How do you keep your blog interesting and popular?
By programming a mini troupe of AI Ewoks to cavort across your homepage every time someone visits your site?
By offering a free back massage to every subscriber? (This would be more effective if you regularly stop traffic whilst out for a jog.)
By hosting exclusive real time streaming of an underground Apple VS Google fight club?
Yes to all the above. Though they might need some tweaking…
Keeping your blog exciting and interesting is not always easy but is worth the challenge. Producing a blog can be vital for increasing search engine optimisation ranks and delivering important information clearly. From a search perspective, search engines thrive on sites producing fresh and new content, so it’s imperative to make your content unique and engaging.
Hooks and quirks are another way to do this, but these need to be thoughtfully planned and seamlessly executed. Get a cup of coffee and take the examples above:
#1 The Ewoks. Depending on the personality and tone of your company, a gimmick or humorous aspect to your blog is often a winner. Something that shows you have a SOUL and a sense of humour can appeal to viewers and make them want to stick around, visit again and share this cute little fluffy forest dweller with their friends.
#2 The back massage. Unless you are actually a local masseuse, this might not be the best idea after all. But offering a promotion, a competition or some sort of benefit specifically for your readers can tempt others in, especially if you can offer something worthwhile. Let’s face it. No one wants a frickin’ coupon.
#3 The fight club. If we could make this happen, you know we would. And you know you’d come and watch. Imagine it: Matt Cutts and Steve Jobs, shirtless and bloody in a basement, fighting to the death… Ok, maybe not. The point here is to offer something totally unique, something controversial, or something undeniably awesome that people just can’t ignore. That, my friends, is how we go viral.
Ok, so we can’t give our readers dynamite offers and giggles all the time. And a one-hit-wonder blog post won’t get returning visitors if the rest of your content is twaddle. Most of the time we need to focus on writing well, stating our points clearly and in an interesting way. Don’t just rehash an article you spotted on a popular site or just spout advertising for your company. Make each post count:
- Keep it short and to the point – waffle is no fun – you should be able to tell your audience what they need to know in between 200 and 500 words.
- Make your blog easy to access from the main page of your website – duh, or no one will be able to get there… (And don’t forget to link back again – personal bugbear maybe, but I hate not being able to just click back to the main site from a blog.)
- Provide a menu system making it easier to find individual blogs – a good archive or category list cuts down viewer search time.
- Provide recommendations and be generous with your links to other sites – links breed links; if you think someone’s given great advice or has a perfect example of what you’re trying to explain, show them some love. If your article is well written, they may link back to you.
- Provide links to different areas of your site directing viewers to extra information – make it as simple as possible for customers to follow the route they’re likeliest to take, and while you’re there, pop some additional ideas in their peripheral vision.
- Always answer questions and respond to feedback, good and bad – it’s appreciated, professional and healthy for your customer service reputation.
- Presentation and layout is important, don’t underestimate the power of the aesthetic – a badly designed site looks shoddy and untrustworthy, like a 2nd hand car salesyard with a pile of ripped off license plates in the corner…
- Research your competitors within your niche, see what works for them, what they lack and what you can do better – because no one’s perfect, there’s always something you can improve on.
- Being the first to delivering information (i.e. before your competitors) is a great way of producing extra traffic to your site – being original and current and topical can make you an authority.
- Be realistic about the amount of posts you can handle (or delegate) – schedule your blog like any other deadline.
- Mix things up with different media – images, video, music, slideshows and graphics all increase the visual interest of your posts and instantly add further distribution options.
- Make use of social media and link your RSS feed to your Facebook page, add a Twitter sidebar to your blog, submit your articles to digg or reddit – get yourself out there and start connecting.
- Stay professional. Nuff said
Blogging can be a big benefit to business and a great method of marketing, with or without Ewoks. No matter what your company is about, a blog can serve as a personal base from which you can really show the passion you have for what you do. If you’re not blogging, you’re missing out on higher search rankings, more site traffic, larger brand awareness and, above, all potential customers.
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[...] Gizmodo’s plot spoiler? Would things really be better sorted out if we just resorted to the Jobs vs Cutts fight club like we suggested in the first place? Perhaps. The first rule of the iPhone 4G is… you [...]
[...] Gizmodo’s plot spoiler? Would things really be better sorted out if we just resorted to the Jobs vs Cutts fight club like we suggested in the first place? Perhaps. The first rule of the iPhone 4G is… you [...]
[...] Gizmodo’s plot spoiler? Would things really be better sorted out if we just resorted to the Jobs vs Cutts fight club like we suggested in the first place? Perhaps. The first rule of the iPhone 4G is… you [...]
[...] Gizmodo’s plot spoiler? Would things really be better sorted out if we just resorted to the Jobs vs Cutts fight club like we suggested in the first place? Perhaps. The first rule of the iPhone 4G is… you [...]
[...] Gizmodo’s plot spoiler? Would things really be better sorted out if we just resorted to the Jobs vs Cutts fight club like we suggested in the first place? Perhaps. The first rule of the iPhone 4G is… you [...]
[...] Gizmodo’s plot spoiler? Would things really be better sorted out if we just resorted to the Jobs vs Cutts fight club like we suggested in the first place? Perhaps. The first rule of the iPhone 4G is… you [...]
[...] Gizmodo’s plot spoiler? Would things really be better sorted out if we just resorted to the Jobs vs Cutts fight club like we suggested in the first place? Perhaps. The first rule of the iPhone 4G is… you [...]
[...] Gizmodo’s plot spoiler? Would things really be better sorted out if we just resorted to the Jobs vs Cutts fight club like we suggested in the first place? Perhaps. The first rule of the iPhone 4G is… you [...]
[...] Gizmodo’s plot spoiler? Would things really be better sorted out if we just resorted to the Jobs vs Cutts fight club like we suggested in the first place? Perhaps. The first rule of the iPhone 4G is… you [...]
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[...] 1, content is key – write posts that are informative, useful, interesting and engaging. See this post for a more in-depth guide on how to write a great blog. Optimise – just like your website, make [...]
[...] 1, content is key – write posts that are informative, useful, interesting and engaging. See this post for a more in-depth guide on how to write a great blog. Optimise – just like your website, make [...]
[...] 1, content is key – write posts that are informative, useful, interesting and engaging. See this post for a more in-depth guide on how to write a great blog. Optimise – just like your website, make [...]
[...] 1, content is key – write posts that are informative, useful, interesting and engaging. See this post for a more in-depth guide on how to write a great blog. Optimise – just like your website, make [...]
[...] Gizmodo’s plot spoiler? Would things really be better sorted out if we just resorted to the Jobs vs Cutts fight club like we suggested in the first place? Perhaps. The first rule of the iPhone 4G is… you [...]
[...] 1, content is key – write posts that are informative, useful, interesting and engaging. See this post for a more in-depth guide on how to write a great blog. Optimise – just like your website, make [...]
[...] Gizmodo’s plot spoiler? Would things really be better sorted out if we just resorted to the Jobs vs Cutts fight club like we suggested in the first place? Perhaps. The first rule of the iPhone 4G is… you [...]
[...] Gizmodo’s plot spoiler? Would things really be better sorted out if we just resorted to the Jobs vs Cutts fight club like we suggested in the first place? Perhaps. The first rule of the iPhone 4G is… you [...]