Adding a blog to a web site is almost essential for a web site today. For most of our clients, we can add a blog to your web site for almost nothing – a small installation charge is all that is necessary.
Here are some tips, however, to enable that blog to give you that major visitor traffic that you want.
- Define the purpose for your blog. What do want your blog to accomplish? If you are blogging as part of an organization (business, church, nonprofit), you need to build consensus as to the purpose of the blog in your organization; but your blog writing should be personal.
- Budget the time to keep the blog updated. Starting a blog and following the other tips here will give you that traffic quickly, but if you get tired and fail to keep it active, traffic will fall off just as quickly. Try to stick to a regular posting schedule.
- Don’t rush your postings. You’ve just seen a great movie and you want to post on it while the media is hot about that movie. Take a few days to look at your posting. How can you make your post unique? Is the spelling right? Grammar? Did you proofread your post?
- Give your opinion. People read your post to get your opinion. Give it to them. Don’t be afraid of controversy. That only builds interest and invites comments, getting more interaction. What does your post say about and issue (movie, political issue, book, etc.) that others don’t?
- Respond to comments. If someone is commenting and interacting with you on your blog, respond to them.
- Comment in other blogs in your niche. That’s what this social networking is all about. Put links to your site and/or in the comments in other blogs if that blog’s posting relates to the subject of your blog.
- Be personal. People don’t want to network with an organization, they want to network with people. Be honest, share your opinions. Don’t post as “Administrator”. Post under your name with your personal photo. If you are a blogger on a church site, you will find most GenX and Millennials have much difficulty relating to an institution. The institution of the church has failed them, and these generations also are highly relational. Use your name and not the church’s, but link them to the church web site.
- Monitor your stats. What postings are getting read? Is visitor traffic going up or down? We provide all of our clients with a free traffic monitor system. See Postrank.com.
- Stay legal. Don’t copy other people’s stuff. Use lots of links to other people’s stuff, but make your content with these links unique. Be particular careful on copying graphics. Many graphics are copyrighted by image companies.
- Provide a full fee RSS. That means your RSS sends a full copy of your post to your blog subscribers.
- Use Twitter as a gateway to post very frequent comments, and occasionally bring them into your blog from your tweets when a blog post is relevant. Use tools like htt://bit.ly to shorten your URLs and tease them in from the Twitter post. As your followers grow on Twitter, you will gain a rich understanding of the personality of each, their needs, and you can blog to your network more effectively. I promise – you will meet some very interesting people.
- Write to people – don’t write to Google (banging your keyword phrases) or an organization. Your keyword phrases should flow naturally.
- Don’t use a self-hosting blog such as blogspot.com or WordPress.com. With these you don’t look professional and can’t choose your theme. Also, your security is less.
- Get a professional theme for your blog. This will cost you some money in all probability; but looking professional makes all the difference in your visitor traffic.
- Write like your talk. Use your personal vocabulary but be nice, thank people who help you.This adds personality to your blog.
- Watch your post headlines. Make the headline catchy. Be sure your keyword phrases are there. Tease the reader with the headline.
- As others link to you, compliment them by linking to them.
- Don’t blog for money. Remember this is social networking, not selling. An occasional plug for you new book is fine, but lay off the sales stuff or people will leave your blog. If you are a good restaurant, post your recipes. If you are a publisher, tell how to write a good book and get it published.
- Use lists, bullets, and subheads in your posts. This will give better search engine optimization.
- Keep your post on-brand. What is the purpose of your blog? Stay on that track.
- Use an photo in your comments that shows your face or personality. I prefer a facial photograph – not a distance shot or clipart.
- Drive content from passion. See: http://freelancefolder.com/the-difference-between-fluff-and-interesting-content/.
- If your post is out to tear something down (political, religious, educationally, health), build a vision of what the vision should be and how to get there. Give the reader vision, hope, and strategy.
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