Posts
Can anyone blog? Of course they can but that doesn't mean that all blogs or bloggers will be successful. There are plenty of blogs out there that probably deserve to be put out of their misery and never see the light of day again. There are badly written blogs, boring blogs and just plain pointless blogs. If you haven't been having much success blogging and you don't want your blog to languish in the backwaters of the Internet then here are ten tips for bloggers to think about;
- 1. Don't just repeat what other bloggers are writing about. Its not easy but you need to try to develop original material for your blog. tell your audience what you think, don't just repeat what others have said. If you have a completely new take on a subject then your blog is much more likely to attract attention
- 2. Don't be shy and bashful. Hey you are a blogger! people are going to read your stuff so tell them what you think. If you don't agree with the majority view on a subject then say so clearly and loudly. People are as often likely to read and comment on opinions that they don't agree with as those they do. It's better to be controversial than ignored.
- 3. Link generating schemes. There are all sorts of link building schemes out there but some of them are useless and some can be right harmful. don't bother with free for all link farms. they don't add much weight to your blog and you wont get much useful traffic from them. If you can find a blogroll or link group which is relevant to your topic them this is often worth getting listed in.
- 4. Don't spray spam comments over the blogosphere. Every blogger gets these spam comments and they are a bloody nuisance. "great blog" is usually the extent of the comment followed by the spammers blog address. Does this make me want to read the spammers blog. Nope. Will my readers want too read the spammers blog? Nope. Has the spam comment done any good for the spammer? Nope. Leaving comments on other blogs is a great way of getting noticed but juts like when yo write a post make sure what you are writing is interesting and worth reading.
- 5. Don't rush to promote your blog. You want your blog to make a bang don't you? You want people to be impressed with your work. Yes? then don't expect to write two posts in sloppy English and then start asking everyone to read your blog. They will, briefly and then they will probably never return. Its hard to get readers. Its even harder to keep them. make sure there is something interesting and useful for them too read!
- 6. Bloggers blog so focus your time on blogging. You do need to spend time on other peoples blogs making comments. You do need to spend time on forums and doing other interne things. But the bottom line is that it is the time that you spend creating your content that ultimately makes you and your blog successful.
- 7. Don't use a shotgun when you need a sniper rifle. The really successful blogs tend to be focused on a particular subject and stick closely to it. The blog has a clear topic and Theme and all the content supports this. Of course there is no law that says that you cant run a blog which covers a wider range of topics. I actually run one of those myself and it is successful but even it tends to revolve around a limited number of themes and topics. if you want to make money from blogging them you need to be more focused and limited in your topics.
- 8. Post regularly and post often. Many bloggers ( myself included on occasion) have flurries of posting and then we go quiet and don't post for a while. If you want a regular readership it is important that you have regular fresh and interesting content posted at a reasonably predictable rate. In blogspot and other blogging platforms there is usually some way that you can put a future date on a post and it will be held and published on that date. use this to space out your postings.
- 9. Don't focus on making money. Focus on making a good blog. If you spend all your energies on trying to make money from your blog then you wont be spending time on what really matters -- the quality of your blog and its content. If your blog doesn't have good content then it wont make money. Making money follows from having a good blog. Focusing on making money wont make your blog better. Focusing on making your blog better will make you more money.
- 10. Be patient. I see messages regularly from people who have slapped up a couple of posts , stuck up a few adsense ads and then moan a week later that they are not making any money. It may take a long time to build up a blog with good reputation and readership. It will be frustrating as you struggle for visitors. Many people give up after a few months. If you stick with it then rewards will follow. If you want to be a really successful blogger you will need a great deal of patience , persistence and determination.
Even if your business is going to be exclusively an online business you need to think about the various ways that you can promote your business. Obviously you will already be thinking about optimizing your website for search and making sure you have relevant fresh content. But don't forget that the traditional ways of promoting a business can also work wonders for an online business.
