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Blog Promotion Basics [for Everyone]

November 8, 2005 by Liz

If you look up–under the logo for Successful Blog–you’ll see the words content that is organized, thorough, and relevant. That means I plan to capture and present the basics for everything. I also plan to make sure that those posts–like this one–offer information for everyone, not just new bloggers. Oh and, my other plan is that these posts won’t be boring. 🙂

Well, it used to say that. Now, we just live it.

I’ve hidden a posting Easter egg of sorts in this one. Hope most of you don’t have it already.

This post is based on Duncan Riley’s Building blog traffic for newbies. If you already know the basics, read the 31 comments that follow the post.

Duncan lays out six main points he pulled together when he realized that people seemed to know little about promoting blogs. I’ll list them here [with my notes], and you can get the detail from the post.

Don’t use blogrolling for your site links. It stuffs up search engines.
Pinging is good, but trackbacks and comments are better.
Offer to exchange links in your links section [in the sidebar].
Link to small sites without exchange through sidebar or a post.
Submit your blog to all search engines [and directories].

And what we both agree is the most important one:

Post regularly, [consistently], and often.

I’d also like to add two if I might.

Join a forum in your niche. It offers natural opportunities to talk about your blog.
Find websites in your niche that would like to list your link.

Of course, the best promotion is quality content when the traffic gets there.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

PS. Do we have to use the word “newbies”? Has anyone got a better one?

What Is Content that Keeps Readers?

November 7, 2005 by Liz

Everybody talks about content, but nobody actually defines it.

What is content and how can content keep readers?

Content is more than ideas, more than words and pictures on the screen, more than links to articles and data. Content is everything we communicate to our readers. Content is . . .

Information Quality content is both fact and analysis. It offers meat and potatoes that anyone can find together with something original–analysis, predictions, interpretation–that comes only from the writer. Everything is relevant. There’s no time waster anywhere. The writer’s decisions are the “value-added”–the secret recipe. If we have the best recipe, readers will keep coming back to us.
Presentation Quality content is top-notch presentation. Simple is elegant. The best information is lost, if nobody reads it. Too many long sentences; too many bullets; too many links interrupting the text–these get between the reader and the ideas. If it looks hard to read, it is. Like a great wine in a crystal glass, great presentation makes great content inviting.
YOU We saw from our interviews last week, how readers respond to the intangibles Indie brings to his blog. Our presence, our voice, our respect for our readers, they are the nuance, the one-of-a-kind sauce on the expensive meal. Too peppery, too sweet, too salty, too bland, and readers will think this dish isn’t worth having again. On the other hand, get the right balance and they’ll be back every night.

When a blogger provides top-notch content with something extra, readers can see it. They appreciate the writer, and they enjoy the experience. Readers notice that “value-added” difference. They’ll be back to see whether we can do it again.

And that’s when consistency is the operative word. 🙂

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Titles that Grab Readers

November 7, 2005 by Liz

The best marketer I ever worked for swore by this rule:

Call it what it is. They can’t read your mind.

The following three titles all describe the same posting.
Which title would draw the most readers?
Which title would rise higher in search engine results?

Golden Snapshots
Short Posts that Draw Readers
Posts Made of Steel Not Wood

Easy to see. Hard to remember. If only I had a billboard in front of my desk instead of dead air. I need to go back to rename some postings so readers can easily tell what’s in them.

Creative writing is two blogs down and then to the left. Sometimes I’m too clever by half.

Do you have the same problem that I do?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

1.6 Thanks again, Indie

November 4, 2005 by Liz

THANKS INDIE, for sharing your blog and yourself with us this week. The Synchronicity of Indeterminacy has so much that makes it a successful blog, but I’d say the key is the care and tending of a man named Indie. . . .

These are three of my favorite story links from The Synchronicity of Indeterminacy for pleasure reading this weekend.

This Would Be an All-Nighter

Stop Treating Me Like a Baby

Evelyn Had Been Granted Three Wishes

Of course at Indie’s blog, there are hundreds more. If you have time, you might jump to the Index–it’s organized both by story and by week.

Made enough decisions this week? Try the Read Random button which will choose a story for you–one more cool detail about this memorable blog.

synchronicity random read image

If you do get a chance to read a story or two, be sure to leave Indie a comment to let him know you were there.

Indie also suggests these sites for some other fun reads.

saddlesore review

Retarius
Retarius was saved by its fans the search archives when the writer had decided to delete it. Also upon the announcement that the writer was quitting one fan organized a memorial in which his fans all contribued a post. The follow post was Indie’s contribution to that memorial.

I’m Here with Professor Ernest

Thanks again, Indie. It was great having you around. 🙂

–ME “Liz” Strauss