Anyone can start a blog but not everyone can take their blog to the next level. Now if you are one who is simply looking for a fun place to put your thoughts and opinions on your blog, then this article may not be for you. If you are one who wants to have traffic, plenty of readers, and even develop an income then read on!
Here are a few tips to help you move your blog to the next level:
- Keep it simple: There is nothing worse than trying to find your way around a blog just to read the content. Don’t go over the top with the look of your blog. There has to be a balance. Make it attractive yet easy on the eyes. The other major turn off is to many ads floating around your site. This makes it hard for the reader to concentrate. By making your blog simple you will help keep readers on your blog and coming back.
- Be easy to follow. Help your readers follow you. If you want to follow me at anytime you can Tweet me on Twitter @JSRampton. Make is simple, like that! They may not have time to check daily to see if you have posted something and for some readers this can be a major turn off if they are constantly disappointed. Find a way to add a RSS feed to your blog so readers will be notified when you have posted something new. If the blog platform you are using does not offer this feature then find another platform to use, seriously it’s worth it. This will help make sure your readers are kept
up to date. You want people coming back and following you in every way possible! - Know your audience. Get to know who are targeting. This can be done by asking questions like the age of your readers, if they are in a certain industry, their location, and what they are interested in. You can also join certain groups that allow you to see what your target audience is talking about. This will help you chose subjects to gain readers from the group.
- Keep up with your progress. Make sure you are tracking the traffic you are receiving. This will help you pin point the postings that gained the most attention from your readers. It will also track who attention it is bringing and where they are coming from.
- Encourage them to talk. The biggest fear in letting people comment is the writing receiving some negative feedback. Don’t be afraid to let people do this. Sometimes it can be exactly what you need. The thing most people don’t realize is any feedback or comments is that it’s real interaction. A blog can be much like social media and what feeds social media is a good debate.
- Help readers talk about you. Make sure your blog has a place for social bookmarking. This allows your readers to easily share your blog with other people. You can add action tags like “add this†or “share thisâ€. Oh did I mention this also helps you with your SEO. All traffic helps you with your SEO. Get over rejection quick and enjoy the ride!
- Tags and Categories. Be sure to tag your blogs in the appropriate way so that the readers can find what they are looking for. Another great way to create order for your blog is through categories and archives. The great thing about these features is reads can go back and read older post that they have just learned about or may want to use to share with others on their blog. So yes even your old post can bring new traffic.
- Plan a consistent editorial schedule. Make a schedule. This means you need to write on the same day every week or month. This will help your readers look forward to new content and they will know exactly when to visit your blog or send new readers. Remember we are all creatures of habit so use this to boost the ratings of your blog.
- Do some different. Add some spice to your blog by offering a different approach to gain feedback. This could be a contest or tell your story type approach. Here is an example. You have a blog post about a business tips and you have other businesses share theirs. The readers are allowed to vote on the tip that was most helpful and that business could get a spotlight page on your blog. Why wouldn’t they engage and get others to read your blog just for the free exposure? I find that writing about people get’s tons of attention to your blog. Plus when you write about someone they will typically comment on your post!
- Good Content. Anybody can write a blog post but only good content is what gets the job done. The readers will only stay if they are interested in what you are talking about. That is why is it best to keep it natural, simple, informative, and accurate.
All of these are tips to help boost your blogging experience. After you get readers to your blog, focus on the next step which is income. With time and effort you can boost your blog to the next level!