When I first started blogging, people
were still asking what a blog was, so it's hard for me to remember
exactly how I got my ideas, or even what they were. Suffice to say, I
managed to learn a thing or two along the way and if I can, so can
you.
Blogging doesn't really have any rules,
but there are some things to keep in mind if you want an audience
bigger than your mother and your three best friends in the world.
Keep it simple, stupid
Known as the
“kiss” principle, this little gem has been guiding writers,
public speakers and salesmen for generations. Even complex ideas are
made up of simpler concepts and being able to boil a topic down to
its essence is a good skill to have.
One exercise I did
a few years back with a group of company blogs I was writing for, was
found in an article on Yahoo News. Basically, the article said to
explain your service, or product to a nine year old. IT worked, a lot
of people liked it, and it helped to clarify some things.
Here's one example from one of those blogs http://warddesigngroup.com/what-we-do-as-described-to-a-9-year-old/
You probably don't
want to write every post as if it were for nine year olds, but the
general idea is solid. You might use it as an exercise when writing
something you feel may be confusing. Strip it down to its basic
elements, write in short sentences, and build small paragraphs.
Once you get the
hang of it, you will find that you have more people spending more
time on your pages, and leaving more comments.
Keywords are important
I won't go into
detail here, there are a lot of great places to find keyword research
tips. Here is what you need to know: the web is a big place. Google
uses “keywords” to sort search possibilities and give you what
they think are the best results. Knowing some popular search terms in
your topic can help.
You want words
that a lot of people are looking for, but not too many. Why? You need
readers, but you don't need every reader online. You want a group
that will like and agree with most of what you write, so a narrower
category is more powerful.
Google Adwords is
a free account,and you can learn some basics on Youtube, or just
through Google searches. Here is one place to start.
Stay on topic
Yeah, I know you
have a lot of interests. So does everybody, but they probably only
look for information on one topic at a time. Your blog cannot appeal
to everyone, and if you try, it will appeal to no one.
So, write
whatever you want, and write a lot of it, but only post one topic to
each blog (individual blog website, not just each post) you decide
to publish. Trust me, you will thank me for this one.
Audiences are
built around themes. If you doubt me, look at who has the biggest
crowd every Sunday. It is the preacher who tells people what they
want to hear, and sticks to his topic, come hell or high water.
You
may think you and your fans have individual rapport, but they are
more likely to act as a herd, agreeing with each other, where they
disagree with you.
