Every man and his dog has a blog these days, so how can you make yours stand out? We have helped lots of our clients start their own blogs, for small businesses, special interests and advice. Here are a few tips that we use that might help you to get your blog noticed.
**UPDATE – October 2013**
We originally wrote this article back in March 2010 and so much has changed that we decided to bring it up to date with the latest tips and tricks… enjoy, and always, we’d love to hear your comments below.
Blog regularly
There’s little or no point in having a blog if it’s going to lie stagnant. Ideally you should try to post to it at least once a week. This will help you to keep your subscribers interested and also let the search engines know that your content is up to date.
If you’re struggling for content, try subscribing to news sites within your industry and commenting on the latest goings on.
Start an RSS feed
RSS feeds are a great way to help you gain and keep readers. If you don’t know what an RSS feed is, take a look at http://www.whatisrss.com. Basically, it means that rather than people having to check your site for new content, they will be alerted when you make a new post.
There are lots of ways to set up a feed, but one of the simplest is to use Feed Burner – you can register an account and have your feed up and live in no time. Once you have your feed, advertise it on every page of your blog with the very recognisable RSS icon.
Choose a topic you care about
If you’re passionate about your topic and know your stuff, it will show in your writing – try to pick something that you think others will want to hear about and share your experiences. This is a great way to start a conversation with your audience and if you know what you’re talking about people are sure to come back for more!
Ask questions!
Allowing your visitors to leave a comment about your article is a wonderful way to get feedback. It allows you to see what others think about your opinion and gives you the chance to start a conversation, which will make your readers much more likely to come back and see what you have to say in the future, so ask your readers questions and engage with them by replying to their comments.
You might also consider commenting on other people’s blogs – if you start a conversation, they might take a look at your blog and return the favour!
Tailor the content to your audience
Try to write in a style that appeals to your audience. If your blog is of a very serious nature, try to keep that tone throughout your posts. Or, if there is room for a bit of personality, let it shine through – the more entertaining your posts, the more likely people are to come back for more. If you can start a dialogue, then so much the better – ask your audience questions and see what feedback you get.
Keep the layout concise
Separate your content into short paragraphs and try not to repeat yourself. Padding out a post just for the sake of it will frustrate your readers, so try to stick to the point. Also, try to make use of bold fonts, sub-titles and bullet points to make it easier for your readers to find the information they are most interested in.
Use catchy titles
Think of a title that fully describes the article you’re writing. If you use the keywords that people might use to search for information in the title of your blog, it’s much more likely to be found by surfers – but don’t use buzz words just to get traffic – make sure that the title is relevant to the content.
Use tags, categories, keywords and descriptions
Many blogging applications allow you to file away your posts in different categories and to apply tags to them – use these tools to organise your posts. You can also use keywords and descriptions to help the search engines find you!
Link to other blogs and experts in the field
If you find articles and references that have helped you to write your post, link to them so that people can read on and find more information. Use trackbacks or contact the sources and ask them to link back to you – if you’ve done a good job, they might just do it!
Proof read!
Before you post your article, take a break from writing it, then re-read it, or better yet, get a fresh pair of eyes to take a quick look for you – you’ll be surprised at how many things you change on a second read!
Spread the word!
Register your blog with search engines, directories and blog sites like Google and Technorati, get others to link to you and make use of every social networking tool you have; posting links to your site on your social media sites will have a great impact on your SEO. You can also add a share button to your posts so that your readers can spread the word for you. We use Shareaholic’s ‘Sexy Bookmarks‘ plugin for WordPress to make it really simple.
