Do you recognise the 3 most important steps to building a blog
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After writing the post the other day about the ups and downs of blogging, it got me thinking about what I feel are the three most important tips I would give to a beginner blogger about building a blog, if they asked me. What would be the three most important nuggets of information to help them in starting and building a successful blog?
Well three things immediately sprang to mind:
1. Write good content
2. Be consistent
3. Be consistent
They may not be what you would expect. But after blogging for just over a year now, I have come to the conclusion these three points are the most important ingredients, that you have to get right first. To successfully build a blog into something that will last and grow. Let me explain a little more:
1. Write Good Content
If you don’t write good content then you won’t be able to capture your visitors and turn them into readers. That want to come back again and again to see what else you have written. And most importantly tell others about your great content.
2. Be Consistent
You need to then consistently write good content so when the visitors do come back, there is more fresh content to entice them back again. There’s no point in drawing visitors in with a good article for the stream of content to then to dry up or become sporadic.
3. Be Consistent
I know, it’s not a typing error! I just felt this point was so important it needed saying twice. However you want to promote your blog through marketing and different types of traffic generation you need to be consistent at it. The more consistent you are at say commenting, forum marketing or guest posting the bigger presence or profile you will make. And the more chances you have of people finding your blog.
If you read any top blog you will soon realise that these ingredients are used by them as the basis for how they blog, and gives them a solid platform to their blogs, and they grow from there.
Sounds fairly simple and obvious…
The problem is that this is easier said than done. It’s one thing to know that this is the way to go, but another thing entirely to try and put it into action.
It all adds up to an enormous commitment in practice, and on top there’s all the admin and maintenance involved with a blog as well. But this isn’t bad news though, don’t feel overwhelmed, blogging is not a race.
It’s a huge advantage to know these important points from the start, and it gives you something to aim and plan for. I’ve been blogging for a year and it’s taken the best part of it to realise how important these points are, and get to grips with how to blog and the best methods to use for promotion.
If you don’t have a good foundation to your blogging using these three core points, then nothing else will work as well, or fall into place. It’s using these points well, as a foundation that will make the difference and take your blog to the next level.
Am I there yet, Do I use them?
No, I’m still working on it. These three points are so easy to miss or gloss over because they are so obvious. And they are the easiest ones to loose sight off, and let drop from your blogs daily routines. But as so often is true, they are the ones that you need to concentrate on the most.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Looking at a Well Branded Blog
This post is more of my thought process about branding for blogs and what a powerful tool it can be, to help a blog be read by as many people as possible.
After writing the post the other day about branding your blog to raise it’s profile I started to wonder if I could find an example of what I was talking about. I could.
I’m talking about an easily recognizable blog due to it’s name/domain, logo etc… I decided I could pick almost any of the top blogs in their niches and you would find that they all had strong branding and identity. And obviously they were all popular blogs.
You could say what came first the branding or the popularity?
You have to remember a blog has to establish a readership by building it up with good content that people will find interesting, and want to come back for more. So it’s the popularity that has to come first, the branding grows and changes as the blog grows, adding to it.
I also think the earlier you start to set some branding up for your blog, the more it can help draw people in as the blogs readership and popularity grows.
So where’s my example?Â
The one blog for me that comes to mind when I think about branding is Problogger by Darren Rowse. You only have to see it’s logo, a ‘P‘ and you know what it refers to. He even has Problogger t-shirts!
I have followed this blog for a couple of years now and I’ve found it an extremely interesting place to find bogging help and inforamtion, and that’s the impression that hits me first. So it’s the blogs name that was the greatest branding and has made it instantly recognised. Which brings home the importance of a good domain name. It’s only fairly recently that the blog and logo etc has been redesigned, and has worked with the name to make it even easier to notice.
It would be interesting to see how many people would know about it outside the blogging about blogging niche. You would find that similar niches like make money on the internet and perhaps internet marketing would have heard of Problogger, but obviously branding is niche specific.
But that is the holy grail for most probloggers, to be one of the top blogs and instantly known within their niche!
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Darren Rowse, ProBloggerBranding for your blog
Do you have to use branding on your blog
No, but it can be useful.
At the moment I am working on building the case study blog, I would like it to build a presence in the digital photography niche, although I do know it’s a competitive one. And to get my blog’s face known out there, even if I concentrate on a sub niche within digital photography.
I also want visitors to feel it is a blog to follow, that it will be around for a good while and it has an attractive design that is easy to read and follow. A professional feel in a relaxed atmosphere, if you know what I mean!
To help me do this I have been working on some branding for The Photographer Blog (TPB) to help people remember it easier (hopefully) and to help get it’s name out there. I am still in the process of working on it but so far I have added a logo which I created in Adobe Photoshop Elements
You may also notice I have added some advertising, like many other bloggers do, it would be nice to be able to make enough money to cover the costs of the site and be able to make more improvements to it, like a professional blog design!
These changes may only seem slight and I will do some more, but I feel they will all add up to building the presence and the impression that TPB (The Photographer Blog) will leave on people.
More to come on this…
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:adobe photoshop 3, case study, the photographer blogGetting the most out of blog carnivals
Have you heard of blog carnivals?
I know I kept reading about them and how they could help your blog to gain traffic but I never knew anything more about them. So I did some digging around and found some information on them. And I have now be using them for some time.
Basically they are a collection of blog posts all to do with the same topic and posted to a blog on a weekly, bi-monthly or monthly basis. Some carnivals have a different host each week so other blogs can take a turn.
Most carnivals have set rules for who can submit an article, mainly your article has to do with the topic of the carnival.
Do you use blog carnivals?
So that’s my next question, do you use blog carnivals? I first used a carnival through a recommendation, it was the All Women blogging carnival and as the name suggests it’s for any women who blogs no matter what it’s about. And I think referrals are the best way to find a good carnival.
The other place to find a blog carnival would have to be the Blog Carnival website which is the directory for blog carnivals. And that’s where I have found a lot of the carnivals I have used. Although it hasn’t had a spring clean for a while and there are a lot of old carnivals left on there that haven’t ran for a long time, but new ones are added all the time.
Are they useful?
I think they are, if you just want to get loads of traffic and aren’t interested in anything else then they are not for you. But if you are interested in finding new networking opportunities, making new blogging friends or finding new blogs in your niche then they are great. I was asked for my first interview because of submitting to a blog carnival. And don’t forget that they have loads of great articles to read as well.
They also have another useful purpose, every time you get an article accepted and published on a carnival then you are putting yourself in front of a new audience, with the added benefit of a link back to your blog which will help with the rankings and they will build up over time. So they might not deliver tons of traffic but they still have their advantages.
Photography carnivals?
I’ve not seen any current photography carnivals at the moment, I don’t know if anybody knows of any? But I still wanted to use this method of marketing for my case study blog.
So I am participating in slightly different carnivals but ones I still have something in common with. Whenever I can I am submitting to the All Women blogging carnival and also a new one I have found called the Mom’s blogging carnival.
I haven’t been submitting the case study blog articles for long but there are lots of quality posts on both of these carnivals, and I hope to get to know the bloggers behind them a little better over time.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:All Women Blogging Carnival, blog carnival, moms blog carnivalHow to Submit to the Search Engines
What was the first thing I did to promote my case study blog?
There are hundreds if not thousands of search engines although you wouldn’t really know it because most people are only concerned with 3, Google, MSN and Yahoo.
So the very first thing on my list once I had got a few articles on the blog was to submit it to the search engines, and in particular Google. At the end of the day everybody wants search engine traffic.
The reason for this being the first on the list is the Google sandbox effect, or in simple terms it can take a while for your posts to start appearing in the search results. So the sooner you submit your blog the sooner the process can start.
What is the best way to submit to Google?
Personally I think the best way to get Google to visit your blog, and quickly, is to use the Google XML sitemaps plugin for Wordpress.org blogs. This XML sitemap generator has also been adopted my MSN and Yahoo, and all 3 of these search engines regularly send their ‘bots’ to check my sites after using this plugin on both of my blogs. I know not everybody has a Wordpress blog but don’t worry I’ll get to that later.
To install it you just need to download the plugin and install it onto your wordpress installation, if you need any help doing this take a look at this article I wrote about installing themes and plugins. You can then track the progress of your sitemap by using Google Webmaster Tools.
Submitting RSS feeds to homepages
Another way to submit to search engines or to get them to send a ‘bot’ to your blog is adding your rss feed to the search engine personal homepage. If you set yourself up with a homepage on either Google, MSN or Yahoo then you will have the option to ‘add content’ to that page, that is where you can add the rss feed of your blog, once added the search engine bots will go check it out.
Use a submission service
There are a lot of these around some are free and some are paid for. I have only used this type of service once, a long time ago for this blog and I used a free service (although you could make a donation) called Self Promotion. I could choose which search engines I wanted to submit to and they did the rest.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Google, msn, self promotion, xml sitemap, yahooPromoting Your Blog with Blog Directories, Should You Do It or Not!
This is the first in a series of follow on articles from this one: How I plan to get traffic to my blog.
Promoting your blog with blog directories is one of those techniques that can cause a bit of controversy, should I do it or not?
It is a tedious job and can take a long, long time to do, and won’t bring a flood of traffic in, but it could bring in a trickle of traffic and put your name out to a wide ranging audience. A lot of people tell you to submit to dmoz, an open directory project (if you do be careful because you only get one chance).
But is it worth it?
The problem is eveyone submits to blog directories so it’s not as effective as it used to be. Plus you may have to provide a linkback to the directory to gain submission, and that can make a blog look messy. And it can be regarded as one of the least useful link building techniques, due to the links being of poor quality. Skellie has an interesting article on link building called Hansel and Gretel link building.
I have found two articles giving a large choice of directories to choose from, an article on Blogging Tips listing 75 websites that you can submit your blog to. And I’ve also found a list of 55 RSS directories on Dotsauce that you can submit your feed to. So the choice is yours!
What am I going to do?
Now I had planned to go for it with blog directories and submit to as many as I could for the case study blog, to help get The Photographer Blog out there. But after reading Skellies article I have started to change my mind. I’m thinking about the time I will spend submitting to them all, verses the quality of links and traffic that I will get for my efforts.
So I am going to do things a little differently with the case study blog and stop my plan of blog directory domination. I am going to submit to just one dmoz and see if I get in, I’ve never submitted any of my other blogs to it, but I would still like to give it a go and see what happens.
I’m going to spend my time using other link building techniques to get better incoming links and traffic to the case study blog. This is quite a departure from the ‘bog standard’ information that you get and what I originally learned about blog directories as a traffic technique. But I want to take onboard what Skellie says and take my traffic techniques for the case study blog to a new level.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:blogging tips, dot sauce, SkelliewagHow I Plan to get Traffic to my Blog
After writing the 3 month case study review for The Photographer Blog when I said my aim for the blog over the next 3 months was to grow it’s traffic, I thought I would look at how I am going to try and do that. And this really leads on (part 2) from the post I wrote about planning for the case study blog when I was setting it up.
There are loads of traffic generation techniques out there that I could use, but to make any of them effective I need to plan what I am going to use and how I am going to do it. And the quicker I do that the better. Here are some of the traffic techniques I will be looking at over the next couple of weeks:
submitting to Search Engines and Blog Directories
commenting
forums
guest posting
social networking
blog carnivals
I think strategic planning for a blog and looking to the future is very important, I need a goal to work to for the blog otherwise I will just be going around in circles. I am going to be using the techniques that I know and have learned. They are just regular blogging techniques but it will be interesting to see how well they perform in this niche and with this blog.
I said from the start of the case study blog that I was going to share what I was doing to create a blog and build it. And I have lots of information already about the case study blog and setting it up so far in the case study category.
The reason I am doing this is to help others with their blogging but also to help me as well. It will be really helpful to see which technique works best, and learn from what I am doing with the case study blog to improve my blogging for the future. And writing my experiences down helps cement what I am learning more.
I’m enjoying the process of looking closely at what I am doing with the case study blog, and learning along the way. I don’t know how well it will work but whatever happens to the blog it will be fun finding out.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:the photographer blogWhat Do You Think of Stumbling?
I asked the other day in an article if anyone was using social networking sites. Well I have started to use them, in particular StumbleUpon, and here’s what I think about it:
StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon is a social bookmarking site similar to del.icio.us and lets you stumble your favorite content whether it is blog posts, websites, video’s, photos, people etc… and keep them all in the one place and to share with others. You can even add what you think of the site in a review.
Tool Bar
StumbleUpon also makes life easier by giving you a tool bar that you can download for either Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox browsers. You use the stumble button to ’stumble’ through the sites and then give them a thumbs up if you like the content, write a review (using the speech bubble in the tool bar) or send to a friend etc… You can also refine what you want to see by picking a channel.
If I am reading a blog and like the content I also look out for the share this icon somewhere in the post (I use it at the bottom of my posts). That will give the choice of several social networking sites that you can add the content too, in case you use more than one. Click on my button at the bottom of this post to see the options.
Traffic
Using social networking sites to generate traffic is another benefit and a well known traffic technique. If the StumbleUpon users like your content then you can receive some extra traffic as well as exposure.
I was put off from using social networking because of all the hype around them generating traffic for your blog. That may sound strange but it was the way people were promoting it that turned me off. Things like, ‘Stumble 2 minutes a day and receive huge amounts of traffic‘ I have learned that if it sounds too good to be true then it is!
But I think you can receive traffic from StumbleUpon users if you write good content, become active in stumbling and interact and help other users. In other words be social! Here is a good article from Daily Blog Tips that puts it better: Targeting StumbleUpon Users.
So what do I think?
My first impression is it is easy to use and the tool bar is very handy. And I also want to become a more active member and a regular user. I’m not saying it’s perfect and the one and only site to use, but it is a good starting point for me with social networking, and it’s fun. For me it has a nicer feel than del.icio.us and is probably better for those bloggers starting out.
I like the fact that I can find new blogs in my niche easily that could be potential sites to comment on, offer guest posts to or just learn a lot from. So stumbling could generate a wealth of networking opportunities as well getting to know new people, and that hadn’t occurred to me before.
And basically being able to help people by highlighting there content for others to see, share and benefit from is a great principle, and StumbleUpon lets me do that easily. And mutually beneficial to me if they repay the compliment!
If you would like to connect with me via StumbleUpon click here.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Daily Blog Tips, del.icio.us, stumbleuponHere Is A Method That Is Helping Me Become A Better Blogger!
Do You Need a Mentor?
For me the answer is Yes! This has been the best method I have found to improve my blogging.
What is Blog Mastermind?
If you have downloaded the Blog Profits Blueprint or read this article, then you may have noticed that Yaro Starak has set up a blog mentoring program called Blog Mastermind. For new, beginner or intermediate bloggers that want support and help to grow their blog and earn a full time income from it, by working part time.
I first heard about Blog Mastermind way back when Yaro was asking his newsletter if anyone would like to have a blog mentoring program. Now I had started from scratch with blogs and had learned everything I knew from trawling blogs and websites, trying to find information on how to build a blog and do it right. It was very tedious and difficult doing it all by myself, (this seems true for most ventures on the internet) it took a lot of time and my confidence was lacking because different people had different opinions.
Until I heard what Yaro was thinking of doing, I had not heard of anybody else offering a mentoring program specifically for bloggers, so he had my attention. He also had my attention due to the fact that I had been a subscriber to his Blog Traffic Tips newsletter, and followed his blog for a couple of months, and I new his advice was good and that he knew what he was talking about. So when he released Blog Mastermind in June 2007 I did jump at it, and signed up. Read more
Site Search Tags:Blog Mastermind, Blog Profits Blueprint, Mentor, Yaro StarakHave You Heard of BlogRush?
What is BlogRush?
I don’t know if you have heard about BlogRush or not but it seems to be popping up everywhere. And although it sounds like it’s something you can get from standing up too quickly after blogging, it isn’t. BlogRush is a Blog Syndication Network or a blog traffic exchange widget for your blog!
It’s free and all you have to do is sign up for an account and place the widget on your blog, and your posts will be automatically promoted across the blogsphere on related blogs to your own. They do this by using a credit system, every time your blog is loaded and the widget is generated you earn a credit. Your blog post will then be displayed in the widget on a topic related blog similar to your own, and so on. So every time your blog is clicked on, you will receive a credit and your blog post will be shown somewhere else and hopefully increase your traffic. BlogRush also has a referral system where you will benefit up to a 10 referral downline for anyone you refer, increasing your credits further.
It’s been produced by John Reese the ever popular internet marketing guru, and is part of a grander plan of his at income.com, which I have to say looks interesting and I will be keeping an eye out on what’s going on!
Is It Any Good?
It launched over the weekend, so it’s still very new, but it has really exploded and there seems to be posts for it everywhere (I’m sure this isn’t the first that you’ve seen). All the top blogs seem to have wrote about it, Yaro Starak, Problogger and Daily Blog Tips for example. I’ve also started seeing the widget on blogs as I’ve been surfing the blogsphere (mine’s in my sidebar!).
I’ve never used traffic exchanges before because you generally had to do something, like wade through so many sites and then your blog was seen by the same amount of people, but they seem to not be targeted at all and therefore I don’t use them. This is slightly different because after installing the widget you don’t have to do anything else - I like that bit.
I can’t see it bringing in a lot of traffic like they claim, especially for me as my blog is only in it’s beginning phase, but if it brings in a little traffic then it all adds up and there’s no real effort involved. I’m sure there will be ways you can try and increase the traffic that it generates, say by choosing the category in BlogRush carefully, as it will be other blogs in that category that you will appear on. Or making sure you have an eye catching title as that’s what appears on the widget and people will click on. But to be honest that’s the same rules as for submitting to search engines, blog directories or article submission, and you do it anyway.
Time will tell if BlogRush will work well, it’s only early days and they have a lot of refining to do as it’s a little like Adsense, in the sense that it’s matching relevant posts to blogs and I’m sure that will take some time to perfect. But I have signed up for an account and added the widget to see how it goes. The site itself is helpful for answers and information and there is also a blog. The fact that it has spread so quickly and so many have got involved is a good sign and another good reason for joining in - you don’t want to miss out if it works well. And who can resist the thought of free traffic!
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Mandy
