How to blog as a councillor: examples from Ealing and Nottingham

By Mark Pack | Tue 29th March 2011 - 11:55 am

Earlier in the month I talked about how the “little and often” rule is a good approach for candidates and those elected to public office when using the internet to keep in touch with voters. There have been two good recent examples of blog posts from Liberal Democrat councillors that illustrate the different roles blog posts can play in that.

First, Ealing Councillor Gary Malcolm and his short, simple summary of a residents’ association AGM. That sort of quick but very local information often has a ready audience, because even diligent readers of local newspapers rarely get that much information about what is happening day to day with local services.

Second, there is a post from The Voice’s own Alex Foster, who is also a councillor in Nottingham. His post, So What’s Going on at Broad Marsh?, takes a story which has been in the local news but provides the context and explanations which the local media very rarely have the time or space for. Yet for a big issue such as the fate of the centre of a town, again there is very often a ready audience for that sort of background and extended information.

If you are blogging with a local or national audience in mind, building up an audience usually takes time (hence the tortoise wins out over the hare). These seven tips for building up your traffic levels will help. Whether you are a new or experienced blogger yourself, you may also find our compilation of “how to blog” posts useful:

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