41 Blog Success Tips You Can Learn Today

Blog days. They are a great opportunity to put your voice and your thoughts out into cyberspace. Some writers are so excited to connect to their readers that they blog daily and sometimes more than once a day. For others of us who haven't yet hit our blog stride, blogging seems more like a pesky morning chore with one looming question, "What the heck am I going to write about?"

If I ever figure out the answer to that question, you'll be the first to know.

While I continue trying to work that out, I'm always on the lookout for tips to help make blogging easier and more effective--which is good for you because I love sharing when I find good information and inspiration. Today, the tips come from Susan Gilbert, AME's Search Engine Marketing Expert and the Web 2.0 company owner of http://www.JoomlaJump.com, who provides Social Networking websites and services.

Susan offers up some great ideas to boost your blogging success...

41 Blog Success Tips You Can Learn Today
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1. Read - The more you read the better writer you will be. Being a blog reader helps you understand the mind of the blog reader. What they want, how they like information to be presented, what turns you off. Read good blogs and note your thoughts.

2. Take one step - Chunk it down. Don't be overwhelmed, take one step at a time and keep going.

3. Be interesting - Readers want to find fresh, valuable, entertaining, remarkable information. Make an effort to deliver more than just facts. Make it about them, not you.

4. Get your point across - Style, grammar, spelling all count for nothing if your audience doesn't get your meaning. Make sure you are understood.

5. Deliver the goods - Being valuable is more important than following any rules.

6. Be consistent - You are only as good as your last post.

7. Prioritize quality over quantity - Fewer kick-ass articles are better than many so-so posts.

8. Develop expertise - You might not be an expert now but you can be. Dive into your subject and become the go-to person.

9. Hold on to passion - Keep the fires burning, don't let your subject turn into a chore.

10. Communicate fascination - If you love your subject then let your readers know, share your enthusiasm, make it contagious.

11. Write better - All of us can improve our writing but it takes effort and motivation.

12. Grow your experience - Do new things, broaden your horizons, stretch yourself.

13. Share your experience - When you learn something new, tell your readers about it.

14. Explore and experiment - Keep trying new things, never stagnate.

15. Be unique - If you are the same as everyone else, why would anyone visit your blog?

16. Look good - Appearances count, both in terms of your blog design and your posts. Make your content zing!

17. Make a great first impression - Do new visitors know what your blog is about in under 10 seconds? Can they navigate easily? Where is your best content?

18. Build momentum - Keep pushing every day, do not be content, it takes less effort to keep going than to stop and start over.

19. Optimize - Keep tweaking, continuously improve.

20. Write with focus - Don't squander your readers' attention, give them what they came for.

21. Build your reputation - Know what you stand for and deliver it consistently.

22. Go for keywords - Find out what your readers are looking for and write about it.

23. Write compelling headlines - Get attention, promise a benefit, provoke interest.

24. Offer full feeds - Attention is more important than page views.

25. Interview - Supplement your knowledge by interviewing experts.

26. Break news - Be first to a story, let everyone know and see the links flood in.

27. Run contests - Contests are fun and build awareness.

28. Research, survey and poll - Research results are newsworthy and differentiate.

29. Toot your horn - Celebrate successes, send out press releases.

30. Monitor your stats - Stats tell you the health of your blog. Where is traffic coming from? Can you do more of what works? Is your blog growing or sliding? There are many free services.

31. Comment and answer comments - Nurture your audience, make them know they are valued. Comment on other blogs.

32. Link generously - If you want links then you have to first give them.

33. Join forums - Break out of your bubble, meet people where they are.

34. Give stuff away - You get what you give. Free downloads get rewarded with links and traffic.

35. Make friends - One of the pleasures of blogging and also a route to success.

36. Guest blog - Write brilliant content for other bloggers and see your brand grow.

37. Ask questions - Curiosity is a virtue.

38. Twitter - Constantly communicate and get to know people. Anything too short for a blog post can be delivered in 140 characters.

39. Stumble - Train yourself to discover, recognize and share brilliant content. What you can identify you can imagine, what you can imagine you can create.

40. Rebel - Break the rules, go against the flow, zig when others tell you to zag, do your own thing your own way.

41. Enjoy - Keep doing what you do until it stops being fun. When it is no longer fun, bring the fun back and your energy will be infectious.


Reprinted from "The Book Marketing Expert newsletter," a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

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