Monday, September 10, 2012

Create a Great Blog




Create a Great Blog . by Sandy Penny and others

I saw this great blog post today by Rachelle Gardener, 13 Simple Tips for a Better Blog

Focus first on improving the content of your blog rather than any fancy strategies for increasing traffic. The better your content, the more your blog readership will naturally grow.
Make sure every post contains a single main idea. It can be supported by related ideas, but do not ramble. One idea.
Keep your posts brief. As little as 300 words can make a good blog post. Try not to go over 500 words, occasionally 600 but don’t do longer posts too often.

Those were Rachelle's first 3 tips. For more, go to her blog, but first, read on for my 8 top tips to create a great blog. 
 
Decide why you're writing the blog first.
Are you just sharing? Do you want to monetize it and make some money?
Are you trying to get out important information?
Are you building your name and reputation in the marketplace?
The answers to these questions will change the approach to the content and change the layout you choose for your blog. 

Target your audience carefully. If you write for too broad an audience, it will water down your appeal and do little to establish you as an expert.

Only choose a subject you will want to continue to write about for a long time. If your subject is too narrow, broaden it a bit to allow you to explore more facets. 

Write several posts at one time and divide them into small chunks you can publish as a series. A series will bring readers back to the blog more often if it's a popular subject. And you get to write when you're feeling it, and if you're not, just grab something you wrote previously and post it to keep the flow going. 

When possible, tie your subject to a current event that people are searching already. Just be sure that the content is relevant to the current event, or it will just make the reader frustrated. 

Monetize your site for your own benefit. Become an Amazon (or other site) affiliate and post links to products that you truly like and recommend and share them with your community of readers who are likely to enjoy some of the same things and will appreciate your recommendations. If readers can rely on you to only share good products and services, they will look to you for future advice. Build that trust. Don't waste this opportunity for semi-passive income.  

Share your blog on Facebook and link it to your Twitter account, so every time you post on your FB account, it auto posts to Twitter. You get double the publicity for half the effort.  

Make sure your blog is smart phone friendly. This is the wave of the future, and now is the right time to ride that wave. Blogger offers a variety of templates that are flexible for the user, depending on how they're looking at the site. Websites need to consider this now as well.


... To be continued another day. Thanks for reading. Later, my friends.

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Sandy Penny is a senior marketing writer with more than 30 years experience in Fortune 500 companies. She now devotes her time to helping small heart-centered businesses launch online and market their products and services on the web. She teaches Yola sitebuilder to non-techie business owners.