A blog can do a lot for your career, but if your blog isn’t setup right, you will just be wasting your time. If you want to be a successful blogger, here are some things that you HAVE to do.
Take the time to write a good about page
When someone visits your blog one of the first things they do is go to your about page. If it isn’t compelling, they probably won’t be coming back to your blog. If you want to make your about page compelling you need a few things:
- Reason – not only should your about page explain what your blog is about, but it should give the reader a reason to come back. A good way to do this is to list out all of the benefits of reading your blog.
- Personal connection – most about pages lack information about the blogger. Have a detailed overview of your life on your about page as well as a picture of yourself. If you can create a personal connection with a blog visitor, you are likely to turn them into a regular reader.
- Contact information – you don’t have to place your contact information on your about page, but make sure your about page links to your contact page. Don’t you hate it when you want to contact someone and you can’t figure out how to get a hold of them?
Make it easy for people to come back
Although you maybe familiar with RSS feeds and RSS readers, most people are not. In your blog sidebar you need to provide multiple subscription options. For example I provide an email option.
Providing subscription options isn’t enough. You also need to convince people to subscribe to your RSS or email feed. You can do this through text:
Even if you don’t visit Quick Sprout on a regular basis, you can stay tuned by having the latest Quick Sprout news delivered to you for free via RSS or Email.
Make your content look attractive and keep your blog design simple
You may want a blog design with cool graphics, bright colors, and tons of pictures, but do you really need it? A fancy design will just distract people from reading your content. Here are 3 things you should keep in mind when designing your blog:
- Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication – try to create a plain white design with little to no graphics. This way your blog will load fast and people will focus on reading your content.
- The bigger the better – not everyone is 20 years old. Make sure your text is big in size and black in color. The typography you choose should also be easy to read.
- A picture says 1000 words – your blog design should be flexible, so that you can embed images within your blog posts. Pictures will make your blog posts easier to read.
Create a community
What makes a blog so great is that you can have a conversation on it. Remember you aren’t the only one who is going to be contributing to your blog, your readers are going to as well through comments.
Here is how you can create a community on your blog:
- Invite a conversation – end your blog posts with an open-ended question. I usually use the line, “anyone else have any suggestions.” Anything will really work.
- Use threaded comments – threaded comments will make it easier for others to reply to a comment (similar to a forum discussion). This will help create a conversation through comments.
- Reward your commentors – through a top commentors plugin, people can get a link back to their site if they comment enough. The way the plugin works is that the 5 or 10 most active commentors gets a link to their site within your blog sidebar. This is great because it encourages people to comment due to the traffic they can get from the link.
- Respond to every commentor – no one likes talking to himself or herself, so respond to every commentor. This will show that you care for your readers input and it will help you create a stronger community.
Content is king
The most important part of a blog is the content. If you don’t have good content, very few people are going to read your blog. Here are a few ways you can improve your content:
- Write resourceful content – news is great, but there are already tons of people who write on it. Instead of writing on the news, create content that helps people. Writing how-to guides is an example of creating resourceful content.
- Use attractive headlines – if the titles of your blog posts aren’t attractive, how do you expect people to read them? If you have trouble creating attractive headlines read this blog post.
- What is old to you is new to others – just because you know something it doesn’t mean others do. Even if another blogger already wrote on a specific topic, it doesn’t mean you can’t write about it. People don’t have time to read 100 blogs a day; the chances are they only read a few.
Lastly other than writing good content, you need to write it on a regular basis. This doesn’t mean you have to blog everyday, but you need a consistent blogging schedule. For example, if you want to blog once a week, then make sure you publish 52 blog posts by the end of the year.
Anyone else have any recommendations?
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I think consistency is a key, regardless of what your posting schedule is make sure you stick to it 99% of the time. If you start out posting 2 times a week, stick to that so your readers come to know what to expect. If you post daily, keep that up again so readers know what to expect. Nothing throws a reader off more than reading a blog that post 2 times a week and then all of a sudden getting three post a day from them, and vice versa if you post once a day don’t hit dry spells with no posts for weeks.
Matt
Consistency is one of the hardest things for a blogger to live by. Even I have problems with keeping a consistent blogging schedule… Hopefully I can get better about blogging a few times a week.
Some blogs just never have fresh content! Two to three updates a week seems to be the minimum in order to give the best user experience…
Sometimes less is better. It depends how detailed your content is and how complex it is. You want to give your readers time to soak in the information.
A great example of a blog that updates once a week or sometimes longer is DoshDosh.com That blog has 18k+ subscribers.
Doshdosh.com is a great blog. He knows his stuff when it comes to marketing and social media.
I agree w/ your consistency comment. I have deleted a couple blogs out of my bookmarks because they quit posting after one of their big events. No post for a month or so and I am not going to bother going back.
Once a site is deleted out of a bookmark or unsubscribed I would think it would be difficult to get back – same scenario as companies keeping old customers vs. expense of finding new ones.
I’ll make sure I post on a regular basis so I don’t get deleted from your feed reader.
Write about stuff that you are passionate about yourself. Don’t just try to please your readers (or the readers you are trying to find).
Good point. I don’t make money from Quick Sprout, but that doesn’t bother me because I love what I am blogging about.
I agree, readers are savvy enough to notice when you’re pumping things out just to please others or just to stay on a schedule. Passion is something that comes through when you write and it’s impossible to fake consistently over a long period of time.
Plus if a blogger isn’t passionate, they won’t be blogging forever. Within a few months they will probably quit.
I agree with this. Especially since I’ve studied so much on the psychology of passion’s, beliefs, goals etc. If your starting a new blog, and your blogging every single day, hopefully your topic is something your truly passionate about.
Best of luck with your blog. Keep up the daily blogging.
Neil, i’m really impressed with the fact that you reply to almost any comment on your blog, well done mate, you really seem to love your blog
Thanks for noticing! I do love my blog and don’t care if I even made 1 cent from it.
Point well taken, especially if they’re not making money off their blogging efforts!
More importantly I don’t think it is wise to start a blog just to make money. Do something you love and the money will come.
Hey Neil, wanted to get your opinion as I am on that crossroads. Im not clear about what I want to do.
I’ve tried 4 business ideas over the past 3 years and failed. Some were just to get the financial independence so I was just chasing the money and some were to make something of my passion.
Point is that I haven’t found that one thing. Being in a comfy job is getting me money but leaving me so fucking unsatisfied.
There are many things which excite me and they are so varied from sports to entrepreneurship to people relationships that I don’t know what one thing to focus on.
How does one answer the question of what one should be pursuing?
The reason being is that most of your businesses didn’t solve a pain in the market place. They were businesses that you liked.
Try to first find a problem that you and others have, and then create a business that solves it.
I hope that helps.
Along the lines of community, one thing you didn’t mention (but implement) is the “subscribe to comments” feature that lets people continue the conversation. It lets people stay connected so they aren’t just leaving a comment and leaving.
Good point. I totally forgot about that feature because as the blog owner, that option doesn’t exist for me (unless I log out of the admin panel).
I wonder if it’s better or worse, from a goodwill standpoint, to default it being checked or unchecked…
From a blogger perspective having it checked works better, but as a commentor I can see how it maybe irritating to get all of those emails if you forget to uncheck the box.
Irritating enough to never come back?
I guess that’s the rub…
Hopefully not. I try to make it easy for people to unsubscribe from getting all of the emails.
Ha. I’m almost regretting having selected that option on my comment to this post. Too many emails! But now I see the manage your subscriptions link. Now that’s a good idea!
Exactly! The last thing I want is for people to think I am spamming them.
Yes, the first time I checked that box (on another blog), I was a bit annoyed by getting so many emails. On the other hand, I thought: I can read them if I want and delete them if I don’t. Sometimes I might come across something, so if it is the right community for me, then I guess I’m alright with getting the emails. ; )
Thanks for the input Manisha. It is always good to hear what people think about this kind of stuff.
For Neil’s specifically, no not irritating enough to never come back. Very easy to uncheck the box if any irritation occurs.
Had it checked the first time I ever posted a comment, but since then leave it unchecked. Nice thing about gmail is that all of the comment emails got piled into one message.
The only reason I unchecked was that I just couldn’t keep up.
I would think from a goodwill perspective it would be better to have it unchecked by default. If there was less activity – say 10 comments total on any given post, then checked might be better or at least indifferent.
Ah, you make a very valid point. I never really find it irritating, but I use gmail. As a gmail user they all get piled into one email which isn’t too bad. But for others they may end up with 20 emails.
It is a nice feature to have, especially for people like me who frequent many blogs, and enjoy being informed of what the latest comments on a given post is.
Glad you like it. I removed the “automatic” checked box… hopefully your inbox isn’t getting flooded by comment emails.
If you can come across as genuine and personal in your writing, then that also helps with making a connection with your readers. My favorite take-away is your note on remembering that “what is old to you is new to others”. Part of my goal is to encourage my readers/fans to talk with each other, so I do like the idea of using threaded comments. I’m guessing that this is something I can set up as you have – and then people can opt out? What are your thoughts about integrating your blog onto your own website? I’ve had a website for several years. Right now my blog (launched recently) is on Blogger. From my website there are various links to my online profiles, but I was planning on shifting the blog itself to my website.
As for consistency, I feel that finding a balance between letting inspiration guide your writing versus keeping to a schedule is key. If a blogger writes just because s/he has to do it in order to keep to a schedule, then the content may or may not be good and it might just be better to wait until inspiration hits. I don’t know. This is something I have been tossing about since I launched my blog – whether to get on a strict schedule or to leave it more open as it is currently. I also want to balance my participation on the blog with creation of other online content such as new videos and music, so right now I don’t want to spread myself too thin. I don’t want to splurge and then pull back from exhaustion. On the other hand, there is something to be said for gaining momentum, but then you have to be careful not to slack off. In any case, thanks for the tips!
Threaded comments isn’t something people subscribe or unsubscribe to. That is the “subscribe to comment” plugin, which is separate.
Adding a blog to your website is a wise idea because it can help make your website more popular. I wouldn’t use blogger though, WordPress is a better option because it is more flexible.
Consider creating a lose schedule. Something that isn’t too strict, but isn’t too open either. This way you don’t exhaust yourself.
Thanks for your explanation re: threaded comments. And sounds like several people are on the same page re: schedule/inspiration. Re: wordpress v blogger….I researched both before choosing Blogger and felt it was pretty good (that was in the summer) based on the comparisons I read at the time. Evidently I didn’t check in with you! : ) Oh well, I’m happy with Blogger for the time being. I can switch the “hosting” or whatever it is called to my server.
Blogger is great for people who are starting their first blog and don’t have too much technical knowledge. WordPress is great for those bloggers who are trying to take things to the next level.
If you look at the top 100 bloggers on the web, most of them use WordPress.
The learning curve on Wordpress isn’t so steep that you shouldn’t try to tackle it. You won’t regret using Wordpress but you will one day regret blogger, more so if you are successful at blogging.
Blogger can kill your site for whatever reason it wants and never tell you why… that alone is enough reason not to use it. Heck, they can nuke your site by accident too (that’s something you can do to yourself too though).
The hardest part with WordPress is installing it (or at least for me), other than that it is pretty easy to use.
Good point about Blogger. I had no idea that they could take your blog away and not tell you. The same probably goes with WordPress.com blogs, but if you install WordPress on your own domain you should be fine.
If the hosting account provides Fantastico feature..then its 1 minute to install wordpress.Just 2 clicks to install!!
You hit it on the head Neil. Blog virgin I used Blogger – only because I knew it was free, hadn’t ever used any of that type of software before, etc. They made it easy, couldn’t screw it up.
The last 5 sites I have created, including 4 I don’t own but am admin for, all use wordpress. – Yes, low learning curve. 1 of the owners knew very little about computers let alone the internet (she knew it existed, that was about it).
For the 2 I created this month, I pointed both the owners to the Unique Blog Designs tutorials. Which of course I found through noodling around on the About & Contact pages here (see how I brought it back around to the post
) – (thanks by the way. ubd is better than any of the templates I found on the wp themes directory – spent a full day surfing there).
Hey guys, Thanks for weighing in. Let me think about how best to approach it. There is this issue of making improvements while I continue to fly the plane. I’m sure my web designer could help me with installation of Word Press on my site. The question is: what happens to the entries and comments that are already there on my current blog? There aren’t a lot of them, but can I migrate them? If these queries are not appropriate for the blog, then I’ll be happy to direct them to any of you (Neil, Jim, Mark) independently.
Just google:
migrating from blogger to wordpress
you will get about 252,000 results
I scanned through one of the results and the process seems fairly easy & yes you can keep all your links, comments, subscribers, etc.
I let my blogger sites die, so I have never migrated myself otherwise I would be more than happy to help. Googling & following instructions is about all I know.
Exactly. This can easily be solved by reading http://www.mamablogga.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-migrating-from-blogger-to-wordpress/
If you want to try other platforms Movable Type isn’t too bad either. I prefer WordPress over it, but I started off my first blog on Movable Type.
Thank you so much, Mark and Neil. Provided I’m not swallowed up by a black hole while flying my cyberspaceship, I’ll try to let y’all know how it all works out! : ) peace, M
Please do. Best of luck!
At the end of the day what it really comes down to is passion you have for your blog. My blog is not making a dime right now but that has not stopped me from publishing over 110+ articles.
I know the money will come but too many want to make the money first. CONTENT IS KING!
I am the same way. I don’t make any money from Quick Sprout and I really don’t care because I love blogging on it.
If you love something enough, money will not matter.
I am an ardent reader of your blogs and a great fan too.But one thing your blog lacks and even this post too.There is no share button.Users would like to share with others without navigating to other sites or without any copy paste of this url.Try this http://www.sharethis.com/
The problem with the “share this” button is that very few people click on it. And even if people do click on it, my traffic doesn’t increase by much…so I rather not give them screen real estate.
In fact i am sorry to mention sharethis(techcrunch uses it).What i meant was to give something to share for the users easily.It could be a anything delicious,digg whatever.It would help users like me to share this post with the rest of the world.
Got it. Maybe I should come up with a unique way that allow users to share my content.
Any ideas?
I am toast!!!.I am basically a web developer and if i had that idea i would have made it .But existing websites (stumbleupon,delicious,Digg etc) seems to be doing it quite well.Just because you asked me,i had a look at the number of times quicksprout is saved in delicious(even though there is no direct way).It’s 306.I know,it’s not a big deal.What i feel is that it wont do any harm to you and your readers.It will just help someone.And all the biggies out there did just that.
Good point. I’ll have to figure out how I can integrate sharing capabilities into the blog.
Thanks!
As a blog newbie, its great to see some points put out here to help steer in the right direction. I’m still trying to carve out a niche and having some fun along the way – which is key to anything you do in life.
One thing that made me laugh was the part about contact. I literally forgot to put anything like that on my site. Oops! Better work on that in the morning…
You made a great point Aman. You have to have fun in what you are doing. I am glad you are having it. If you need any help as a blog newbie, let me know.
I’m not an expert in any way, shape or form but I have been blogging since October 2007.
Thanks! sounds good. Added you to me rss as well.
Btw, if anyone is looking for a good contact form, I found this:
http://www.wrasap.com/
Just signed up, basically you dont have to put up your contact info and this program (no install) will filter the spam using that CAPTCHA method. Its pretty good..been tweaking with it while I wait for the stock market to open…
Thanks for the link. I haven’t used a contact form because of spam issues, but I may try it out.
If you keep on blogging on that specific subject, people will see you as an expert. It doesn’t matter if you feel you are an expert on something, what matters is how people perceive you.
So true. Fake it til you make it
Yep, it works really well. http://www.shoemoney.com/2007/10/09/perception-is-everything-or-fake-it-til-you-make-it/
It is the basic things that many of us forget.
I think that having a contact form is a must. I still have old sites that occasionally get their contact forms submitted.
Contact forms are great and people should use them, but you should also list out your contact information. I think blogs need both (I’ll add a contact form to my contact page).
Neil, you are ignoring my emails hey?!
Good post man, I agree with threaded comments, they make it much easier to have a conversation.
Cheers,
Glen
I hope I am not. If I am email me at neil@acsseo.com and put *Quick Sprout* in the subject. I am not sure if I am getting your emails or if they are going into my spam folder. Or it could be that they get mixed up with the other 300 emails I get every day.
Sorry about that.
Good post, though you forgot the part about blogging on a regular and consistent basis, which I believe you need to do as well, as I really enjoy reading your posts.
I talked about that, it is at the very end of the post.
That was an amazing post, and it earned you a new RSS subscriber. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for subscribing! I am always happy to get new readers.
CONTENT IS QUEEN!
That works too.
As long as you appreciate content, you will be fine.
Your articles are fabulous and the BEST thing about it is that I trust you. I see that you produece useful content, you answer to every comment etc.
Thanks! Hopefully it helps people become more successful bloggers.
Great post. Do you also have suggestions good blog software selection, use of a good user friendly template and a good domain name selection, good hosting place for the blog (basic blog logistics)?
WordPress for a blogging software
BlueHost for hosting
Godaddy for domains
As for a template, you maybe able to find some decent ones here.
Perfect timing on the advice my friend….Thanks!
Need help on the threat/nested app…it’s not working for me
Hit me up on Friday, I will help you install threaded comments.
Ooh fortune cookies… You Will Blog About This (in bed).
hahah…nice
LOL. I actually wrote the blog post while I was in bed.
Then…perhaps you should stay in bed all day long Neil.
You’ll keep writing great posts!
Thanks! I do most of the day because it is cold in Orange County. It has been raining for a few days now and the temperature has been dropping into the 50s.
I’ve been following this blog for a very long time indeed, though this is probably my first comment. You’ve mentioned some excellent points in this post- I’ll probably make some changes to my blog keeping this post in mind.
With respect to what you mentioned under ‘Create a community’, I wanted to know what your opinion was on having a commenting system like Disqus or Intense Debate. I use Disqus, but am keen on knowing why you haven’t gone in for either.
I think commenting systems like Intense Debate are too complicated. There is no need for features like voting on people’s comments. All you need is something simple that doesn’t distract your blog readers.
Love your blog! Just wanted to say hello from Norway!
Thanks! I am always glad to have readers from all over the world.
Hi Neil,
I have only just started to read your blog but am already finding it inspiring, thanks:-)
Glad to have you on board. Thanks for the words of encouragement.
Along the lines of community, one thing you didn’t mention (but implement) is the “subscribe to comments†feature that lets people continue the conversation. It lets people stay connected so they aren’t just leaving a comment and leaving.
Yep, I think Jim brought that up earlier. It is a good plugin that you should consider using.
I use blogger and about a month ago, I upgraded my theme and replaced the stock blogger commenting system and instantly I received more participation on our blog and community. The design and ease of use is so important. good post!
Hopefully your blog traffic went up as a well.
By the way, you should create a “go green” badge… or something related to saving the earth. I think a lot of bloggers would support it.
yes blog traffic did go up. good idea about the badge, I’m going to have to think of a good way to implement that.
Or maybe something similar to blog action day.
These are some pretty good suggestions. I haven’t even tried using pictures yet. I suck.
If you decide to use pictures, make sure they are good ones. For example you can find great pictures at Flickr.
Check to make sure it’s Creative Commons licensed or send over a message asking for permission, you don’t want to get a pissed off photographer coming after you for “stealing.”
If I take a photo from Flickr I just link back to it. That is the easiest thing to do…
That’s what I do and I’ve had people (3) complain about it, even with the link and everything. In all cases I said I was sorry and now I just take CC pictures only, there are plenty anyway.
That sucks. I feel a link is like giving credit.
I will start taking CC pictures only now.
Thanks
I like the top commentator tip, and interacting with commentors is great as well. It is nice to develop a personal connection with people, and feel like your part of a community.
The cool thing about the top commentors plugin is that it brings A LOT more comments to the blog. I would say that I roughly doubled my comments because of the top commentors plugin.
I also try to interact with every commentor, even though it is time consuming. I believe that if someone takes the time to comment on Quick Sprout, then I should take the time to responded to them.
As for the community it will naturally get built as your personality comes out. Blogs that have a face to them such as Shoemoney.com tend to do better than blogs without a face.
I totally agree with you. I think its important for being consistent and not post when one wishes. Being regular is whats important.
When you are not consistent, you tend to lose readers.
Great Advice! I am currently working on my blog that outlines my online marketing success, and I can definitely implement some of this knowledge.
Best of luck! If you need any help, just let me know.
Here are some things you can do to improve your blog:
1. Add your picture to your sidebar. It would be great if I could see the person behind the scenes.
2. Consider reducing the ads on your website. There is nothing wrong with making money, but you should build up your audience before you try to make money. When new blogs put up ads from the beginning many people think they are just trying to make money and not really provide good information.
3. If you are going to have categories on your blog, make them relevant.
4. Consider removing the spammy links from your blog footer.
I had a look, its quite a nice GUI, well written content. It’s a competitive market. Good luck
This blog is very insightful especially for me who is new in the blogging world
Thanks! Hopefully this helps you improve your blog.
At the end of the day what it really comes down to is passion you have for your blog. My blog is not making a dime right now but that has not stopped me from publishing over 110+ articles.
I know the money will come but too many want to make the money first. CONTENT IS KING!
Keep up the good work. Although you are not worried about making money right now, you should start thinking about it a few months from now.
Attractive post! Nice tips and tricks of blog improve. I haven’t time for writing daily post. When i read your informative post and i decide improve my blog asap. Thanks.
You don’t have to blog everyday, you just have to keep a consistent blogging schedule. For example, I blog roughly once a week.
So you mean to say quality of bloggin plays major role. Am i correct?
Yes, it plays the most important role in a blogs success. If you don’t have good content, why would someone come back to your blog?
Thanks for advice. Let me know how i can be different from other bloggers. Your thought on this will be appreciated.
There are a lot of people that offer what you offer, you first need to figure out what separates you from your competition. This could be price, being an all in one service provider, quality of work, etc…
After you do that you want to make sure you represent that on your website.
If I were you one thing I would do is create a “personal touch” between you and the website visitor. Tell them a bit about yourself, who you worked with, and how you can help them. This will get more people to trust you, which means more people will be willing to give you their money.
Thanks for suggestion. I will follow your advice.
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophisticationâ€
True.
I remember back in the teenage days of website design spinning logos were all the rage.
“A picture says 1000 words â€
I must say I enjoy your image you post for each post. It is inviting. I like the humour, but I don’t get the fortune cookie for this one?
It is just a picture I found on the web, I didn’t intend it to mean anything or be funny.
I think having a unique blog design like shoemoney’s or your quicksprout logo plays a great deal in improving your blog but at the end of the day, as shoemoney said it is all about content and to be personable.
It does help. The guys at Unique Blog Designs did a great job with my logo.
This is true. How much did they charge you Neil. I am sure you got a discount
. Any discounts if I tell them you referred me?
I am not 100% sure. Mention my name when you call them.
Great post. I really need to clean up my new site and get my blog started. Thanks for the insights on making it successful.
Best of luck! Let me know if you need any help.
great post.. maybe it’s about time I finally start a blog
You should, I think it will do a lot for your website. Selling art is one thing, but why not educate your customers? They’ll be more satisfied.
I have a blog but it is on my ebay page which isn’t working out so great, and I’m not sure I should start a blog on my actual website. How long can I blog about custom apparel.
A lot, you just need to be creative with your posts. Check out some fashion blogs and then go from there.
Thanks for the tips. You abide by everyone of those. You write great, with a interesting perspective, you interact, and have a great community.
Thanks! Let me know if you need help on improving your blog.
Thanks, I will keep that in mind, for sure. I am testing a few things now, but am settling in on a few ideas and designs I really like.
Very good advise. I do not have an ‘About’ page and shall soon put one up. I am learning and I am glad that I found this blog. I intend coming frequently and look forward to such inspiring posts.
Make sure you put a picture of yourself on your about page.
True, I see Nicole blogging in a few communities that I have been active in and I have checked out her blog a few times, but haven’t seen a pic. It’s funny once you check someone out online enough you do want to know more about them and of course what they look like. Not that you care, but there’s that old saying, it’s nice to put a face with your voice. Well for most people there voice online is there writing. (Sometimes audio) Anyway, yeah great tip.
A picture helps create a personal touch. Without a picture you won’t be able to create a strong bond.
Very true. People are people are people and we like doing business with other people…humans. No matter how digital or tech advanced we get we will always desire to have that human touch.
It definately allows you to create that bond which is extremely important, especially doing business online.
The personal touch is what helped my consulting business do so well. It is the little things that we tend to forget, but it is those same things that can help us succeed.
You truly do know how to improve a blog, so everything you say should be taken VERY seriously. I notice how you respond to nearly every comment made on your blog. It shows that you are really “creating a community on your blog”. Any wonder why your readership continues to increase? Keep it going, Neil. The sky is surely going to be your limit. Thanks for sharing this.
The main reason I blog is to help others out and build relationships. So for me it is worth replying back to every comment.
I think that is so cool that you do that. Especially because you do get so many comments. I am taking notes Neil. Always looking to do better.
Thanks! I just have to figure out how to do it more efficiently. Currently I spend 2 hours a day on average replying back to comments.
He is getting comments and we are getting response from him … this is what I like about him.
Just go through few posts and for every comments I saw his reply. I do not think that any webmaster reply to every comments.
Most don’t. That is what makes me unique.
Definetly,Consistency is one of the hardest things for a blogger to live… And Passion is something that comes through when you write….
n i would say WordPress is great for those bloggers who are trying to take things to the next level.
Consistency is one of the hardest things for any body to do. It’s why most people have the same new years resolutions year in. I want to lose weight. They get started then stop…then sputter, then stop. Then when the next year comes they do it all over again. I have been victim to this to. And guess what it’s one of my New Year’s resolutions. Lets see how I do.
Hopefully you are consistent. You already have the right attitude, you just have to make the time.
A good way to be consistent is to write a few posts and save them as drafts. This way when you don’t have time to write a blog post, you can post your drafts.
now i should change something in my blog
1- about page is short , and not have a contact details ( if you believe , i got a comment today from someone asking me about something” he put a comment because he didn’t get any contact details , i have a reason ” my blog still new ” but now i know how much it is important to have it
you know , the first time i noticed his ” not everyone is 20 years old ” and i will think about it when i make some adds .
i see how much you use the option ” reply” to all of your comments in this blog , i think about it much because i know how much comments you got daily , but really you are active on this .
when i have this comments in my blog i think i will reply it all .
” the visitos is visitor , your job to make the visitor become a big fan ”
my words
Kind of. Instead I want to build a relationship with each of my visitors. I truly want to get to know each one of them.
Another fantastic post for myself as a new blogger these tips will be invaluable. I am going to get straight to work now on an About page as I didn’t realise how important these things could be. I am generating quite a bit of traffic for a month old blog but I could do will generating more that will convert my adverts to help me make some much needed cash.
I will probably do another blog post about writing a good about page. Hopefully it will help you.
Neil, I think you covered everything that is really essential in your blog. Your’s very successful, maybe mine will be the same soon. I’ll have to read a little more though.
It will. You just have to keep on putting in effort and you will succeed.
Number 1 for every blogger should be allowing people to subscribe to RSS feed. I mean sometimes I stumble upon an interesting article and I’d like to come back but without a RSS feed i’ll soon forget about the site completely.
In multiple ways too. Some people don’t know what RSS is.
Calls to Action-Just like your website, your blog should have specific calls to action so that reader’s can interact with you. Whether it’s a simple “contact us†form mailer or a more elaborate ecommerce function, once you “got ‘em†there, they need something to do. Again, Dagon Design has a cool form mailer plug-in that’s easy to add to your site. You may have to create a separate HTML page and link to it from your blog (put it in your header so it’s on each page) if you want to add a shopping cart.
For me, it is my RSS feed. I could probably still improve on my Call To Action though.
Thanks!
May I just say this is an excellent example of how a blog should be. On reading your blog Neil I realise much work I need to do on my own! .. keep up the good work
Thanks! I am working on improving Quick Sprout… hopefully it gets better.
Thanks Neil,
this before so thanks for bringing it up again. Letting your readers contact you as simply as possible is up there with the most important points of any website. I shouldn’t be making you click one more time than is necessary.
I hate it when you have to click too many times. I like simplistic blogs.
I like the about page info. I have never really gone that in depth with one, but now that you put it out there and I think how I just spent time reading your about page I see its a huge asset. Your about page got me very motivated as well!
It can do wonders for your website. You should try it out.
RSS is something I really need to apply to my blogs. I can’t believe I never even considered it until I started to understand it a little more.
Yea, it is a great way to get more traffic to your blog too.
Simplicity is the key to design but there are exceptions. I read about an owner of a dating site (think it was plentyoffish.com) that used to be horribly designed but earned him loads of money due to people wanting to get off the page and clicking ads. Not a great business model but it worked for him!
Ha, that’s interesting. Well yah, always an exception to the rule.
Just wanted to add – Use internal linking with the blog to the fullest extent.
Great add Arihant, internal linking is a great idea, but avoid over doing it.
It doesn’t matter what kind of content you post on your blog as long as it’s interesting, and it can entertain your viewers…also throw in some of your own REAL LIFE stories to intrigue your visitors.
REAL LIFE stories are exactly what you should do more of. People can get advice and tips from anywhere, but unique stories are interesting cuz everyone has their own experiences.
The web is awash with people who have blogs simply for the sake of having a blog, and they are easy to spot; they are crap or are left to rot when the owner looses interest and goes off to find the next “thing”.
There are millions of blogs online, yet more than half are untouched.
I think one of the most important factors in a successful blog is passion.
When the blogger’s passion comes through in his posts, readers will be more engaged and return or subscribe to their updates.
Nice tips as always Neil
Another useful tip is to connect with your commentators with the social networks and medias, I mean Tweeter, Facebook and Digg 
You can get a lot of new visitors and readers from there 
Best regards!
As long as you network like crazy, build connections, you’ll be able to take your success to the next level.
You are exactly correct with “connection with your visitors ” but I think important point is that if visitors like you or your posts,they wiil be your reader so you should write interesting or posts to make them permanent reader.
Right, it’s all about the your converstion rate. It requires constant tweaking.
I am definitely going to make a more complete about page this weekend. Mine is kinda weak right now.
Good! Be as thorough as you possibly can. People go to your blog to read about you.
I need to open up a forum on my gaming blog that should help me out building a community mabey in 6 months ill look into it.
It’s not that difficult to set up… I would suggest you start the process now.
Pretty basic stuff for a new blogger. I belive most people should know this before getting into bloging. great post.
Thanks John, it is basic stuff yes, but most people aren’t consistent enough with doing it.
I totally agree with you. I think its important for being consistent and not post when one wishes. Being regular is whats important.
Consistency is what most people lack and obviously one of the biggest reasons why people just can’t cut it in the business world.
Your blog is so informative … ..I just bookmarked you….keep up the good work!!!!
Hey, I found your blog in a new directory of blogs. I dont know how your blog came up, must have been a typo, anyway cool blog, I bookmarked you.
-Robert Shumake
Thanks, glad you found it useful for what you do! Sometimes accidents really aren’t accidents… you were meant to be here
Don’t just try to please your readers (or the readers you are trying to find).
Right, you need to write about what you’re passionate about also… if it becomes a burden or headache for you to do, don’t… it’s only going to cut off your momentum.
I agree that content is the king. You can add different new features and everything, but if I like what you write, then I will come to your blog anyway and check it on a regular basis. I started to come to your blog to get backlinks from the top commentator, but I found out that the posts are really great and not written just because a blog needs needs new posts. So now I would visit your blog even if I could not get any backlinks to my site. I find many posts to be really interesting and helpful.
Yeah, I’m glad you started checking out the content more thoroughly.
its true, one of the first things i do when i descober a blog is to see the about page, it always makes the experience more personal i think
True, if you get to know the person a little bit, you get a better idea of where they’re coming from.