Blogs are just as much about the reader as the author – if no one’s reading them, then they have no value outside SEO. So it’s essential to write with your reader in mind, and the best way to keep visitors coming back is to spark ideas, discussion and provide insight or knowledge of some kind.
We’ve put together a series of golden rules so you can ensure you’re blogging for value – and success!
1. Make sure you have a clear idea of what your visitors are interested in by frequently using your site statistics (e.g. Google Analytics) and the information in the WordPress admin panel. You may well find that the posts with the highest number of comments may not share the highest number of views, so decide which is most important to you and work from there. Writing follow-up posts on popular topics is also a great way to boost reads.
- Start by installing a statistics plugin such as WP Stats.
2. Aim to tell your readers something they didn’t know before. There are lots of ways to do this, including offering advice, providing valuable links, collating useful resources and providing a fresh opinion on your chosen subject.
- Check out SEOmoz for examples of value-adding posts.
3. Stick to topics that you’re interested in and are relevant to your site content. There’s nothing worse than a half-hearted blog entry that serves no real purpose. Don’t write about something because you have to, write because you want to. Come across as interested, knowledgeable (or preferably both), and you’ll be adding value.
- Find out more about how to write an interesting blog.
4. Encourage discussion by taking the focus off yourself; make sure you refer to the reader directly and avoid overuse of ‘I’. Remember visitors are reading for their own benefit, not yours! People like to voice their opinions and talk about their personal perspective, so present direct questions in your blog to make it easy for them.
5. Even if your ideas aren’t unique, make sure your view is. If you’re stuck for ideas, one of the worst things to do is to browse similar blogs for inspiration as you’ll almost inevitably end up directly repeating the concept/content or excessively quoting from it. Instead, search for simple blog ideas and brainstorm your own thoughts before settling down in front of a keyboard. It’s worth checking a few sites after to see what else is out there, but don’t do it beforehand.
- Search for blog ideas quickly and easily via Google.
6. Use social media sites such as Twitter to help analyse the value of your blog entries as well as a tool to get visitors to your posts. Take a look at the topics and links your followers are tweeting and retweeting to find out what phrases are used and what’s most likely to get passed on. A catchy or intriguing title always helps, particularly if it hints at a valuable blog post. Remember that the amount of retweets doesn’t necessarily signal page popularity as many users tend to automatically parrot things, so always back up your findings with site stats where possible.
- Have a look at TweetMeMe and TweetCloud to see what’s popular.
7. Avoid the hard sell. It might be tempting, but building a blog entry around a strong sales message will leave Google and your visitors shaking their heads in disgust. Rather than trying to mould content to fit your sales pitch, start with a valuable blog idea and focus on that, perhaps subtly referring to just one or two of your products or services where relevant.
- Find out more about alternatives to hard selling here.
Blogs are an extremely useful way to present a personable aspect to your website and also give visitors a reason to come back, so always write with that in mind. Providing regular, valuable blog entries over time will aid you in developing your brand or personal site and help build your reputation as a trusted source.
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