8 Things That Will Boost Your Blog Readership

Almost everybody has a blog these days. Blogging is a great way to earn money and gain customers for your online business. If you want to monetise your blog or use it to drive traffic, here are some general guidelines to follow.

Make Sure You’re Listed In Blog Directories

Most people don’t realize that just starting a blog or website doesn’t necessarily get you noticed by the search engines. You’ve got to sign up with blog directories first before you’ll start getting traffic. Once you’ve done that, you’ll start to appear in web searches.

Blog Consistently

Once you set up your blog and write a few posts, you’re not done yet. You’ve got to keep posting fresh content continually. When the search engines see that, it tells them that your blog is alive and kicking. Get into a regular writing schedule; it doesn’t matter how often necessarily, but just that you do it consistently.

Stick To Topic

If you’re running a personal blog for the benefit of friends and family, blabbing about what you did today or posting pictures of your trip to Spain are just fine. But if you want to make money with your blog, you’ve got to aim straight for your target audience. Stick to niche-specific content so that they’ll want to visit often and see what’s new.

Offer A Unique Slant

Whatever niche you’re writing on, try to find a unique slant. This will give you an edge over all the competition out there. Look at blogs that are similar to yours and give your audience something the other blogs aren’t.

Create A Dialog

A good blog is more than just a place to read; it’s a place to participate. When writing your content, keep in mind that you want people to comment. Rather than just giving them information, getting them commenting and talking to each other is what you should aim for.

Reply To Comments

As much as possible, try to reply personally to every comment that is posted on your blog. Be friendly and show them your personality. This is a sure-fire way to keep your readers coming back and also to brand yourself.

Give Them Some Real Value

Focus on giving your readers value. Don’t worry about selling your goods or services; save that for your squeeze page. For your blog, focus on high quality information that answers your readers’ questions or helps them solve their problems. Your blog should be a place for them to come and hang out.

Add Images And Plug-Ins

It really helps if you add an image or two with each post. It makes it more interesting and visually attractive for the reader. You should also install a few plug-ins, but don’t go crazy with them. Choose just one or two that will really enhance their reading experience and don’t go overboard, or else it’ll end up cluttered. The same goes for ads – keep them to a minimum.

And finally, keep researching to find out what your readers want to know. Look at forums in your topic or questions people are asking on sites like Yahoo Answers. These are simple marketing tools where you can find out exactly what they’re looking for. Then, you can give it to them!

Almost everybody has a blog these days. Blogging is a great way to earn money and gain customers for your online business. If you want to monetise your blog or use it to drive traffic, here are some general guidelines to follow.