What Everybody Ought to Know About a Successful Blog.

If you want a blog that will attract and keep readers, then this is what you need to do.

• Post frequently. Aim for at least one post a week. Writing once a month won’t attract and hold visitors to your blog. The exception to this rule would be an original, dynamite, must-have  article each time. Then once a month might work.

• Be consistent. As Woody Allen said, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”  Visitors to your blog want to know that they can count on you to deliver.

• Be personal. The best blogs are those that give you a real sense of the person behind the articles. Write conversationally.  To illustrate a point, use your own experience.  A word of caution: don’t write only about yourself. Unless your life is truly riveting, most people  really don’t care.

• Keep it short and scannable. The truth is that visitors to a web page don’t stay long. As a rule they want quick, relevant information, presented clearly and succinctly. So use bulleted lists, short paragraphs, headings, and sub headings.

• Keep it uncluttered. You want to make it easy for visitors to find their way around your blog. You don’t need to hire an expensive website designer. Many of the existing blog templates work well. Just don’t load them down with too much stuff.

• Use photographs. Photos add interest. They can attract attention to your content and leaven longer articles.

• Use catchy headlines. Think newspapers and popular magazines when writing your headlines. You want them to be simple, intriguing, and descriptive.

• Be generous and useful. Don’t hoard your best ideas. Create useful reports and give them away for free. Keep your audience in mind and solve problems they’re encountering.

For more on successful blogging these two sites are terrific: ProBlogger and  Copyblogger

Photo by iStockphoto

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