Before we get to the good stuff, it’s important to touch on some of the issues which negatively impact your SEO and resulting traffic. The following are issues I encounter almost all of the time (and mostly because the blog owner does not realize the following issues).

Negative SEO Issues:

• Make sure you retain the services of a professional web hosting provider. If the server hosting your account is often unavailable, that means Googlebot also cannot access it. The more often this occurs, the less traffic will be referred to you (because your blog will not be as prominent in search results, as it could be).

• Don’t participate in “keyword stuffing” when writing your content. Keyword stuffing is the action of adding keywords to your content, beyond what  in context, renders as reasonable. Excessive repetition of any particular word or phrasing via  content description, title tags, (any other) meta tags and the post content tends to raise a red flag with the search engines. Read what Google has to say about keyword stuffing and if you have suffered a negative as a result, you can resubmit your blog (after fixing the issues first) for consideration.

• Do not link to or exchange links with lower quality spam or splog sites. To be quite blunt, doing this associates (and places) your blog in a bad neighbourhood. Here is a direct quote from Google:

…Don’t participate in link schemes designed to increase your site’s ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or “bad neighborhoods” on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links…

• Don’t duplicate your content or the content of another blog or web site. Distinctive and original, in demand content will serve you best. Copying content from another source, even with permission, is nothing more than a copy. The original site with the original copy will garner search engine traffic – Not the copied content.

Blogs Links and SEO:

In my opinion, an important aspect of improving your blog’s value (to Google as well as readers) is ensuring valuable (high ranking) inbound links point to your blog – and that you in turn link (outbound) to valuable, relevant content. Below are some of the aspects I’d commonly advise and blog (or site) owner.

• Allow your links to develop some age. The older a link is, generally, the more circulated it becomes. Old, well established links are ideal for your blog.

• The popularity of the inbound link also has a positive effect on your ranking. For example, a blog with a PR (Page Rank) of 6 provides more benefit that one that has a PR of 3. But don’t rule out the value of lower PR inbound links. I’d enjoy the value of one or two hundred inbound links from a PR3 blog anytime. So what I’m I suggesting? Consider the value of the inbound links by also examining their PR. One tool I use to accomplish this is a Firefox plugin called SEOQuake. It’s a simple tool that allows you to see the page rank of any site you wish. You get get the plugin directly from Mozilla’s SeoQuake SEO extension page.

• One thing (you may have less control over) is the anchor text of the inbound link. Anchor text is the text used for the link itself and… the text immediately surrounding it. That text should be relevant to the content it is linking too. Anchor text of “Baking” pointing to a page about painting is just not going to work well.

• Again, remember that outbound links are important. According to Google’s official blog “Linking out: Often it’s just applying common sense“.

Your Blog and Your Domain:

Many are not aware that your domain name registration now appears to have an effect on your SEO.  To backtrack, in 2005, Google’s patent application specifically addressed this issue by saying:

“…Domains can be renewed up to a period of 10 years. Valuable (legitimate) domains are often paid for several years in advance, while doorway (illegitimate) domains rarely are used for more than a year. Therefore, the date when a domain expires in the future can be used as a factor in predicting the legitimacy of a domain and, thus, the documents associated therewith…”

• So it is probably a good idea to register your domain name for a longer period (than just 1 or 2 years). Incidentally, you can read United States Patent Application #20050071741. The gist of the pertinent sections of that patent application allude to the following additional issues for domain SEO:

“…the age, or other information, regarding a name server associated with a domain may be used to predict the legitimacy of the domain. A “good” name server may have a mix of different domains from different registrars and have a history of hosting those domains, while a “bad” name server might host mainly pornography or doorway domains, domains with commercial words (a common indicator of spam), or primarily bulk domains from a single registrar, or might be brand new. The newness of a name server might not automatically be a negative factor in determining the legitimacy of the associated domain, but in combination with other factors, such as ones described herein, it could be…”

• This essentially suggests that Name Servers (DNS) hosting your domain record is better contaning  a mix of different domains from different registrars. It appears Google considers this “Good”.

Finally, further advice is to ensure that you keep your domain on focus. For example, if your domain name contains keywords such as trees, weddings, real estate, law, or some other topic; ensure that your content is specific to the subject matter that your domain name suggests. If for example, you plan on launching content that is not directly related to the subject of the domain, then it may be advisable to launch it under a domain name that is more suited to the subject matter.

Keywords:

One aspect I think most of us are aware of is the issue of keywords. Specifically that we should place appropriate keywords in our document Meta Tags. (What is a keyword meta tag? – You can find out by reading Phil Bradley’s  “Meta tags – what, where, when, why?“). However did you know that the Meta tags for keyword, description and so forth do not have the effect they once did? Quite frankly, in my opinion they are a waste of time, and only useful for smaller search engines or directories, etc. that still use them – Which is why I still use meta tags.

In my opinion the only valuable use of keywords is to place the within your content! The post from Search Engine Watch, “How To Use HTML Meta Tags” says it best with their quote “Meta tags are not a magic solution”.

If you produce valuable content, Google and other search engines will be able to gather all they keyword information without any coded directions (such as meta tags).

SEO Tools for Your Blog:

In order to facilitate better SEO, there are some blog tools (Wordpress plugins) that I use (and which you may want to put to good use as well). Two of the best free ones (in my opinion are:

• All in One SEO Pack provides automated (SEO) out of the box. Specifically, it takes care of titles, descriptions, keywords and duplicate content.
• Google XML Sitemaps generates a XML-Sitemap compliant sitemap for your blog. This helps googlebot better crawl your blog. It reduces the crawl time and improves speed.

In conclusion, I’d like to remind everyone who is new to SEO (and blogging). The focus should be to provide quality and in demand content. Having said this, don’t misunderstand me. Quality content is critical (that what readers are looking for) – But quality content isn’t the “key” to blog success. However, this is another topic for another day; which I have touched on in an earlier post Quality Content is Not “The” Key to a Blog Success.

Before I forget, there is one tool I really should mention, it’s the Canonical URL’s plugin. What this does is help resolve the issue of someone visiting your blog using a different URL. This is also common fro individuals who have registered more that one domain, but have them all pointing to one hosting account. Because they are different domains, this could suggest “Duplicate Content” – Not good. To learn a bit more, check out the Google video below:

What issues have you encountered with regards to Blog SEO? What do you do that I didn’t include here? Have a thought? A comment? Let us know below! – Cheers!

In my opinion, the best type of branding for home sales professionals is Personal Branding. Much in the same way we like a certain waitress, mechanic, etc. the same applies – We like them because of their branding. Branding that is service, quality, etc. Personally I have obtained services from another company when a person moved there – In other words, I retained the services of another company when the individual who’s personal brand I like moved to that company. Did this individual have a logo, colours, etc.? No, not in this case! But she did have my trust, I liked her and  everyone knew her (as she was a gregarious professional). In some ways her new employer benefited by having her high quality brand associated with their business (and therefore the logo along with it).

So it seems that personal branding as reflected on a blog needs to accomplish three things:

1. Build awareness.
2. Build trust.
3. Build popularity.

For those of us who are savvy web users, you’ve probably heard of the Duct Tape Marketing site, John Jantsch phrases it best in the following video:

As such, your blog graphics (like logos) again are for the most part only there to identify the brand – They are not “the” brand. However while we’re on the topic of logos, don’t misconstrue the importance they can have on your brand. If you’re known for high quality service and attention to detail, your logo must reflect this! A poor quality logo that lacks professionalism demonstrates low quality service and indifference – Quite the opposite to the brand it’s supposed to identify.

When impressing your brand upon your blog, it’s important to consider the exercise suggested by Mr. Jantsch in the video. Make sure you ask as many clients as possible (he suggests 20) to use one word – ONLY ONE – to describe your business. Ostensibly,  if most agree, that defines a pillar of your brand, that should be reflected and focused in every element of your blog. If there is little correlation in the words, then that’s a call to action to work further on defining your brand.

While we know what three primary accomplishments our branding must bring to fruition (on any blog); what things can be focus on (blog wise) so as to ensure effective blog branding? In my opinion, the following points are paramount:

Personality is one method to develop rapport with visitors (who are potential clients). By being personal, you are showing visitors who you are and demonstrating your positive branding. Don’t misunderstand personal in terms of photos and professional biographies. By personal, I’m referring to giving advice, helping others, demonstrating your positive personality in your writing style, developing trust and so forth.

Consistency demonstrates a genuine brand. Constantly changing focus makes it difficult to establish a trustful, personal rapport with clients; and over the long term can erode your blog branding (reduced popularity).  Don’t get me wrong here… Every blog changes to meet the needs of the people it serves, that’s normal. We change over time as well (as we get older, wiser, etc.) and that maturing process is naturally reflected in our brand. Every thing we post in our blogs reflects our brand, we can elevate it or bring it crashing down. Have you ever seen a business you like  being bought out and then see that business become unpopular as service or quality levels deteriorate? That’s the power of negative branding due to loss of consistency.

Trust is the way to garner improved branding awareness and business opportunities. If your blog constantly spews “blog-positive” type content, it’s going to look as fake as a spray-on tan.  From personal experience I generally only retain or prefer the services and products of businesses with whom I have a personal rapport and trust relationship; with one key person! Your blog must reflect this, be direct, explain what you do or do not provide. Provide content that shows successful and not so successful aspects of your business. For less than successful scenarios, show readers how you approach and help them resolve issues and how that helps their interests.

Leadership and expertise in your genre needs to be earned and in many respects, seized! Nobody is going to give you leadership, sure you can earn it, but unless you seize that owned leadership (and expertise), nobody is going to place that crown upon you. Demonstrate your expertise with helpful, in-demand, driven content to your readers. Always try to ensure that you show some original thought. Don’t hesitate to give useful information freely. Think away the box instead of thinking outside the box – Remember the old cliché: “A very pretty box with a bow but nothing inside.”

Finally, there are some important steps to consider prior to launching a “branded” blog.

• Write a plan on how you would like to be perceived by your visitors. How do they perceive you now? Did you do the exercise suggested in the video yet?
• Look at the blogs that you keep visiting regularly. Why do you return to read from them? What features of branding do they use that appeal to you and illicit a call to action?
• Develop your 2 second commercial (blog tagline). It might not be as easy as you expect as it will immediately focus your branding.
• Talk to your existing or potential visitors, find out what they want to see more of or less of. Get their input – I’ll remind us again that our blog readers are our potential and existing clients!
• Who is going to respond to blog reader questions? How is communication going to be effectively managed?

As a side note: I emailed Mr. Love a simple, singular question that asked:

“What do you want your visitors to do on your blog?”

The understanding (I hope being transmitted)  was “If you cannot answer this question, exactly and to the point, then how do you expect visitors to know what to do. If they don’t know what to do, then there’s an obvious negative impact to your personal brand.

What do you think of personal branding? How do you view it on your blog? How has branding improved your blogging? Feel free to provide your input it the comments. Do you know of any blogs that demonstrate great branding? Please do list them in your comments!

“Is wordpress better? and if it is can you explain why? Trying to feel my way around the blogging world!”

To answer, I think the best approach is to look at the pros and cons of self hosted (stand alone) versus site hosted (community) blogs. Personally I am biased towards a self hosted Wordpress platform as it allows for greater control and customization. Again, having said this, the real issue is how you are going to drive your content, do you require full control or are you going to hand off your blog’s control to a third party?

As most blogging platforms offer more or less similar tools; for those interested in the nitty gritty (comparing platforms) WeblogMatrix has a nice tool to help you compare actual platforms. Another nice link that Google returned was “Blog software comparison chart“.

In my (humble) opinion self hosted blogs are the best (and most professional) way to go. However, without further delay, here’s my take on the pros and cons…

Self Hosted Blogs

The good:

• Using open source software (such as Wordpress) results in an affordable installation (it’s free). There’s no payment for the downloaded code or licensing. Also, templates are free as well, unless you’re looking for a higher end professional branded look (requiring the time for a designer and/or developer to code). If you are able to design your own template, all the more cost effective for you.
• Better ability to offer or include specific interactive features. Most blogs are well supported by developers, who also provide valuable plugins, which you can install as needed. For example every feature of this blog is provided for free by other developers. Additionally, if you have the budget, a self hosted blog can be more adaptable as you can hire a developer to code a custom plugin and have it installed on your blog. Wordpress (as an example) has a huge repository of plugins that handle everything from Adsense to ZenCart (ZenCart is an ecommerce platform).
• Complete (full) control, is the best benefit (in my opinion). Nothing speaks louder and looks more professional than the ability to stand out from the crowd. Additionally the professionalism is also further enhanced by facilitating the use of your own registered domain name. In my opinion (and I’ll probably annoy some people by saying this) using a URL that contains yourname.blogger.com or yourname.wordpress.com is akin to using a hotmail or yahoo email address on your business card – It looks tacky and unprofessional.
• You can always backup the blog content automatically by having the hosting company configure the server to do this for you.

The bad:

• To properly host your own blog, you’ll need to obtain the services of a reliable web hosting company (that can provide support when you need it!). In my case I run my own business that hosts my blogs and those of my clients. Hosting will cost extra money. Also, the registration of your own branded domain name will cost a little bit extra.
• Sometimes the installation of the blog software can be complicated, but if you have a good rapport with your hosting company, they might set up the database for you and install the code – Then all you’ll need to do is configure the blog the way you’d like it.
• Updating blog packages can also be tricky. Most of them update their code regularly, if you are technically savvy, you’ll be okay. If not, you’ll need to retain the services of a developer to do this. The same can be said for plugin updates (however Wordpress is super cool and easy to update plugins in).
• Security can be an issue if you are not familiar with Internet systems and technology, however a reliable hosting company should minimize issues for you. Side note: ALWAYS have a backup of your blog current files and current database in your possession.
• These types of blogs depend on templates and it is easy for popular templates to appear on more than one blog. Remember, you need to stand out and be seen!

Site Hosted Blogs

The good:

• Usually the cost is free. All you need to do is sign up and provide the required details to start blogging.
• Software is updated regularly (as are any plugins), you don’t have to know how to do this.
• These blogs are easy to operate, there is a low learning curve.

The bad:

• Because the URL is not your domain, you’ll lack the professional (and easy-to-remember) URL. In my opinion, to some degree, your promoting the site that is hosting your blog with your content.
• Lack of control is an issue, remember, this type of blog is under another domain’s banner and your blog would be subject to it’s rules (not yours).
• Limited options are also an issue in that you cannot install plugins or other software solutions that are not already included in the package offering. As such, you have a reduced ability to adapt and customize features, etc.
• Speaking of customization, these types of blogs also are dependent on the default templates that come with them. Inevitably is can be difficult to distinguish your blog from the others (as I’ve often observed how similar they appear). In any event there will always be the branding of the “promoting site” on your blog.

While I’m sure that we could spend excessive hours (and pages) extolling the virtues for and against various platforms and the associated pros or cons, I think one pertinent point remains as a call to action:

If you are seriously considering a professional blog then you should (seriously) pursue the self hosted avenue (using Wordpress).

If you want to experience installed blog versions without installing them yourself, then you can visit the “blog” section of OpenSource CMS. I have been using this site for several years to see working versions of packages before I download and install them. Also, I quick Google search also returned the post “Choosing a Blog Platform” which should help further clarify not only my opinions but also reinforce some of the issues raised in my post above.

What are your thoughts? Any pros or cons I should have included? What’s your take on this? Comment below and let us know.

The #1 strategy to garnering more traffic to your blog is:

“Write good quality, in-demand content“. (Remember you are writing too people, not at them).

And of course some of the activities I successfully use are:

• Use social networking tools such as: StumbleUpon. Run an advertising campaign via StumbleUpon. Use twitter. Ensure you provide tweets of value and customize your twitter page to match the branding of your blog. Never complain needlessly on twitter (do you want to spend your day with a whining sour-puss?) Invite people to follow you on twitter.  You may find my earlier post “Common Blog Traffic Sources?” to be of interest – Hint… Google is NOT my biggest traffic source .
• Include information about your blog in the signature of every email you send (including the URL).
• Use subscription systems on your blog. Plugins such as Comment Approved Notifier and Subscribe2 can help you accomplish this. More useful plugins can be found in the post “25 Most Beneficial Wordpress Plugins“.
• Enhance your update services. When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the site update services you configured. Here is a robust list of 145 Update Services for Blogs.
• Use your blog information and URL in forum signatures.
• Comment on other blogs. However, don’t comment just for the sake of obtaining a link, doing so is often very obvious, instead, provide valuable feedback, thoughts and ideas.
• eMail readers and thank them for visiting.
• Post new, quality content regularly. Doing so keeps readers interested and momentum going. Additionally, ensure you provide valuable links to external resources as well as those within your blog.
• Trust your readers. Often it is very annoying (and a bit of a turn off) to wait for comment approval every single time, when they participate (comment) on your blog. Instead, it may be better to “lift the embargo” for those who have provided valuable comments before. If a comment from those individuals is inappropriate, you can always edit or remove it later.
• Use lists on your blog. Lists are attractive as they are scannable,  easy to use and link to; and easy to add to later.

I’ve been following a fair bit of the happenings in the blogsphere (and for me some of them are new). Of note is the changing landscape where word of mouth seems to be successful whereas viral marketing appears to be waning.

Most importantly, we’d like to know what some of the new strategies are, that you use or recommend. How do you approach them? What do you do or recommend? What’s your perspective in new blog promotion strategies? Comment below. Also, for a bit of link love, comments added to this post will have the no-follow tag removed as I move them into the post with your credit. So… don’t be shy.

Side note: Since we’re touching on that photo. Are you a keen observer? Do you have a sharp eye? If so, what is unusual about that photo? And… Why is in unusual? Just jot your answer in the comments below!

Suffice it to say, after a bit of banter we discussed some of the key issues around effective word of mouth marketing. I’m saying “effective” because it appears to me that many of us (at some point or another) don’t take the time to fully evaluate or investigate our “foundation” activities, that support word of mouth. I must say, the phone call ended up sounding more like a radio interview, as I was somewhat surprised with Mr. Zibreg’s obvious insight and professionalism in this arena.

I think many of us appreciate that a basic blog is essentially a  one to one or one to many communication venue. While blogs have the added benefits of facilitating the ability for readers to participate interactively to a certain degree (which I note many blog owners seem not to do), I  think that word of mouth is and will remain a dominant force in blog, product, service, etc. marketing. In fact, given the current trends in online marketing, it seems to me that this may prove to be “The” primary marketing engine.

Mr. Zibreg phrased it best:

“With word of mouth it’s more effective because your contact or client is able to say ‘I was there!‘ Nothing is more powerful than that. To put it another way someone is obtaining a service, product, and so on, in great part simply because they personally know the individual spreading the word. That personal connection is just as powerful. That new client will then transfer the message to the next client and so on. In a sense word of mouth is a personalized and very real ‘people powered‘ machine, where it’s individuals vouch for a product or service, personally and publically placing their trust is the message”.

But what does this mean to us as blog owners? Of what value is this when we are using blogs to further the exposure of our products and services?

In order for word of mouth to be successful, you must have a really good product, service, blog content, etc.  If high quality is not paramount (or even on your radar), you’ll experience an issue where word of mouth will work against you. Here’s a word of mouth  example if your blog does not provide high quality content:

Bob: “Hello Joe, you should visit the latest post from BloggerSavvy, it’s really good and helped me improve my blog traffic”

Joe: “That’s what you said last time and the post was terrible”

The old saying “Fool me once, shame on you, but fool me twice, shame on me” seems rather apt. Quality is #1 – If that is not one of your blog’s mantras, then it may not reach the goals you anticipated. Joe’s response above is critical in that Bob’s credibility has “been shot”, it’s no longer effective. Not because of Bob’s opinion, rather because the blog owner has permitted poor quality content to undermine the credibility of positive word of mouth.

On the other hand a real life scenario (a client reminded me about) occurred when a client referred my web hosting services. The case in point was my obtaining a dedicated server hosting client who never visited my blog, did not know me, never visited my web site and to whom I never advertised. They purchases services purely on the personal assurances of my other client. Because this other client always experienced high quality.

As Mr. Zibreg mentioned in our chat:

“…when someone asks for a referral, they want to hear a clear YES! from the referrer, not an okay…”

In conclusion, quality and credibility must be your #1 focus.  Support the credibility of your word of mouth by ensuring you provide quality in any blogging that you do.

That’s what will get you the resounding YES!

Today I received another link (from the same group), the video is below (“A Vision of Students Today”). The specific topic deals with the characteristics of students today. While this may not be directly related to blogging, some of the comments and suggestions within this video are not only moving but also provocative in that (I think) bloggers, such as myself, need to stand back from time to time and put ourselves in someone else’s shoes (such as our readers). Doing so perhaps can empower us to provide content that is more meaningful and useful (among other things). A case in point from the video, “18% of my teachers know my name”.

About the only intelligent response to the video that immediately comes to mind is: What are we doing?!

Given some of the statements such as: “I will read 8 books this year, 2300 web page…” in my opinion implies (to me at least) that bloggers need to maintain a higher quality of content and ethics.

Again, while this video may not be directly related to blogging, I thought it provided a message that we all need to stand back and listen to, in many ways it was also moving.

I think we need to put things in perspective.

1. It’s cheaper than many other “large” traffic advertising services. (5¢ USD per click as of the writing of this post).
2. There’s better long term traffic growth as those who are genuinely interested in your content can save your links (thumbs up), which their friends can also see, add to their links, visit your blog, and so on… (Commonly referred to as “organic“).
3. Your clicks will not be in a pop-up/under, banner, etc. Visitors are taken directly to your site!
4. You do not need to create an advertisement, all you need is a published blog post (or web page).

Realistically, you can probably launch with a cheaper budget ($5.00 USD  per day for 100 visitors per day). If you ran that for a week, it would cost about $35 USD and garner you 700 visitors. Prior to setting up your advertising campaign, there are some key points we need to keep in mind.

Review the StumbleUpon Advertiser Resources. Pay special attention to the “Features” section of the advertiser resource as it may answer many of your questions.

The first thing you’ll need to do is sign up for a StumbleUpon advertiser account via the “Create a Campaign Now” button. (This is a different password to your regular StumbleUpon account – If you have one).

After following the sign-up process, you’ll reach a screen similar to the one below:

Using the  above screen shot example, you can select the appropriate interest groups you want to target. The numbers in brackets show how many thousands of members have subscribed. So for example, “Music (716)” means 716,000 people have subscribed to the music interest group.

After making your selections, you will reach another screen similar to the one depicted below:

At this point you are able to select your daily budget (which could be more or less than $5 USD). Personally I’d suggest you spend only a little money. Doing so allows you to evaluate the performance and provide tweaks, prior to investing further money.

StumbleUpon Advertising Support approves campaigns, as such your campaign will not appear until it has been approved.

To make your first StumbleUpon ad more effective, it’s important to ensure the page is of interest to your chosen StumbleUpon interest group (while providing valuable content). Remember, the key trick in this exercise,  is to use the ad to garner initial StumbleUpon traffic voting (thumbs up), so as to build regular traffic from other StumbleUpon users when your ad campaign is not live.

Another aspect to consider is using a valuable, popular post as your campaigns landing page. Remember, like search engines, not everyone is going to visit your blog using the home page. Instead, look at your current traffic statistics, which will help you determine which of your posts are the most popular and most in demand from readers. Use that post as your landing page – Remember, it popular in the most part because readers have found value it it. As such, create the best impression by placing your best post “up front and centre”.

Keep in mind that you also want to encourage your new readers to return and enjoy new content. In an earlier post I discussed how to find readers for your blog, wherein I suggested some interactive tools you can use to engage your readers as well as the importance of “focus” and community involvement.

Now it’s your turn!

Determine your budget (keep it affordable), sign up and don’t forget to use your best post.

Comment below with your experiences. What did you do? How did it work out, successful? Not successful? What other services do you use?

Remember, if your packaging (blog design) looks unorganized, ugly, “busy”, disorganized, etc. then that’s the message your sending to potential users. In other words your design is telling visitors a fair bit about your blog, before they even read the content. If the blog looks terrible or is not functional, you’ll probably lose that visitor. A blog with horrible typography (fonts), positioning or navigation is a clear message to readers saying “I don’t have attention to detail, I don’t care about quality, I am not professional“. After all, would you go to a wedding with dirty worn-out jeans and a soccer tee-shirt? Of course not!

Having said this, let’s pause for a moment and consider that design is not just about the graphics on your blog but more importantly, design is about planning and functionality. And in my opinion, graphics take a back seat to the functionality of your design. If the blog is poorly planned and has poor functionality, no manner of quality graphics is going to improve it. (If I cannot easily access what I need from the blog, then why would I return to visit again?).

To fix or change such issues, we’ll need to take a hard critical look at our blogs. We need to pay special attention to any sidebar widgets, our navigation and where elements are placed on our blogs.

Look at your blog (do it right now) and ask yourself:

1. Do I really need all these buttons and widgets in my sidebar?
2. Which things can I move out of my sidebar and place in my blog’s footer, header or navigation?
3. What home page (or sidebar) elements can I move to a separate blog page?
4. Which plugins can I find that will combine the jobs of two or more existing ones?
5. Does my sidebar really need all these links? (Am I really receiving as much beneficial traffic from them as anticipated?)
6. What things in my blog layout (including sidebar elements, widgets, etc.) is distracting my readers?
7. Do my “link exchange” links really do anything for me?
8. Is my navigation simple and intuitive?

While many of us will feel a bit of trepidation about removing or moving something from our blog design (I always do), there are some simple factors we can take into account – and make the hard choices. Much in the same way we need to prune our plants to make them grow nicely (and it’s hard to do), we need to do the same with out blogs.

One aspect that needs particular attention is linking and link exchanges. The Link Exchange web site explains some of the Bad Link Exchange Practices and SEO Mistakes that we all can make at times.

Another helpful online tool from Bad Neighborhood provides a text link tool to help you eliminate questionable links. Why is this an important thing to consider? From their site:

“…Text links are an important factor in today’s search engine optimization, and exchanging links with other websites is a good way to get them. However, doing a link exchange with a website that is penalized can have some detrimental results…”

In other words, if you’re linking to “bad” sites, your SEO may be penalized. Why am I mentioning linking and link exchanges? Because a list of links just adds clutter and in my experience… Most people don’t use them as they don’t provide any added value! If you want to link to a site, or exchange links, it’s more effective to write a blog post (or page) that also highlights some of the benefits of the link. A list of links does not do that, as such is not very useful.

Widgets and buttons? I found out from my other blog that many of them are not worthwhile and simply clutter your blog up with visual noise. Remember what your focus is (the niche your blog caters to) and keep this focus in mind. Evaluate your traffic statistics, if a widget is not serving you the traffic you expected and provides no “real” value to readers – then remove the widget! Also, if a button is not related to your blog, why post it on the blog?

For example placing buttons that show your blog’s traffic statistics to readers makes no sense. Why? They are there to read about your products, services, etc. not about how many people visited you. As such, that would simply be another piece of clutter. Another example, if I’m a photographer who has uploaded my work to Flickr, a Flickr widget might make sense, but not a “Who has visited my blog” widget (again, readers are interested in your photography work, they are not interested in what strangers are doing).

One resource you may find helpful is Smashing Magazine’s post: 7 Ingredients of Good Corporate Design. It provides some valuable insight into design, typography and branding among other aspects. When you’re reading this, one question you should keep in mind is how you could redesign your blog for the future.

One final issue of cleaning up our design I’d like to address is sound. That’s right, you’re blog could be turning people away because of noise. Some examples of “sound clutter” on blogs:

• Noises or beeps every time someone clicks a link. After a while it get’s annoying and effectively can become a deterrent for many people.
• Videos automatically starting to play. This can be an issue if there are more than one video streams on a post, let the reader click to play when they are ready.
• Music automatically playing when a page or post is visited. Keep in mind that we don’t all have the same musical tastes. Also, this can become a deterrent when people visit your site, they may be researching your services or products but will leave when the music starts playing, as they do not want co-workers or management to assume they are playing with the computer on company time.
• Talking avatars in our blog’s sidebar – And I’m going to go out on a limb here and say those talking avatars make a blog look cheap, unprofessional and provide no real concrete value, they are, in my opinion, tacky.

In conclusion, if I could some the above into one phrase, perhaps it would go something like this:

“Prune your blog’s design. Remove features that have not provided expected results. Keep your graphics clean and simple“.

To help you with this excersise, look at what some of the successful blogs are doing, this will provide you with ideas and visual examples of how to accomplish the “clean up” tasks above. Blow is a list of blogs that I think have good design, in varying degrees:

TechCrunch

ReadWriteWeb

techdirt

Gizmodo

So… before moving on to the other posts in this series, let’s get our design cleaned up!

What would you suggest? What have I missed? What’s your input? Share your comments below and help everyone out (don’t forget to include a link to your blog!)

1) Create an Action Plan

Much in the same way we create business plans, we should also do the same for successful blog launches. Among the more obvious, some things you’ll need to pay extra attention to are:

Domain name. Is it easy to remember. Does it describe the blog?

Measurable goals. Does your plan include tangible goals that you can measure and evaluate? Does it include contingencies.

Budgeting. Have you evaluated and included all foreseeable expenses? What about a financial buffer – What happens when an unexpected expense occurs?

2) Use Reliable Hosting

Make sure your blog is hosted on a server that you have control over. I can’t stress this point enough. Why is this important? Not only does this effect us directly (if visitors cannot access the site properly) one related aspect it seems is an SEO effect. In March of 2005 Google was issued a patent (Information retrieval based on historical data ) of interesting note is the nameservers (DNS) handling the server on which your blog is hosted. One statement of Google’s treatment of nameserver information is:

“…the age, or other information, regarding a name server associated with a domain may be used to predict the legitimacy of the domain. A “good” name server may have a mix of different domains from different registrars and have a history of hosting those domains, while a “bad” name server might host mainly pornography or doorway domains, domains with commercial words (a common indicator of spam), or primarily bulk domains from a single registrar, or might be brand new. The newness of a name server might not automatically be a negative factor in determining the legitimacy of the associated domain, but in combination with other factors, such as ones described herein, it could be…”

If you control your server, you are able to ensure that your nameserver is not “bad”. In a shared hosting environment you will not be able to ensure this (and other aspects) don’t come back to bite you in the future. While a dedicated server is the best option, it’s not always within each budget. At the very least, I’d suggest using a Virtual Private Server (VPS).

I should also note here, register a domain name that you will use for your blog. Ensure you include the following points in the choice of domain name:

• Make it easy to remember. That way people are more likely to visit you as they don’t have to try to find you.
• Keep it short. Excessively long domain names are such a pain to try and remember, then type into the address bar of a browser. (Who is going to remember a very long name).
• Make it easy to spell (and difficult to spell incorrectly). Easy to spell, equals simple access to your blog.
• Try to ensure it describes your blog, business, product or you (the primary blogger) in some way. This helps with SEO and also gives people some clue as to your blog’s purpose.
• Don’t use hyphens or numbers in the domain name. Is that “2″, “to”, “too”, “two” or “tu”? Is that “4″, “for”, “fore” or “four”? A lot of people forget to type in the hyphen if there is one, I always do and end up at some other site. (I think you get the point).
• If possible, try to obtain a .com name. (.com refers to commercial, .net refers to a network, .org refers to organizations and so on)

3) Include Informative Pages (Such as “About Us”, “Contact”, etc.)

Ensure you have a well written “About Us” page. As ProBlogger points out about such pages “…There’s nothing more of a turn off for a blog that doesn’t go to the effort of making sure all it’s menu items lead to useful information…”. In general, make sure you answer the following questions where applicable:

• How to contact you.
• Who you and/or your blog are.
• What you do and how you do it.
• What are the benefits to readers.
• How readers can join in and contribute.

4) Obtain the Blog Software Platform and Applications

In my opinion, the best platform currently available is Wordpress and you can download Wordpress the files (for installation to your server) from their site. You will also want to ensure that you’ve obtained the most helpful and productive plugins, which are featured in another post called: 25 Most Beneficial Wordpress Plugins.

Additionally, try to budget for a small computer (it can easily be an older second hand PC) and use that exclusively for working on your blog. The next question may revolve around which applications to install on your blogging PC? If so, my post about the Top 15 Software Applications for Windows Bloggers might just be the resource to get you going productively.

Side Note: If you are looking for a robust list of applications my post Top 100 of the Best (Useful) OpenSource Applications (found on my other blog) will give you a VERY good round-up.

5) Create Initial Content

Before launching your blog ensure you have between 5 to 10 posts of great content which you can post. This gives visitors to your new blog something to read and determine if your blog is worthwhile to revisit. It also give search engines a bit of meat and potatoes with which to crawl and index your blog. And of course, provides initial content that you can promote to social sites.

Make sure the content is of high quality. Reposted articles or content (with permission) is just not going to cut it. Why? Well… Why should I read copied (reposted) content on your blog when I can go to the original writer’s blog (or site) to read it?

6) Promote Your Blog Via Social Sites

Ensure to promote (also refered to as “seed” or “seeding”) your best quality content on social sites. Doing so will greatly help in building traffic to your blog. One key is to ensure you are using the best tags (when posting to social sites).

Firefox has a plugin called Kgen, helps you see which keywords are strong each post (or page). Then it becomes a simple matter to use them to help determine relevant tags for social sites.

Of course you’ll want to select the appropriate social sites that have more traffic and less spam. The following are the ones I have used:

Digg has huge traffic and a variety of readers. It used to be technically heavy, but that no longer appears to be the case. However, technical and design subjects and gadgets still have a huge following at Digg. If I’m looking for solutions or blog topics to discuss and bloggers to link to, I may look here.

Reddit has a lower traffic flow and a wide range of subjects, but appears to be mainly political.

StumbleUpon, again has medium traffic and an even more diverse range of interests. You can find some pretty strange things on StumbleUpon.

Delicious has high traffic and appears to have a large technical and design following (like Digg). Again, like Digg, if I’m looking for solutions or blog topics to discuss and blogs to link to, I might look here.

Furl is a lower traffic site, but it’s good because it has a wide range of subjects and visitors. It won’t give me a lot of traffic, but it does not hurt to use Furl in your “mix”.

Newsvine appears primarily polictial in disposition, also providing news related subject. Lower volume.

Sphinn is a lower traffic site appearing to focus on marketing and SEO related subject. Again, it does include other subject matter and appers to have a wide range of visitors.

The bottom of this post has other social networking icons you can use to promote your blog, take a look at them as you may find others of interest.

Also, you may find the post How to Find Readers for Your Blog, will help with some other aspects of building readership.

I should note that there are some other social sites you may want to explore, among them are:

MySpace

Facebook

Twitter (You can follow me on twitter @BloggerSavvy)

7) Submit Your Blog to Directories

Increasing the number of inbound links improves the indexing of your blog (and other SEO related values). Additionally, this increases search engine crawling to your blog.

Three directories that you can use to establish links from trusted sites are:

1. DMOZ Open Directory Project provides free directory listing that is edited by human operators.
2. Aviva Directory is a paid listing service.
3. Yahoo DIrectory is a paid listing. However, they do have a free Yahoo Search Submission.

I’m not suggesting that your path to a successful launch should include the above directories, I’m instead suggesting that they may help. Remember, if your blog has great content and is properly promoted, it will be successful regardless of which directories you list in.

Other directories, search submissions and Feed (RSS) resources that may be of help if you ensure your blog is listed in ones best suited for your subject matter, include:

• FeedBees
• Best Directory
• Blogotion
• ReadBurner
• Blogged
• Best of the Web Blogs
• Bloggernity
• Bloggapedia

Obviously a bit of searching on Google will provide even more results, but these (above) will at least get you going.

8) Provide Valuable Outbound Links

This actually is a way of encouraging traffic to your blog. I think we are all aware of the value inbound links place on building traffic, so much so, that I suspect many of use negate the effects including useful outbound links to resources. Blog readers (and search engines) like outbound links to tools, information and other resources that are related to the content you are writing. Not to mention the blog your site is linking to, would probably be thankful – Remember this is the “Web”, links are good. Outbound links are a way of offering your readers more valuable content.

In the same frame of thought (sort of)… if possible include free tool on your blog. Try including free trials, free software, etc. Quality is important here! DO NOT offer tacky, useless freebies as they will make your blog look unprofessional. Only offer QUALITY freebies, or none at all.

9) Share Your Comments on Other Blogs and Sites

One particularly good strategy to help boost a successful blog launch is to provide valuable input (comments) on other blogs that are related to or support your blog content in some fashion. Comments are one way of standing out and getting noticed. But let’s step back for a moment…

From time to time a get waves of email messages from blog owners introducing themselves and suggesting (in one manner or another) post collaboration, cross-linking, etc. My honest opinion is that this rarely works. Most of these “things” are accomplished via twittering, instant messaging (IM) , video chats, etc. In my opinion tweeting, IM, etc. are more effective ways of connecting with those in your niche and those who can support it. For email introductions to be more effective, you’d be better prepared if your blog is well established and well known.

10) Communicate and Develop Relationships

I have always found it amusing when people launch their web site or blog and fail to realize that the way they conduct business and client relations online is the same as offline. It seems that so many of us expect that the rules have changed and we’re trying to discover them all over again. STOP! Nothing much has changed. We still need to develop relationships with PEOPLE, just like we do in the physical world. Build relationships with other bloggers in your niche (and blogs that support it).

How do we introduce ourselves? The fastest way I have found is asking for advice or help or providing them with some valuable insight. Make sure you are familiar with their blogs! In other words this is called “Networking”, sound familiar? I thought so. <Smiling here>

11) Be “Lock and Load” Ready

When you notice a sudden surge in traffic levels to your blog, that is the time to post high quality, in demand, well written content. Always have a “draft” ready and waiting to take advantage of such opportunities. I’ve found from experience that you generally have three days or less to take advantage of such a windfall. When one of your posts attract attention (even go viral) that’s when all eyes are on you. That’s when other’s in your community are also giving you their attention. If you provide even more (quality, in demand) content, that provides more motivation for them to visit your blog again and even perhaps link to it.

12) Advertise in Signatures

Never forget the little things, over time they have a big impact. You can further support your blog by ensuring your email, forum post, etc. all include a linkl to your blog. Additionally, include a line or two telling the reader what the blog is about, or how they can benefit by visiting your blog.

13) Be a Gracious Guest

Do you provide high quality content? Is there another blog that you particularly desire traffic from? Then, put your writing skills to good work, be a guest blogger. Submit your (free) quality post to the blog for consideration after you have developed a good relationship or when the blog is asking for article/post submissions. Ensure your professional bio is well written and has a link back to your post. Bio’s are commonly included at the bottom of your post, but I’ve seen some blogs position them above posts.

One caveat… DO NOT submit the same post to other blogs. Each submission must be unique. If you’re considering guest blogging, you’ll gain more insight by reading ProBlogger’s: How to be a Good Guest Blogger.

14) Obtain Effective Feedback

Before actually launching your blog (for that matter even while the blog is live) ask the people around you (other web developers, web designers, bloggers, copywriters, etc.) for feedback. Offer them a sneak peak asking them to provide constructive critisism and pinpoint areas you could improve before launching. Doing so will garner you respect and help build relationships before your blog has even launched.

When you ask people for help, even your blog readers, you’re imparting a sense of ownership to them, in turn that encourages them to help when you need it (and you will). As such they are more likely to refer your blog to others they thing may find it useful or enjoyable, and more likely to provide backlinks to your blog.

All of the above will provide you with a strong, successful launch if you take the time and put in the hard work to complete. Typically a blog launch takes me anywhere from one month to six months depending on the size and scope of the project.

The rewards are well worth the effort – Always!

Before I go into the details below, I’d just like to point out a caveat. Most new blogs struggle to gain exposure, they need to be found by readers. Subsequently the issue of long term, sustained growth versus sudden spurts of short term growth (as new reader communities discover a blog), becomes the fulcrum (so to speak). In my opinion, the best approach is long term growth. This means your earning a few new readers each day, each post, each comment, etc. This really is where your focus should be (and most blogs do seem to fall into this category). When communities do discover you, through Digg, Slashdot, etc. that’s the cherries, the desert. Enjoy it, but remember that not all of them return. Normally there’s a sharp, sudden increase in traffic and a sharp drop. But each time you should be able to retain a few more readers. Your long term growth, that’s the meat and potatoes! That’s one thing which will make you big and strong.

One of the mistakes I made (initially) was to try and garner traffic from everywhere. I had the thought that the whole Internet was my audience. That’s just not true. Someone interested in knitting had no interest whatsoever in my earlier blog. If they visited at all, it was a one-time only visit. To better prepare myself (for long term growth), I should have mapped out what type of reader I wanted my blog to interest. In essence, I should have written down a profile and then only marketed to that niche. You’ll get much better traffic and faster growth if your activities are geared to target and attract a specific readership. Think of it this way, do you want pre-qualified traffic or just traffic.

Search engine optimization (SEO) was another area I could have tweaked a bit more. Not so much in terms of page rank, Google indexing etc., but in terms of content accuracy. What I mean by this is to ensure that I did take the time to provide individualized keywords, descriptions, etc. for every single post! At that time I was a bit lazy and let Wordpress do all the work. In hindsight, I’d suggest using a plugin called All in One SEO Pack. It allows you to customize the keywords, descriptions, etc. for every single post, as you write or you can go back later and edit those things. Make sure you use it. One thing though, in my opinion search engine page rank, et al are NOT the holy grail. They should NEVER be your focus or your primary strategy. I remember getting caught up in the hype only to find out that some of my posts were ranking highly, not because of any SEO, instead, as a result of quality content and other blogs linking to it (among other factors).
As I alluded to earlier, there can be sudden bursts of traffic from sites (such as Digg). Frankly when this happened, I’d revel about it. I even remember phoning friends, telling them about the incredible traffic or how the post was on Diggs front page – It was party time! However, not once did I consider how to retain a larger share of those potential readers. I found out the traffic would have a sharp and steady decline over the next five days, but never consider looking at the long term incline. I was focusing on the wrong numbers! I should have been looking at maximizing the number of repeat visitors. For example, features to retain some of these new readers should have included:

• Cross linking to relevant posts within my content as well as a short list of the most relevant content (to the post being read). Incidentally, there is a plugin that will assist you in doing so, and it’s called Yet Another Related Posts Plugin, which helps visitors find related content of additional interest to them.
• Ensure I’m using a cache on the blog, so when a sudden surge of traffic appears, the site will remain available (not returning error messages).
• Allow for reader interaction (like comments), and make sure you respond. Provide a poll, you can even email them direct and thank them for visiting (I kid you not, common courtesy is always nice and professional), use your imagination, there are lots of interactive features you could use.
• Invite them to follow you on twitter, subscribe to your blog RSS, new post notifications, newsletters, and so on

Side note: For those looking for some useful and productive plugins, you can find more via 25 Most Beneficial Wordpress Plugins an of course a shameless plug to contact me on twitter @BloggerSavvy

Finally, one important aspect I wish I used in the early stages of that blog was to go out and shake the trees. I spent almost all my time tweaking Wordpress code, tweaking plugins, creating posts, researching blog technologies and content, responding to visitors, etc. Not once did it occur to me that one of the strongest factors to increasing my traffic was to involve myself in the very community I was writing quality content for! Visit their blogs, ask questions, provide comments and input, extend invitations and so forth. Think about it this way, if I want to get people to visit for a barbeque I have to phone them right? Well… it’s the same on the Internet. Don’t be afraid to ask, get involved, be happy and enjoy what you’re doing. Remember you are writing for people, not at them!

To come back to the original question, “About how long does it take for traffic to start picking up?”, it’s really up to you and your niche (community). The more involved you get the faster the growth may be. If you are very serious about blogging, are not afraid of the work and are committed. You’ll find that your traffic will reach your targeted level – Don’t worry about that, don’t focus on that. Just make sure you focus on your blog’s goals and ensuring your community is given the content and tools they need and want from you. If you focus on these things, the traffic will take care of itself.

As an afterthought, before I go, I’d like to highlight three traffic related activities you should never do:

1. Never spam users. If in launching a new service, you’ve added some of the people in your contacts, and they ask to be removed from your list. Do so immediately and with a smile!
2. I’ve received a lot of links lately where I’m promised all sorts of traffic to my blog if I buy their software or services. DON’T DO IT! Why? Your URL is entered into software by you or them. Then it connects to a huge list of proxy servers. The program is run by them (or you) for a several hours. Upon review of your web traffic statistics, it appears that lots of people visit your site (because those logs show visitors from thousands of different IP addresses). What’s really happening is that your blog is only being pinged by the proxy or pages are being requested, no one really actually reads your blog. Don’t waste your money on this.
3. Don’t use other blog/web site generators and similar Internet tricks. Such “Black Hat” methods work temporarily at best. Your blog is best grown by setting up and planning for the long term.

Quite frankly, some solutions might be a better fit for your organization or personnel; such as Video streaming sites, wikis, forums, “traditional” static (hard coded) sites, etc. And (as a side note) all of these can be integrated into a blog. Irrespective, you may have your heart set on blogging, and have decided that a blog is the best tool for your needs.

What are the best traits of successful bloggers? What qualities do you need, or need to ensure your blog writer has? One of the most common issues I’ve heard from my clients and the public at large is the discouraged feelings some of them develop after launching a blog and it shows in their low traffic. They seem to focus on garnering traffic, when they should focus on the blog, it’s contents and how to make the blog stand out in the crowd. It reminds me a bit of the wise business budgeting adage “Look after the top line and the bottom line will take care of itself”. I think all to often that some bloggers are focusing on the bottom line instead.

But what traits will serve blog writers best? What skills, experiences, etc.? Below are fifteen of my opinions that I always consider when someone asks for advice. I’m certainly not suggesting that you or whoever writes your content should be strong in all 15 traits, rather I’m suggesting that these are the best facets to consider in yourself or your blog writer.

So… here are the top 15 qualities I consider:

1. Be a Good Reader. That’s right! Reading! Why? In my opinion a good listener is able to provide superior content. He or she reads what others write, becomes informed, increases awareness and is able to ascertain which content may be in demand in your online communities. Personally, I find myself reading more than I expected – I actually read way more than I could ever hope to write!
2. Enjoy Writing Articles. I’m sure you’d agree that’s a gimme. I think it goes without saying that you should enjoy writing – OFTEN. That you could best capitalize on developing your own righting character and style. (Side Note: While blogging for the most part is primarily text driven, I’ve seen an increasing trend toward video blogging, and have worked on several video streaming sites to facilitate such solutions – So… if you’re a better speaker, consider video blogging or podcasting).
3. Be Disciplined. Let’s face it, blogging is an ongoing activity you participate in to help reach your goals. You have to be able to remain motivated to regularly post new content to your blog – Doing so consistently.
4. Communicate Well. Have the ability to get your understanding across. Remember that communication is NOT the exchange of information, instead it IS the exchange of understanding. At the very least, you should have the communicative skills to impart valuable, in-demand information, in a logical and understandable manner.
5. Remain Genuine. Being honest in your blogging endeavours. Remember, blogging is a public, community driven environment. Lots of people are looking at you, therefore you should conduct yourself in a professional manner and treat those around you with respect.
6. Remain Organized. I can personally attest to this from the experiences in launching my Ubuntu Linux Help blog. When my first post went viral, I was not prepared for the responses. I received lot’s of comments and email messages. I followed up on sites that were linking to me as well as monitoring RSS feeds. And most importantly writing follow up posts. There were also technical issues, such as automated blog and database backup management and code tweaking, etc.
7. Make Time. I’ve been just as guilty when I catch myself saying “When I have time”. That’s the wrong way to think! I should make the time I need – Use a schedule and follow it. Remember, you’ll have to ensure that you respond to post comments, read post on other blogs, do research, communicate with the people around you, etc. Most of the advice I’ve read seems to indicate new blogs should post content every day. While I do agree with that, I’ve had to consider my schedule and make room to post on a consistent basis.
8. Be Focused. From time to time I have followed blogs that successfully maintain a consistent writing style and topic focus, only to suddenly change. Doing so can come across as a bit “dizzy” and slapstick. Remember, you’re communicating with your readers, losing focus or changing reader expectations can in the long run, reduce readership. If you have a great “thread” that really needs exploring, has unlimited potential and is not within the intended focus of your current blog; consider the possibility of launching it as another separate blog.
9. Maintain Technical Skills. While I’d not say this is a must, it does rank high. If you don’t have the technical (server) skills, work with someone who does. For example, how do you automate backups? What do you do if your browser starts displaying “Error 500″ type messages when visiting your blog? What about redesigning your blog theme? How to move your database or re-import a database backup? What about server security? Updates and patches? And so on…
10. Relaxed. Don’t be overly sensitive when you read something you may not agree with. Visitors will provide criticism, both constructive and negative. Other blogs may also create blog posts about you or your blog. Take both the positive and negative in stride. If you get too caught up emotionally, then blogging might not be the best venue for you and your piece of mind.
11. Enjoy Hard Work. That’s right! Hard work can be enjoyable. It’s just like playing sports or pursuing a serious hobby. You’ve got to enjoy the work. I know from experience that many sites I work with do not instantly garner the owners the results they want. Some of them have to work very hard indeed to reach their goals. A blog is an investment not a display object.
12. Encourages a Learning Atmosphere. You’ll be happier (and more successful) if you enjoy learning new things. While you may be an expert in your blog’s subject, In my opinion, bloggers can learn even more by communicating with visitors and other blog owners. The operative word is “sharing”, and in doing so, you can learn a bit more about your own subject (doing a bit of networking along the way).
13. A Creative Thinker. Some of the most successful bloggers are able to think creatively (out of the box). Regardless if your blog is a technical blog or an abstract blog, the ability to think in an innovative manner will serve you well. Think about it this way… There may be thousands of blogs that discuss similar subjects; as your blog. What do you do to stand out from the crowd. What spark can you provide that makes your readers feel the “Wow” effect?
14. Enjoy a Gregarious Nature. Blogging put’s you in view of the general public; you’re under the spotlight and everyone is watching the performance. As such, people will form opinions and may even discuss them online. Every thing you present or write in your blog, becomes public record. If you goof, it’s next to impossible to remove that. If you’re somewhat more outgoing and enjoy people, you’ll probably be better able to capitalize on the inherent benefits (and drawbacks) of constant observation and analysis.
15. Entrepreneurial Spirit. Are you a go-getter? Is your time management good? Are you a self-starter? Maintaining the motivation and initiative to keep plugging away to launch and continue the growth of your blog, is arguably one of the best traits to this end. It’s one thing to ensure you have all the tools and automation solutions in place and in use, it’s another matter entirely to motivate yourself and consistently provide new content and community connections – even when you don’t feel like it.

While I’m sure many may agree that there are several more that could be added to the list, these are just some, that are in my opinion, the most beneficial. So much so, that when reviewing my list, I felt compelled to add a bonus 16th point:

You’re a Messenger. The whole point of blogging is not to aimlessly provide unrelated, disjointed content. Rather it’s to communicate specific, targeted, focused information. I’ve often talked to people who were excited to launch a blog as it was trendy and “the fun thing to do”, but invariably failed to provide any worthwhile communication, and message. If you or your blog writer are not “messengers”, perhaps some of the other traits above may help.

For those of you who personally know me, in addition to my technical (Network Engineering) background, I’ve also a strong background in training and curriculum development. That’s where I draw upon much of my thoughts when placing pen to paper (so to speak).

Do you think I missed something important? Do you have something to add? Thought, Comments? Say so below. Thanks.

I’m taking a couple months reprieve from the seminar track as I’ve a fair bit of work to catch up on. Doing so also presents me with the time to develop my seminar track for the next year “Blogging to Grow Your Business”. While developing the content (and bouncing ideas off some of my seminar regulars) on of them challenged a chapter I working on. In particular was the issue that the success of a blog (for that matter a web site too), was NOT incumbent solely on quality, in-demand content. Several others also voiced similar issues, and it occurred to me that we’re comparing apples and oranges.

Most would agree that in the most basic terms we can appreciate that search engines find quality content attractive, thereby directing more traffic to the page containing such content. That may have been a more realistic perception for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) but certainly not in today’s Social Web! Your online presence very much follows the general rules within the tangible world. Think about it… When I meet a prospective client in a brick & mortar environment, I need to be just as personable and professional as I am in my online blogging and web development environment.

The value and importance of networking does not end when we include online solutions (such as blogs) to grow our businesses. It’s the networking we do that in part that helps to ensure our blogs success. You could have all the content in the world, but are you really going to grow traffic if nobody knows about it?

Is it realistic to expect your sole source of traffic to be search engines? Of course not! The days of “Build it and they will come”, are long gone.

Needless to say, there were a flurry of email messages, so much so that I thought I’d post some answers.

First, lets break the issues down to the “features” and “benefits” issue. One of my mantras has always been:

“Benefits Sell, Features Don’t“

Think about it for a moment, all blogs have content -That’s a feature!

A blog that shows you how to save money or save time (for example), and thereby reach more people – Those are Benefits!

Which brings to mind the salient question (I think) all business owners should be asking themselves:

“What benefits can a blog provide my business?”

or

“If content is simply a feature and not the primary element of blog success, what’s in it for me?”

Subsequently this leads to some of the immediate questions that arose in our discussions, questions that I strongly feel are of the most basic surface benefits and do not really grasp the deeper concepts (which I’ll raise towards the end of this post).

• Where do I get traffic (readers)?
• Where do I get inbound links?
• How do I become visible? and so on…

It’s important for any business owner contemplating a blog to remember some of the basic aspects of business (and blogging) promotion:

• Design/Branding.
• Titles/Content.
• Interaction/Personality.
• SEO/Structure.
• Promotion/Marketing.

An aesthetically pleasing blog environment is one “surface” cornerstone. You could call it your packaging or “branding”. Your branding broadcasts a lot about you and your business. Blog branding directly reflects your business. If it looks horrible, that’s the message your sending to readers.

Titles are critical. Newspapers are masters at this. Think about it, when you look at a book, magazine or newspaper, the title is probably one of the first things you read. If the title captures interest, then readers will dig deeper into your content. Titles should try to include a call to action.

Interaction has always been a successful strategy. Using a blog to educate, inform, guide, demonstrate and so forth… is much the way successful business owners promote their operations. The same holds true in the virtual environment. Interaction shows that somebody is there to serve your clients.

SEO, if search engines know where your content is, what your most important content is and how to access it, this (among other SEO facets) goes a long way to helping search engine users (remember the focus should be on the people) find your most valuable content. The easier your blog is to navigate, the more likely readers can find the content they are looking for.

Promotion and marketing have always been important. Every business that has a blog is able to join the crowd. But, how do you get noticed in a crowd? You don’t. It’s important to bring to fruition the most important aspects that make your blog stand out and get noticed. Nobody is going to give you leadership, you have to earn it.

As I suggested, these are (in my opinion) some of the most common questions, the answers of which don’t really address the deeper aspects. Aspects that show us that it’s no longer content that’s the key to success, but rather a related web of elements.

In my experience, there are four intangible elements that contribute enormously to a blogs success. And arguably may be considered some of the most important elements!

1. Luck/Karma.
2. Charisma/Leadership.
3. Confidence/Trust.
4. Professionalism/Genuine.

Luck/Karma.

I kid you not! My other blog had several posts go viral. In one case (shortly after I launched the blog) it was sheer luck that a reader posted the link on Digg and that the Digg community moved the post to the front page. That truly was luck. (Update: I’ll blog about this later, but another aspect of good luck was during the launch of this blog, I lost all my content – But Google cache and Live cache returned copies to me).

But can we control luck? Can we make it work to our advantage? I think we can. While this could easily be a separate discussion altogether, I’d still suggest that one way to illicit good luck is to communicate effectively. Tell everyone what you need, plan your goals towards your desires, be optimistic and relax, doing so will allow you to approach any setbacks with a positive attitude. In turn this will help you to turn lemons into lemonade (as your mentality will already be in a positive zone).

Charisma/Leadership.

Participate in your community. Be the mover and shaker. Earn leadership through your insight and wisdom. Don’t micro-manage, rather stand back and look at the whole picture. Connect the people around you into a community and empower their participation. Your blog can be among the best tools to this end.

Confidence/Trust.

When you blog about a topic, mean what you say and follow through. Be genuine in your relations with readers. Always be professional. If you’re writing a controversial post, do so in a positive fashion, comments written with negative or combative language, do not build confidence in you or trust in your blog. Invite guests to contribute content to your blog, doing so goes a long way to building trust and ensuring confidence.

Professionalism/Genuine.

Impart your knowledge in a positive manner. It’s not what you know, but how you express it that helps build your blog success. I am by no stretch of the imagination an expert in online business promotion, network engineering, web development/coding or even Linux blogging. But I’ve had years of training and/or experience in these areas. In particular, my linux blog has taught me that some of the most valuable content on occasion comes from my readers!

Finally, I’d like to clarify again, I’m not suggesting that the value of content has fallen by the way side. Rather that more blogs are savvy to the issue of quality content. Therefore an area that can further a blog’s success is to focus on empowering the four intangeable elements to your fullest potential. Doing so, in my opinion, is one step towards becomming bloggersavvy!

I remember months earlier indicating that he should have content posted regularly and ensure he broadcasts his blog URL everywhere. For those curious, the blog is called Predictable is Preventable and was launched in January, 2008. During our chat, he indicated that there was not much commenting and it seemed that there was no return in blogging. Throughout the discussion, his comments consistently raised two key issues in one way or another:

• How long does it take for to start having constant readers and comments?
• It’s unmotivating to post something really informative and not any response.

I must admit, that these are in all likelihood a couple of the most common, and in many ways most difficult beginner issues to deal with. Think about it, you have a business operation running and it feels like launching a blog (to help promote the business), is starting from scratch and developing contacts all over again. In some ways it could be construed as such.

Personally, I encountered the same issues when I launched my Linux based blog. I had zero traffic and it seemed like I was writing posts for myself. I felt like I was the only one reading the content. Laughingly, I guess I was! Humour aside, I realized that traffic is only going to increase if I get out there and make some noise.

One immediate approach I took was to email almost everyone I knew, asking if they’d be interested in my blog. I included some excitement in my message as well as a note to pass the email on if they new anyone that would be interested in my niche blog. This did encourage some traffic, but I noticed it was one big spike and then a sharp drop. But… there was a small group of regular readers (but nowhere near the amount of visitors I would have liked to have had.

Another approach I took was to join several forums related to my blog as well as a few other online (related) communities. Posting reply’s to questions for help and including links back to my blog, garnered much better results! One thing I learned the hard way (actually, two things, now that I think of it) was:

1. When joining communities such as forums, wait a bit before posting links back to your blog. Joining and posting back links right away, looks very much like blog spam (and in some situations it is). Remember, it’s important to preserve the integrity of your blog, not have it relegated to spam status.
2. Also, if you’re going to post back links, make sure there is enough content to capture interest and repeat visitors! Or if not, then in the initial, stages make sure you post quality content every day. (This way new visitors are more likely to bookmark your blog and return; as they see new content keeps appearing).

The two activities above really helped to initiate growth. One thing I learned that was highly appreciated was answering peoples questions in forums (or on their blogs), and answering them WELL. Then posting a link to an in depth article exploring their questions and answering them even more. Needless to say, I already had the in depth post written and published before answering their questions and inviting them to read a full, in depth post on the matter. This combination worked great for my Linux blog. I spent about 2-3 hours each day interacting with various forums and other online communities to build traffic. If you are working, even 30 minutes or an hour a day will provide results. The point I’m trying to suggest is not so much the time you spend building your traffic, but rather that you do so consistently! If you can only spend 20 minutes a day or a couple hours a week, so be it. But do it consistently and without fail!

The growth of my blog became very organic, in the sense that people were passing various blog post links around to others. In one case I had very good fortune luck in that someone posted one of my articles on Digg and it ended up on the front page. The majority of visitors from Digg were not repeat visitors, but the exposure did garner several readers – More importantly however was the discovery that the post was featured on hundreds of other web sites and blogs that monitored what appeared on Digg’s front page. My traffic shot up to unbelievable numbers. And again, out of those, I garnered even more readers. Again, the organic growth issue became obvious as I saw people recommending my blog posts to others.

One important aspect, which I’ve been trying to express to my client is the need to keep posting new content. You don’t want your blog to become like a book, read it and put it away as there’s no more to read. Your blog must, to use the analogy, be a never ending story.

I think, in my client’s case, that motivation may be one issue. I know from my own experience, that you cannot motivate people. You can give them all the tools and do your best to reach out to them, but at the end of the day, we have to pick up those tools and use them ourselves, nobody can do that for us.

In some fashion I think he’s not sure what to post about. I went through a phase myself, where it was a labour to figure out what I was going to write about and then formulate ideas and a resulting post. I hated doing it and began to procrastinate – because it was hard work. Hard only because I made it that way! It was my own though process and attitude that created a negative blogging environment. I was able to enjoy blogging and provide better content when I wrote with the same excitement that I spoke. I wrote from me, my experiences, not about them.

On some level, I think that perhaps he’s not sure if his traffic is not at the level he wants because of his content or simply because the blog is too young (it’s not even a year old yet). I remember long discussions on Skype and via email, helping to massage some content. And I actually enjoyed that as I found he has a stronger grasp of some things than I thought. He has a bright intellect and is excited about his experiences. Reflecting this into your content is important. Remember you’re writing to interested people, not at them. Your interested in garnering their participation not their unresponsive attention. In his case (and I experience similar), perhaps he’s so focused on his work and the actual content that he’s too quick to judge his content as ineffective or substandard. I’ve been guilty of this myself and think the best approach is to ask those around you to proof read your pending post. Find out what they think about it… I don’t mean if they like it or not. I mean the really nitty gritty, the guts of the content, for example:

• Is it missing some key issue or concept you’ve not considered?
• Could it be improved by hitting some mark closer?
• Is it something that can really be discussed or is it just facts?
• Does it provide some specific value and impart that to the reader?
• Could there be more detail and less generalization?
• How genuine is the content, does it provide a fresh perspective?

The above thought are just some of the things proof readers help me with. Their opinions really count. Anyone can point out spelling mistakes, but it’s valuable input like this that’s going to help your blog grow. Sometimes what you hear will by great, dynamite! Other times not so much so.

In terms of his blog, I think one key to help grow it is to try taking a different approach. Look at his competitors, see what they are doing. Don’t be afraid to try something new. Try moving in that new direction for a bit and see where it goes. I often make suggestions to clients and I often hear all sorts of reasons why something cannot be done. Instead we should all be focusing on how we can do something. To further address the point, in the immortal words of Yoda:

“Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try”

While I may repeat this quote somewhat with tongue in cheek and a smile, it’s actually quite apt.

In conclusion, among the best ways to grow your blog is to write in a way that makes you satisfied with the result. For example, something that you can tell a client to visit and read for more information when they ask you a question. Never write with the intent to garner sales, advertising revenue, and so on; as this will translate into your content. Remember your state of mind always effects how you write, just as much as how people perceive you in the offline world. Growing a blog takes time, it’s like nature, you can’t rush it.

You can grow your blog in great part by:

• Self promotion.
• Having faith in yourself.
• Accepting constructive criticism.
• Asking for help.
• Help and educate people with your content.
• Hold confidence in your knowledge and abilities.
• Interact with your readers.