It's the little things that get You!
Oh, it's the little things that get people when they are starting to build a blog. I have had a blog of some sort for at least 10 years. Wanna see them? No way! Unless I want to show you a list the worst blogs I have ever seen or read! They were built for one purpose only; to drive traffic else where. I look at them now and then when I need a good laugh. I had no one to tell me how to do anything. Trial and HUGE mistakes were my only teachers. What I want to share with you is the buleprint for building better blogs. The kind you aren't ashamed to put your face on!
5 Tips for Building a better Blogs from Scratch
Who are You?
People come to your blog to read your content and you know what? If they like it they want to know who this great writers or wise marketing expert is? I never ever had an about me section in the old days. You know why? Because I'm no writer! There I said it! Oh, I have had plenty of people both friend and foe let me know in no uncertain terms that I'm not. I knew that before I met most of them so not anything that broke my heart to hear. What I can do is work SEO magic. You don't have to be a great writer to do that. Put those two things together though and you have something special. I left my about section off because I knew what I wrote was BAD but guess what? I was making money marketing and there were plenty of people that were desperately trying to get in touch with me to hire me to help them. So what you if aren't an awesome writer I know amazing writers that don't make a dime. The people that come to your site are attracted to it for some reason. Put your smiling face on it, tell your story, and let your readers decide why they enjoy your site!
Please I beg of you use Keywords
Oh yeah I'm going to preach SEO and keyword research. Do you want to know why I say it so often? I made 30k in 2003 with those UGLY blogs. Do you want to know how? Nope I did not spend a penny on ads and I knew very well that spamming was a BIG "no-no". I studied SEO and keywords like a mad person. Day and night for hours on end I was reading, spying on my competitors, and trying everything to get my sites in Google under those golden search terms. As green as I was, I knew that was where the shoppers went and I wanted them buying from me. But how in the heck do you do that? Optimizing your blog titles, content, and URLS with those golden terms is how you do it. It doesn't matter if you are marketing or just writing and sharing for pleasure, if you want traffic YOU MUST DO KEYWORD RESEARCH!
Sharing is Caring
Make your content easy to share please, oh please! One of the reasons people enjoy visiting blogs is they like to share content! Make it easy for them to share your content and for goodness sakes have the twitter share tool share @yourtwitterusername. I want you to do this for two simple reasons. It gives you the chance to say, "THANK YOU!" and sends a social signal that is picked up by search engines that this person is of INTEREST! Search engines notice when everyone is tweeting your content and saying @yourtwitterusername. There are a ton of ways to use SEO in your social media strategy! ( pretty cool huh?)
Build BACK LINKS and they will come
okay so you are a new blogger and don't have a following ANYWHERE. No one comes to your blog because well you're new. How are you going to get anyone to share your content in the first place? Hint? Share it yourself! Sharing your own content is a great way to get people to see it. I do NOT mean spamming all your friends and family either. Share it on your business Facebook page, your Twitter account, Google plus, Linkedin, Stumble, Delicious, and all the places people love to see new content. I share a new post everywhere as soon as I publish it! It's a bit of seo magic that few people even bother to do. Commenting on other people's blogs is also a great way to make new friends and build backlinks. Put your website link anywhere you have a profile online. You will build your website SEO and can get traffic! I have them some great Google placement and I still do this religously!
Fresh Stuff Please!
Do you read the same book again and again? Okay I bet I have read Gone with the Wind and Think and Grow Rich many times over. I sure don't read them everyday or even once a week. They are two of my favorites but my point is I'm not going to read them daily. If you want people to return again and again to your blog publish new content. Write about what your know, in your own voice, and as often as you can. Share a bit of you and what you know. You will be surprised at what you know that someone else did not or that people like reading your blog because they like you even if you'll never win a creative writing award!
Do you have any tips for setting up a new blog? Please share what you think is important or ask about something that you just can't figure out in a comment below!
