Blogging is a powerful tool for SEO and for bringing people, real live people, to your site. Remember, attracting search engine bots is important but they don’t buy anything. Getting actual potential customers to your site is among the most important things you do.
Getting real readers to your site, and keeping them coming back again and again, is the purpose of a good blog. Good, new, interesting content is the way to do this. Write something new as often as you can but only if you have something interesting to share.
Blog posts can be any length. It is often thought said that short is better, and this may well be so, but the post must be long enough to fully tell the story. Don’t cut corners (and details) to keep it all “above the fold”. Good journalism techniques, like grabbing interest in the opening paragraph, apply. You don’t want to right an essay or novel, but don’t be afraid to write enough to get your message across.
Identify with your readers. Blogs with consistant themes do well because they speak to a group that thinks the same (or argues with) the blogger. Agreement and contraversy are both good in a blog. If your audience is more cosmopolitan then you can write about many things. Either way is fine; just know who you are writing for.
Research your topics. Both what you write and what you write about is important to good blogging. Write about what you know, what is important to you, and then extend your reach and find new things to right about. If you find a niche work it, target it, write to it. If you like writing about many things you may find you want to operate more than one blog.
For many things a conversational style is best. For some, though, you will want to be more formal, even technical. If you use “big” technical words you may consider providing a glossary or linking them to definitions. The Interent is all about hyperlinks, after all! You decide the “flavor” your blog will present. Remember, it is YOUR blog!
A pleasing blog design is important. Plain can be better than fancy. Too much color, animation, and/or graphics can take away from your content. And remember, content IS king! Having a unique look will help you stand out in the crowd but don’t forget to deliver the good… the story, the information. That’s what blogging is all about.
Easy navigation that has everything where it is expected to be is also important. Link from within your posts to other posts and other parts of your blog. Yes, blogs can have multiple pages and be full websites in their own right. Consider being part of a website/bloggin community and share links with other bloggers, even cross posting to add additional fresh content to each-others’ blogs. Provide full attribution and a return link!
If you monetize your blog — and there is nothing wrong with this — put serious consideration into your choices; who you let advertise and where you place the ads. Everything on your site will be seen, by your vistiors, as content. Whether they choose to stay, and/or return again, will be determined by how they feel about your site content. That includes both posts and ads.
A well run blog can be a powerful magnet for SEO and real people and it can be a vehicle to drive direct sales, advertising revenue, or traffic to specified sites. Develop and use your blog wisely.
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