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Blog Lightning - How to create and promote your blog in a flash.

7 Tips for Successful Blogging

By Michele Schermerhorn

So, you have a blog! Do you have traffic? Do you know how to
build traffic to your weblog? There are seven proven methods for
building readership of your blog. They start with defining the
purpose, or life, of your blog. Then, after you have a blog
worth promoting, driving traffic is crucial to your ongoing
success at blogging.

Here are seven tips to help you build and hold an audience for your blog:

Tip #1: Provide quality content.

On the Internet, whether you are talking about websites or
blogs, a lot of space is given to content. Everyone directs you
to provide quality content. But, what is quality content? The
quality of your blog’s content is directly related to how well
you have defined your ideal audience.

A successful blog is written with a distinct audience in mind.
In this way, you can provide content that is unique to your
audience’s issues, needs, or desires. If you create content they
like and wish to return to read, you have quality content.

The second issue is to stay true to your audience and tone of
your blog. If people are reading your blog, it’s because they
like your topic and tone. Try not to stray from your typical
topics and style too much. This will give your readers a reason
to link back to your blog on an ongoing basis, as will posting
on a regular basis.

Tip #2: Blog regularly

If you don't update your blog often enough, blog readers will
move on to other blogs. There are too many blogs out there
competing for attention. Blog readers will go where they can get
enough of what they want.

Successful blogging takes a commitment of your time. When you
begin blogging and wish to capture an audience, you should be
prepared to blog every day. In this way, you can develop an
audience who counts on you to help them begin or end their day.

This means you should also try to post at the same time each
day. Your readers will get accustomed to your schedule and check
your blog at the appropriate time. The time of day is not as
crucial as the consistency in your posting.

Since you now have quality content and a regular posting
schedule, it’s time to drive traffic to your blog. Your readers
will do a lot to promote your blog just by telling their
friends. Don’t count on this alone! You need to do some
additional work.

When you post, make sure you set your blog to “ping” blog
tracking sites every time you add a new post. Think of this as a
means to get their attention. The ping says “Hey, we just added
a new post”. An alternative to automatically pinging from your
blog is to use pingomatic.com. This is a one-stop place to
automatically ping everyone you should notify of your new post
and only takes a couple of minutes to accomplish. Tip #3:
Mention your blog wherever you can

Mention your blog’s address in your email signature line, in
forums where you post, on your business cards, on address labels
and in conversations with anyone you meet. Use a tag line under
your blog address to further entice them to visit. Mine reads:
Michele Schermerhorn http://www.imarketblog.com A sassy little
marketing blog

Beyond just mentioning your blog in writing and conversation,
you must actively participate in the blogging community too.

Tip #4: Participate in the blogosphere
Get involved in other people's blogs. Visit blogs that interest
you and are in line with the general topic of your blog. Then,
leave thoughtful comments. Almost every comment option on
someone else’s blog will allow you to post your blog URL and
your email address. Help other bloggers out with traffic and
they will help you.

If a blogger really likes your site, they will add you to their
blogroll. A blogroll is generally found on every blog which
understands linking to the rest of the blogosphere helps drive
traffic. A blogroll is a listing of other blogs. Think of it as
a “recommended reading list”. Don’t be stingy with your blog
roll either. Add those blogs that you read and enjoy to your
blogroll too.

Tip #5: Think keywords when you post
Think about keywords with your use of titles, links and blog
posts. Search engines, like Google and Yahoo, like keywords. The
more targeted your keywords, the better the chances of your blog
appearing in search results. Search results can drive that extra
traffic you want.

To increase the value of the key words in your content, make
certain keywords are part of the hot link in your posts. Don’t
use “click here” as the hot link. You will be wasting valuable
real estate in your post. Instead use the relevant keywords for
the hot link, like “a great marketing idea. This gives the
keywords added emphasis with the search engines. One last
thought on keywords for driving traffic; if you want a real leg
up in the traffic game, in your linking code add rel=”tag”. This
helps Technorati, a major blog resource, index your blog for
their directory. But don’t stop there! It’s time to submit your
blog to blog directories.

Tip #6: Submit your blog to blog directories

In addition to submitting your blog to the major search engines,
make certain you submit the blog to exclusively blog directories
like blogwise, blogcatalog, or bloghub. Many people find blogs
through these online directories.

When you do submit your blog to these directories, remember to
add a description that will entice your targeted audience to
check your blog out. For instance, when I post my blog in blog
directories, under description I put “General musings, rants,
advice and strategies from a battle-worn veteran of the
Marketing Wars, online and off”. Your description should help
the potential reader understand your blogging topic and the
flavor of how you write.

In addition to submitting your blog to blog directories, join a
few of the free or inexpensive traffic exchange sites like
blogexplosion or blogclicker.

Tip #7: Use free and inexpensive blog traffic exchange
communities

There are many sites which can be termed “traffic exchange”
sites for the blogging community. It won’t cost you anything to
sign up. At the very least, join blogexplosion, blogclicker, and
blogazoo. Once you sign up, you have two options to help drive
traffic to your blog. Use both of them!

The first method is to earn credits (guaranteed visitors to your
site) by using the “surf member sites” function. As you surf
through those sites, you will be earning credits (visitors to
your blog). When you find an interesting post, leave a comment
as discussed above. When you find a blogger you like, add them
to your blogroll and let them know you did. The second method to
drive traffic is to purchase credits. The cost is very cheap for
the traffic you will drive to your blog. The more traffic to
your blog, the more customers you’ll have. The more happy
customers you have, the more they will tell others. The more
they tell others, the more customers you get. Don’t you love
this dance!

In summary, blogging may not be for everyone. However, it can be
a great method for bringing your unique perspective to the
Internet. You will surely find others who think the same way you
do. Some bloggers will entertain you, some will inform you, and
some will drive you to tear your hair out. Decide what type of
blogger you want to be and be the best you can. See you in the
blogosphere!

About the author:
Michele Schermerhorn calls herself a “Corporate Freedom Fighter”
dedicated to freeing cubicle prisoners. She has over 30 years
experience in the business world. She is President of Online
Business Institute Inc. (www.obinstitute.com), authors a sassy
marketing blog (www.imarketblog.com), and regularly conducts
free online seminars. Online Business Institute Inc. exists to
“Create Successful Online Business Owners One Person At A Time”.

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