Friday, September 13, 2013

Attracting visitors to your blog


(image credit)
The 227% in 10 Ways to Increase Your Business Blog Traffic by 227 Percent is a gratuitous ploy to attract readers, but to writer Norman Schriever's credit, the tips he walks us through are really good ones.  For example, bloggers ought to make sure that what they write adds value:  It is meaningful to the business and it makes a difference to their target audience.  The first without the second probably means that the blog will hardly get read.  The second without the first makes the bog a mercenary (i.e., gun-for-hire) undertaking.

I'd add the following:
  • Consider Blogger and Tumblr.  Blogger is a Google offering, and is part of its enormous ecosystem.  I build a large foundation of content, to start with, before promoting the blog, yet my blogs garnered several thousands of visits.  I'm new to Tumblr, but with content fit for its Millennial demographic, I have had several likes and reblogs right away.  
  • I am very patient and strategic about my blogging, so while I haven't posted my articles yet on social media, I do list my blogs in the profile section.  Google+ and YouTube allow you to insert links into the text itself, while you have to simply post the links on Facebook and LinkedIn.  In either case, be sure to include something easily clickable.  
  • Photos and videos do add visual anchors to your articles, as Schriever emphasizes.  I'd simply add that the over all look of your blog must be appealing.  You can hire a designer, if you like, which I've done.  But she was way too costly for the value she delivered.  You can engage friends, colleagues or contacts to give you feedback, instead.  But the main thing is that design has to be appealing to you and your target audience.

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