If you follow some popular (and some new) blogs, you know for sure that there are a lot of blogs that are more popular than large national newspapers. Even a popular single-author blog may have a readership in millions and garner thousands of dollars a month for its owner. How do these blogs become freakishly popular and earn so much money?
In contrast, you have been blogging for quite some time, but your blog only manages to attract less than a hundred visitors a day. Why is it that someone who started blogging after you gets 100,000 visitors a month? What’s the secret behind successful blogs and bloggers?
Successful bloggers don’t do any thing extraordinary, they just do it differently. Go through this list to see what are the missing ingredients that you need to add to your blog to make it successful and popular.
1. Catchy Branding
A blog’s title is one of its most important real estate. Make sure that its catchy and easy to remember. Consider you blog as a product and the name as the brand. Have you branded your blog properly?
2. Attractive Packaging
If you have two brands of soap—one with an attractive wrapper and fragrance and the other wrapped in a dull paper—which one will you choose? Packaging help you sell your product. Choose an attractive and user-friendly layout for your blog. Also, get an attractive logo. With some basic understanding of Photoshop, you can do it yourself.
3. Simple Address
Your blog should have a simple and easily memorable Web address or URL. Avoid hyphens in domain names as it requires extra effort in memorizing. Keeping blog’s name and URL same will make things easier for your readers.
4. Write Regularly
Blogging requires hard work and discipline. Write regularly. You don’t want to disappoint your readers who visit your blog looking for new articles. Also, fresh content at regular intervals keep search engines happy. Good for getting more visitors. However, don’t go overboard and write non-sense. All your articles should be interesting and useful for your readers.
5. Research Before Writing
Do a thorough research before writing. Giving wrong information to your readers is a sin. You should write about something only after you understand it well. If you don’t know the topic, you will make a fool of yourself.
6. KISS Your Content
Keep It Simple and Short. Adhere to this principle while writing. Try to explain in simple language in less words. Don’t use difficult language or jargon. Make it comprehensible for your granny.
7. Explanatory Headlines
As headlines are the first thing a visitor will look at, it needs to be catchy and explanatory. The headline should explain what the article is about. “Guess Who?” headlines will not be able to lead readers from your homepage or search pages to your post.
8. Interact with Readers
Blogs are a two-way communication system. When a reader leaves a comment on your blog, don’t ignore it. Only a fraction of visitors leave comments, so make sure you acknowledge their effort and respond to them. Answer their queries or just thank them for visiting your blog. Interacting with your readers will help you build a readership.
9. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engines are a major source of visitors for any website or blog. To make most of them, optimize you blog for search engines. Add titles and description meta tags to all your webpages or articles. Use appropriate keywords in your articles.
However, be honest in your SEO efforts. Don’t try to stuff keywords or use black-hat SEO tricks. Focus on creating content and websites that are useful to visitors. That’s what search engines look for—content that will help the user or answer his queries.
10. Promote Your Blog
Once you start blogging, it’s important that you tell others about it. How else would they know that your blog exists? Talk to your friends and acquaintances. Add the URL of your blog in email signatures. Use it in your signature when you are active on forums. Don’t feel shy to make use of every single opportunity to promote your blog.
11. Socialize and Network
Use social media and websites to advertise and promote your blog. Create a Facebook page for your blog and place it prominently on your blog. Share your links with Facebook friends. Use Twitter to reach more people.
You should also add share buttons of various social networking and sharing sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Digg and Stumble Upon. It will help your readers share it with their friends and increase your reach.
It’s also important to network and communicate with fellow bloggers. Leave a comment on their blogs. Offer to write guest posts. But don’t indulge in an altercation through blogs or comments. Making friends with other bloggers in your niche will help your blog get more readers.
12. Be Unique
Last but not the least Be unique. Don’t try to copy others. Develop your own writing style. Share your perspective, not others. Your readers don’t want to listen someone else’ views from you. Don’t copy others’ content either. Your uniqueness will bring readers to your blog. If they can read the same stuff somewhere else, why would they come to you?
Do you think I missed out something important? Do share your views on successful blogging with us.