to get promoted. this way people are already coming to the website to find info on ark. hunting so it seems like it would wokk

[Kevin]

Jack -- I agree, hence the approval process to begin. I wouldn't mind people voicing their opinions on things, but this is Arkansas hunting, not Arkansas politics.

DeerSlayer -- Yeah I think that is the draw for something like this. The best way to increase success while hunting and fishing is to do research. We certainly have a number of resources on the website, and giving other in-state hunters a voice would only add to those resources.

[Kevin]

C'mon guys weigh in. I have gotten some emails where people are really interested in this. But i'd like some feedback in the forum too. Let's hear from you, especially if you are new.

--What would you name your blog? Got to have a catchy name!
--What would your specialty be? Archery? Duck hunting? Turkey hunting? Photography? Maybe you travel to Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and hunt big game? That would be a cool change of pace for people to read.
--How often would you post? You could do once a week or once a month. No requirements.

Just some fun things to think about.

[Wizard]

Hopefully the writers will tend to leave politics and religion out of this except when it directly involves hunting and fishing.  I'd love to read what others where thinking and experiencing.

Jack -- I agree, hence the approval process to begin. I wouldn't mind people voicing their opinions on things, but this is Arkansas hunting, not Arkansas politics.

I agree.  The reason I decided to join this forum is because of the lack of religious and political discussions.  Every other Arkansas hunting forum I have seen seems to thrive on religion and politics and it gets old really quick.

[Kevin]

Yeah you can read about everything BUT hunting and fishing on those other forums. They've been around a lot longer than us so have more members, but it's about quality not quantity for us.

[ducktape]

Hopefully the writers will tend to leave politics and religion out of this except when it directly involves hunting and fishing.  I'd love to read what others where thinking and experiencing.

Jack -- I agree, hence the approval process to begin. I wouldn't mind people voicing their opinions on things, but this is Arkansas hunting, not Arkansas politics.

I agree.  The reason I decided to join this forum is because of the lack of religious and political discussions.  Every other Arkansas hunting forum I have seen seems to thrive on religion and politics and it gets old really quick.

one of the goals kevin and I had when we created this website was to keep it strictly outdoors related for Arkansas. Religion and politics talk can happen at other forums. For us we want hunting and fishing.

[SBE2]

i want in, how about a pro staff type deal?