A recent survey has shown that blogs are considered more trusted sources of information than TV advertising. People are now making purchase decisions on the internet based on positive reviews from bloggers.As the report puts it - Get it right, and blogs could be a boost to companies and even save on their advertising and marketing budgets.
That should serve as a nice motivation for most bloggers. Now let's get to some interesting tips on writing successful blogs compiled from around the blogosphere:
Jennifer Slegg has simple tips on how to help keep your blog neat and clean for a better user experience, longer-term readership and consistent revenues.
Write RegularlyDanny Sullivan, who knows about the search engine industry more than anyone else, shares some the most common mistakes committed by novice bloggers:
We are all guilty of allowing a week or two go between entries. Sometimes there is nothing newsworthy to report, or we are busy with clients (or vacations!) But once you allow a couple weeks to go by without an entry, people start to wonder if maybe your blog has joined the thousands of other defunct blogs cluttering the net.
So have a few entries ready to go for times when life interferes. And if you know you are going to be busy, have a few entries set to future publish every few days while you are away to give the illusion of an active blog even if you are really at Disneyland.
Use descriptive titles and descriptions.Eric Kintz makes an interesting point that differs from what Jensense just said. According to Eric, blog posting frequency doesn't matter anymore since loyal readers don't come to your blog daily, they have the content pushed to them via feeds.
Even if you send out a full feed, plenty of people will either summarize your posts with only titles or tiles and descriptions. Make sure what you provide is compelling, to encourage clickthrough.
Frequent posting is actually starting to have a negative impact on loyalty:Eric has another useful suggestion Leverage web 1.0 / web 2.0 cross-overs - "99% of potential readers still rely on the mainstream media or newsletters to get their information. These can be powerful accelerators and amplifiers of word of mouth."
According to Seth Godin, RSS fatigue is already setting in. With too many posts, you run the risk of losing loyal readers, overwhelmed by the clutter you generate. Readers will start to tune off if your blog takes up too much of their time.
Previous Blogging Tips Roundup
Build Relationship with Blog Readers
Niche Blogging for More Readers
More Tips on Writing a Successful Blog
