 Home |
When you start a "new" blog you will run into
two main obstacles. Number one you need traffic and number two you
need active commentary to keep your blog "alive".
GuruCreation is a perfect example of a new blog wait... an old blog
that never was used so now it's really a new blog. Follow along and
watch as I create a thriving blog that gets a good chunk of daily
traffic and active commentary's.
Don't prove me wrong be intentionally not posting even though you
want to because I know you really do :)
Create a blog post that leaves room for improvement. What I mean is
make sure you don't cover every aspect of topic you are talking
about. You want the readers to feel like they need to chime in and
post because you left some information out.
Controversy - this is an awesome way to generate traffic, back
links, comments and everything else. I for one know that when I see
a political post that I think is totally ridiculous I am all over it
like white on rice?
End your blog post with a lingering question. Give your readers
something to think about and you can bet your bottom dollar they
will be posting. Also make an option available to the poster to
subscribe to the post or comments. You have seen this option on all
the "hot" forums.
For the love of god DON'T make your comments open in a pop up window.
This has to be the single most annoying feature to me in the blog
world. If I am interested in your post I don't want to search for
the damn link to read the comments and reply myself.
Run contests - Anything from giving away links to money all the way
to Ipods and a donkey if you want to. Yes a donkey may be expensive
to ship but it will generate more than a few backlinks for you.
Last don't be afraid to be yourself. Adding a little personality or
flavor as I like to call it will make you stand out. And if your
readers don't like it or if they don't like you because you start a
sentence with the word "and" that is there problem .
To make blogging work for you there are some things you need to keep
in mind.
1. Respect for Your Audience
You want as many people in your targeted niche (and beyond) to check
out your blog so do your best to avoid offending them. For instance
you may have a blog about politics. This is a good way to attract an
audience and have spirited discussions and debates. The key is to
make sure that you don't cross the line. It's easy in a politically
charged atmosphere to let your emotions get the better of you. As
the person who runs the blog you must keep a check on what's
happening. Don't let a first-class debate collapse into name-calling
and verbal abuse. By losing control of their emotions and or their
comment board, a number of bloggers have wound up losing a potential
loyal audience.
2. The Over Design
There are many blog layouts
to choose
from but do not overdo it. Your priority should always be to provide
good unique content to your audience. The blog design should
complement your writing not compete with it. Your text should also
be clearly readable. Don't put your content on a background that's
going to strain the eyes of your blog visitors. If you want to
experiment fine but you can never go wrong by starting out with a
basic design.
3. Where Have You Been?
Blogging is easy but one thing that separates a good blog from the rest
of the pack is how often you post information on your blog. You may
have been on a couple of discussion forums and heard people say they
do not post to their blog if they have nothing to say. That's all
well and good but what predictably happens is the amount of time
between having something to say gets longer and longer. They start
out with great enthusiasm and post daily, than every few days,
followed by once a week which then turns into a couple times a
month.
This is not going to work. People want information. You should post
at least three times a week. Write the content yourself or borrow it
from others (just make sure to give them credit). You can write a
short blurb about an article you saw online and then give the link
to your readers so they can check it out. The point is to not let
your blog sit idle for long periods of time. That's a good way to
lose an audience hungry for information. It also doesn't help you
with the search engines which love blogs that update frequently.
Since the majority of your internet traffic will come from places
like the Google, Yahoo and MSN it's best to give them what they
want.
Blogging is a phenomenon that will continue to grow. While it's
effortless to set up and operate never lose sight of the fact that you must
respect your audience first while giving them quality frequently updated content
in an easy to read format. Welcome to the world of blogging.
|
