50 Blogging Tips that Deliver
If you want to set yourself apart as a blogger, you have to do a few things differently. These tips are the best advice I have to offer. They are the result of two years of intensive blogging. I welcome feedback as comments or questions.
- Be mentored: offer someone doughnuts!
- Monitor inbound links.
- Don’t link out more than you have inbound links.
- Write a a dynamite “ABOUT” page for your blog.
- Have a “Best of” page.
- Guest blog out there.
- Host guest bloggers on your blog.
- Write reviews with proper references (ie; IMDB for movies)
- Optimize use of categories.
- TAG by idea, not by words used.
- Write great excerpts, summaries, and introductions.
- Use search words in your title.
- Pick a simple theme and then test, test, test.
- Paragraphs no longer than 10 sentences.
- Here today, gone tomorrow: remember your post is not a bestseller in process. Write it and move on.
- Submit your best stuff to social media. Even better, ask your friends to.
- NOFOLLOW when you should NOFOLLOW.
- Outline your post. Don’t “freewrite.”
- Use pictures.
- Get a picture hosting and posting routine you like.
- Use Google Reader. Leave comments.
- Have a minimal sidebar. Most the “flair” out there is so distracting and lame.
- Make subheadings in BOLD.
- Don’t “create” topics, wait for them to come to you. be ready with a yellow pad or tape recorder.
- Use the future posts timestamp feature of WordPress to get more than one post started in one sitting.
- Schedule deadlines to be mailed to you through Google Calendar (No, I don’t work for Google … wish tho ;) )
- Find your “niche” and become a slave to it.
- Value SEO and learn things about it.
- Set goals.
- Monitor results of goals.
- Spell check and correct basic grammar. Try Strunk and White’s “Elements of Style.”
- Make posts over 100 words, around 200 words and usually not more than 400 words.
- Get away! Time off captures ideas.
- Go to the Library for inspiration.
- Use RANK then do not pay any attention to it.
- Value real readers not empty “click-through” traffic.
- Know your stats.
- Be entertaining.
- Regularly post.
- Be accessible as an author.
- Blogging is not instant gratification.
- Spend most your time working on your own blog and smaller amounts commenting and blog hopping.
- Adjust as necessary, be flexible.
- Don’t look for advertisers, rather look to be the type of blog that would have advertisers.
- Check out addons and plugins available to you.
- Take an official photo.
- Be a brand.
- Ask for feedback
- Put ideas in your blog as “drafts” for rainy days.
- Measure success on your own terms.
Follow these tips and your blog travels will be stronger than a Samsonite.
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:26 pm
[...] Your page is on StumbleUpon [...]
December 2nd, 2008 at 4:35 pm
[...] After 2 years at this seriously, I came up with this list. Let me know what you think: http://www.damienriley.com/50-blogging-tips-that-deliver/ [...]
December 2nd, 2008 at 5:26 pm
These are great tips. Thanks and I plan on putting many of them into use. J
December 2nd, 2008 at 6:13 pm
@Jen: Thanks a bunch. I hope they help you.
December 2nd, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Thanks a lot for sharing these tips. They are amazing.
I’m going to try and make my blog more professional-looking in a few weeks.
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:02 pm
@Atif: You are welcome. Thank you for reading my blog. If you like it well enough tell social media through the button above.
December 3rd, 2008 at 6:00 am
[...] you blog: I recently published a list of 50 Blog Tips that Deliver. I encourage you to head over and learn from some of my hard knocks! addthis_url = [...]
December 4th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Hi Damien. Just a few comments:
“Find your “niche” and become a slave to it.”
And also be sure to not choose a niche that is already saturated ;-)
“Make posts over 100 words, around 200 words and usually not more than 400 words.”
Of course it depends on the type of post you are writing. If you write detailed tutorials like I do then it’s impossible to write a short post. (Btw isn’t this post over 400 words? :-)
“Regularly post.”
I’ve hardly posted lately and my traffic is up more than 500%. So writing every day isn’t necessarily going to bring you good results. I would say that writing quality posts that are SEO optimized is far more important than quantity.
“Pick a simple theme and then test, test, test.”
Although I agree with the testing part (does it ever end) a “simple” theme isn’t always your best choice if you have a lot of content like I do. A nice looking site also doesn’t hurt to attract repeat visitors.
“Paragraphs no longer than 10 sentences.”
Personally I would never write a paragraph anywhere close to 10 sentences. Viewers are in a hurry and long paragraphs are a complete turnoff. Readers will generally scan only the first and last sentences. The rest is considered fluff and will be ignored by most.
“Here today, gone tomorrow: remember your post is not a bestseller in process. Write it and move on.”
Sometimes when we write a post we forget to optimize it for the SERPS. I’m always going back to my better posts and tweaking them for optimum performance. Like I said earlier good quality posts will bring you more traffic over the long term.
“Use Google Reader. Leave comments.”
Although Google has a nice social aspect to it, because I have so many subscriptions it crashers my browser. So only a heavy-duty desktop application will do what I need it to do.
“Have a minimal sidebar. Most the “flair” out there is so distracting and lame.”
Agreed, too many bloggers have useless widgets such as showing what the weather is in your home town. But the sidebar/footer is a useful place to put your best posts, reader’s comments etc. So don’t neglect it.
“Measure success on your own terms” and “Blogging is not instant gratification”
So true.
Hope that helps and cheers!
December 5th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
@Blog Bloke – helping you to be a better blogger: Exceptional and true comments. I responded in a whole new post since there was so much to say. Thank you! 6 Mo Better Blogging Tips
December 5th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
[...] Mo Better Blogging Tips Last week I wrote a post I had worked quite dutifully on. It is called 50 Blogging Tips that Deliver. While I at the time I posted it was most certain it was a quality post ready for the world, a guy [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Thanx a lot for the tips Damien. Some of them are new to me. Would certainly try them out.
December 24th, 2008 at 9:55 am
yo!! totally agree!!!
January 10th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Nice tips, thanks for sharing!
I will start using them…
Henry
http://spanishto-go.com
January 12th, 2009 at 8:54 am
Great post. I look forward to using as many of your suggestions as possible. Nice guide. Thanks.
January 31st, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Excellent tips. I may just bookmark this or favorite the Digg so I can keep coming back to it.
February 1st, 2009 at 6:03 pm
@Eric Brooks: Thanks so much for the comment and Digg. I took a lot of time one afternoon to think these out. It’s very gratifying to know people are reading them.