Having read the blogs of many successful bloggers I have tried to analyze what are the strategies they follow to take their blog to the top of the blogosphere. What makes the A-list bloggers tick? What are the characteristics which make the successful blog stand out?
I have classified the strategies followed by highly effective bloggers under four main types..............
CREATE A BLOG
The first step is to create a blog as obviously you cannot have a successful blog without going through the agony and ecstasy of creation.
1. Choosing a subject : If you want to blog successfully you have to choose a subject close to your heart. A subject which you should be passionate about. This has two advantages. One you will never get bored and stop posting to your blog. Secondly since you are passionate about the subject you will probably already have a large amount of information on the subject and - as the heart rules the head - are actively involved in finding more about it. It will also help a lot if you are blogging about your career and area of expertise. It will help even more if you choose to provide solutions to common problems in your blog. This is better than having an opinion blog full of rants and raves unless you are already a top-notch journalist with an existing audience.
2. Choosing a Blogging Platform : If you are a beginner go for the free options like Blogger.com or Wordpress until you get in a rhythm. If you are undecided consult the Ultimate Blogger-Wordpress Comparison Guide before making your decision.
3. Choosing a Domain Name and Hosting : Until you become set try out your skills on a Blogger or Wordpress domain. After reaching perfection you can transfer to a well thought out and keyword researched domain name. Blogger offers Custom Domains where you can have www.MYBLOG.com rather than http://MYBLOG.blogspot.com. Blogger gives free hosting to go along with that so you only have to shell out a small sum for the domain name. You do not have to worry about bandwidth or space. Researching keywords is important before choosing your domain name.
4. Choosing a Design : This is very important as having an attractive template increases traffic to your blog. Also your blog should load fast even over slow dial-up connections.
5. Optimizing your Blog : This forms an important part after creating your blog as you want your blog to appear on the first page of the search results returned by the search engines. This is also known as Search Engine Optimization.
6. Monitor blog and blog traffic : Keep a hand on your blog pulse. Install a counter to see how many hits you are getting. For full and detailed stats install Google Analytics. Keep track of your backlinks by claiming your blog at Technorati.
ADD CONTENT
After creating a blog you have to add content to it. As CONTENT IS KING remember to :
1. Add attractive content to your blog which will attract traffic.
2. Add content regularly without lapsing.
3. Add content frequently. The more frequently you add content to your blog it will attract more traffic and subscribers. Each post will attract some traffic. Hence as per the Long Tail theory the more posts your blog has the more traffic it gets.
4. Add original content. If not original provide links to the credits. Do not copy and paste blindly. Add your own spin to the originals (think The Departed, based on Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs which inspired Martin Scorsese to create this blockbuster.)
5. Controversial content can attract traffic but may prove to be a two edged sword.
6. Add Readable Content. Long posts with bulky paragraphs are difficult to read on the screen. Lists of items are easily read and imbibed by the viewer. Implement the expandable summaries hack to show a small paragraph (teaser) followed by a 'Read More' link.
7. Upload pictures to your blog to illustrate your point. Not too many and not too large or page will take long time to load.
8. Check spelling and grammar before publishing.
9. Make one post on one subtopic only. Do not make one long post about your Italian tour! Make multiple posts each dealing with what you saw on each day and interlink them.
10. Conduct a conversation with your readers. Finally write your posts as if you are talking with your viewers. This is because a blog is an ongoing conversation between the author and the viewers.
PROMOTE BLOG
This step goes hand in hand with adding content :
1. Submit blog to search engines.
2. Submit blog to blog directories as these are frequently crawled by Google and other search spiders your blog will get indexed quickly.
3. Submit blog and blog posts to social networking sites.
4. Submit articles to article directories with signatures linking to your blog.
5. Join forums in your niche and solve members' problems. Put your blog link in your forum signature.
6. Post constructive comments on other blogs.
7. Provide easily noticed feed icons to make for easy subscriptions. Subscribe to blog feeds in your niche and read them.
8. Reply promptly to viewer emails.
9. Enable, moderate and reply to blog comments.
10. Advertise large subscriber counts.
MONETIZE YOUR BLOG
Undertake this step with caution. Do not hasten into adding adverts to your blog before building up a sufficient traffic or subscriber base. There are many methods to monetize blogs :
1. Advertisements : Adsense, Text Link Ads, Bidvertiser, Feedburner monetize Feeds, Kontera etc....
2. Affiliate Programs : Amazon Associates, Commission Junction etc...
3. Get Paid for Posts with Pay Per Post etc....
4. Get paid for Reviews.
I have classified the strategies followed by highly effective bloggers under four main types..............
CREATE A BLOG
The first step is to create a blog as obviously you cannot have a successful blog without going through the agony and ecstasy of creation.
1. Choosing a subject : If you want to blog successfully you have to choose a subject close to your heart. A subject which you should be passionate about. This has two advantages. One you will never get bored and stop posting to your blog. Secondly since you are passionate about the subject you will probably already have a large amount of information on the subject and - as the heart rules the head - are actively involved in finding more about it. It will also help a lot if you are blogging about your career and area of expertise. It will help even more if you choose to provide solutions to common problems in your blog. This is better than having an opinion blog full of rants and raves unless you are already a top-notch journalist with an existing audience.
2. Choosing a Blogging Platform : If you are a beginner go for the free options like Blogger.com or Wordpress until you get in a rhythm. If you are undecided consult the Ultimate Blogger-Wordpress Comparison Guide before making your decision.
3. Choosing a Domain Name and Hosting : Until you become set try out your skills on a Blogger or Wordpress domain. After reaching perfection you can transfer to a well thought out and keyword researched domain name. Blogger offers Custom Domains where you can have www.MYBLOG.com rather than http://MYBLOG.blogspot.com. Blogger gives free hosting to go along with that so you only have to shell out a small sum for the domain name. You do not have to worry about bandwidth or space. Researching keywords is important before choosing your domain name.
4. Choosing a Design : This is very important as having an attractive template increases traffic to your blog. Also your blog should load fast even over slow dial-up connections.
5. Optimizing your Blog : This forms an important part after creating your blog as you want your blog to appear on the first page of the search results returned by the search engines. This is also known as Search Engine Optimization.
6. Monitor blog and blog traffic : Keep a hand on your blog pulse. Install a counter to see how many hits you are getting. For full and detailed stats install Google Analytics. Keep track of your backlinks by claiming your blog at Technorati.
ADD CONTENT
After creating a blog you have to add content to it. As CONTENT IS KING remember to :
1. Add attractive content to your blog which will attract traffic.
2. Add content regularly without lapsing.
3. Add content frequently. The more frequently you add content to your blog it will attract more traffic and subscribers. Each post will attract some traffic. Hence as per the Long Tail theory the more posts your blog has the more traffic it gets.
4. Add original content. If not original provide links to the credits. Do not copy and paste blindly. Add your own spin to the originals (think The Departed, based on Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs which inspired Martin Scorsese to create this blockbuster.)
5. Controversial content can attract traffic but may prove to be a two edged sword.
6. Add Readable Content. Long posts with bulky paragraphs are difficult to read on the screen. Lists of items are easily read and imbibed by the viewer. Implement the expandable summaries hack to show a small paragraph (teaser) followed by a 'Read More' link.
7. Upload pictures to your blog to illustrate your point. Not too many and not too large or page will take long time to load.
8. Check spelling and grammar before publishing.
9. Make one post on one subtopic only. Do not make one long post about your Italian tour! Make multiple posts each dealing with what you saw on each day and interlink them.
10. Conduct a conversation with your readers. Finally write your posts as if you are talking with your viewers. This is because a blog is an ongoing conversation between the author and the viewers.
PROMOTE BLOG
This step goes hand in hand with adding content :
1. Submit blog to search engines.
2. Submit blog to blog directories as these are frequently crawled by Google and other search spiders your blog will get indexed quickly.
3. Submit blog and blog posts to social networking sites.
4. Submit articles to article directories with signatures linking to your blog.
5. Join forums in your niche and solve members' problems. Put your blog link in your forum signature.
6. Post constructive comments on other blogs.
7. Provide easily noticed feed icons to make for easy subscriptions. Subscribe to blog feeds in your niche and read them.
8. Reply promptly to viewer emails.
9. Enable, moderate and reply to blog comments.
10. Advertise large subscriber counts.
MONETIZE YOUR BLOG
Undertake this step with caution. Do not hasten into adding adverts to your blog before building up a sufficient traffic or subscriber base. There are many methods to monetize blogs :
1. Advertisements : Adsense, Text Link Ads, Bidvertiser, Feedburner monetize Feeds, Kontera etc....
2. Affiliate Programs : Amazon Associates, Commission Junction etc...
3. Get Paid for Posts with Pay Per Post etc....
4. Get paid for Reviews.
4 Strategies for Successful Blogs
![4 Strategies for Successful Blogs]()
Reviewed by MOHD ADHA MOHD ZAIN (ADHA ZAIN)
on
July 20, 2009
Rating:
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