1. TELLING STORIES- Don't just stick a bunch of links or photos on your blog. People love to have a story read or told to them. Think back to when you were a child. There was nothing better than to have a bed time story read to you. It's still the same thing. Adults love to hear a good story. It takes their mind off of there own life or problems. Unless you are some big shot reporter, people wont keep coming back to hear what you have to say. Make stories compelling, and, most of all, relatable.
2. CREATE A VOICE FOR YOURSELF- This has everything to do with Branding (which by the way is a huge topic within itself). Find your voice and brand it, whether it's through writing about one particular topic within your expertise such as (travel, dog walking, cooking, etc..) or about several different related topics. People are more likely to remember your blog if it offers something unique.
3. MAKE IT EASY TO READ- That means keeping your visual aesthetics simple. Using bold. or italicized words help draw the eye to a particular point that you want to make. Just don't use bold or italics excessively. You will lose your effect and momentum. Keep your sentences short and concise. Use two spaces between sentences. Nothing is harder on the eyes than excessive writing in bold letters, and runon sentences. OUCH!
4. GIVE YOUR BLOG A PERSONAL TOUCH- It is a lot easier to connect with people on an emotional level if you show a personal side to your writing, rather than some mechanical automated web page. Remember story telling? Let visitors know what's up with you, and how it relates to your topic of conversation. Emotions sell!
5. PRETEND THAT YOU ARE WRITING AN EMAIL, OR LETTER TO A FRIEND- Forget that you are writing an article. Think about when you are writing to your friend by email, or a snail mail letter, and you have some cool information to tell them. Do you address the letter formally as you would a future contact at a large organization, or is the email a lot cozier? Keep it light and watch your viewership rise.
6. PROVIDE ENOUGH INFORMATION- The number one thing that your visitors are looking for is information. Don't let them down. Keep the information simple, and restrict it to the topic that you have chosen for your headline. See # 7.
7. INCLUDE A HEADLINE- Headlines SELL, and it is the #1 way to capture your audience, to continue reading your blog. Spending a lot of time on your headline will pay you back in spades. You can start by checking out top magazines, and newspapers. Save the front page of these publications and put them into a file for further use when you are ready to write your headline. Use these headlines, but change it a little to match your article.
8. GIVE STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS- Does your expertise lend itself to teaching your visitors about a certain subject (How to do "anything")? People love instructions. This will let your visitors know that you are the expertise in your topic, and hopefully they will want to learn more through education. Educate them, and prosper.
9. REVIEW A PRODUCT OR SERVICE- Don't really have anything to sell? No problem. Write about someone else's product or service, and collect an affiliate income. Write with passion and consistency. People are only going to read if you are passionate about it. Affiliate income is big business, and blogging for income is a great way to make it happen.
10. EDUCATE YOURSELF- Thats Right! If you want to learn "How to Make Money on Your Blog", continue reading, researching, learning, educate yourself. It is the only way to make things happen. Knowledge is irreplaceable. Once you have it, nothing can stop you. Join groups, read other blogs, pay for lessons. Do what you have to do to make it happen.
Getting more people to comment on your blog can make your blogs quality sky rocket!
If people are responding to what you have say whether it be positive or negative, you are still moving up the ladder.
Most people who fail at writing their blog, or fail to receive comments become this way because they aren't focusing on what they are writing. I have found that the more I focus on my topic of choice, the more comments I receive. Its an unexplainable phenomena that just occurs. Before you write your post, tell yourself that you want people to comment.
When you are interested in posting something, or getting your word out. People will often listen. When people listen, they are focusing on what you have to say so they can create their own opinions of you. Once these opinions are in their head, they want to get them out as much as you, so in turn it usually gets you comments.
Set up your blog so it is DO FOLLOW
Did you know that your blog might be set up so it is no follow? No follow means that when a blogger comes to your site, and wants to leave a comment he will not benefit if he posts his website or blog, so he will probably just ignore it and not comment. However DO FOLLOW means that when they post their site, the commenter benefits in some way. No Follow tells Google to ignore, while DO FOLLOW tells Google to Retrieve.
At The End of Your Post; Ask Others For Their Opinions / Comments
Don't be afraid to ask for others opinions. If you want to run a successful website/blog you are going to have to listen to what others think about you and your site. By not giving others the chance to make opinions about you whats the point of writing anything? Remember negative comments do as much good as positive comments. When you are finishing up you post try to mention things like "so what do you think about this INSERT POST TOPIC", or "if you have any opinions feel free to comment".
Replying To Others Comments
This is extremely important. Why? Because when you respond to your comments you create conversation. Conversation is a very good thing because it shows others are REALLY interested in what you are doing. This will also cause others to enter the conversation as well. Try to imagine it as a Forum Thread. Thats how forums grow, by creating conversations.
What is a blog? According to Wikipedia, a blog (an abridgment of the term web log) is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Many people set up blogs to talk about personal issues, however more and more internet entrepreneurs are using blogs to help promote their business and to drive traffic to their websites, and that is what I am talking about today.
Blogging is a great way to attract search engine traffic, especially if you update your content every day, or at least every couple of days.
One important thing you should remember is to make sure you include your niche-related keywords in the titles of your posts! My websites have come up on several occasions, thanks to this method!
Also, you might want to set up an opt in form on the first page of your blog, offering a free newsletter or ebook. Building a list should be your first priority if you're embarking on an internet marketing business, no matter what niche you are targeting.
If you want to build your list, then you had better make sure your blog posts are useful and relevant to the niche you have chosen, otherwise nobody will subscribe to receive your free newsletter or ebook because they will doubt the value of their content!
If you're stuck for ideas, then this might help: Subscribe to Google Alerts. Select the keyword or phrase you want to be notified of, and Google does the rest! Each day you will receive an email listing news stories and blog posts relating to that keyword or phrase.
Read through each item in the alert and find one that you feel suits your niche and on your blog, make a comment on the topic on the alert. Maybe offer your opinion, or expand on what the news item or blog post talks about. The alerts are really there to give you an idea of what to talk about and you can add more or you can unsubscribe from them at any time. NEVER copy them word for word!
To make some of your posts more interesting, add some images or even audio or video. If you have set up a Wordpress blog, there is a plugin that makes the process of adding audio and video extremely easy.
So remember to blog at least once every couple of days, keep your content relevant and informative, and remember to put keywords in your blog titles and you will be well on your way to increasing traffic to your website in no time!
Disclosure Policy
This is a site wide disclosure policy, that will we allow to accommodate both site-wide and in post disclosure to point out to all the readers of this site that we accept sponsored posts.
