Blogging is a perfect way for people to share their thoughts with others. When people blog, it means they keep an updated online journal or diary. Weblog and blog are the same things. Companies might also blog to help increase the amount of business on their web sites. For many bloggers, increasing traffic to their blogs is not the only goal. Most people that blog want to keep their visitors coming back for more. The following are four ways to keep visitors coming to your blog site.
Blogging is a relatively new phenomenon. Some blog writes choose to keep their blogs personal and do not share their thoughts with others. These are more like online diaries. Other wants to share with everyone what he or she has to say. Blogging is a big business and many websites offer free blog hosting. In addition, many companies choose blogging as an inexpensive way to advertise their products or services. Blogging on the Internet is often much cheaper than maintaining a web site and is usually more interesting for readers and clients.
Update your blog: The easiest way to keep visitors coming back to your blog site is to update your blog on a regular basis. Readers will stay loyal to blogs that are updated daily. Some blog writers even updated several times a day. Readers will tend to loose interest in your writing if they have to wait several days for new material. Be loyal to your readers and your readers will be loyal to your blog. Also, there are literally thousands of blogs available on the Internet. If your blog is not updated on a regular basis, you will loose your readers to another blog site. Another fun way to update your blog and keep your readers interested in your site is to include something fun for your readers to enjoy. That could be as simple as a joke or maybe a link to a humorous story you have found on the Internet. You might also try including a trivia game or polls for your readers to enjoy on a regular basis.
Participate in web communities: Participating in web communities or discussion forums and mentioning your blog whenever possible will help keep readers coming back to your site. In addition, you can gain new readers when doing this. You can also be loyal to the blogs of other writers and ask them to visit your site. Leave nice comments about their site and invite them to your site. If you have mutual interests and the same type of readers, you can even share your blog links on your site. This helps everyone. Your reader will appreciate interesting reading while you benefit from readers from the other site.
Understand who reads your blogs: Another great way to keep blog readers coming back for more is to understand who reads your blog and write content that is directed towards them. This does not mean that you have to write on only one particular subject, though. If you are a stay at home mom and write about your life at home with the kids, your loyal readers may not appreciate it if you write about cutting edge topics or use a lot of foul language in your writing. If you generally write humor, do not bog your readers down with sorrowful woes and tales. Your readers will be interested in the things that attracted them to your site in the first place. That is usually what you are more interested in writing about. You can gain a better understanding of your readers interested by including places for comments and encouraging your readers to contact you by email.
Include keywords: You can gain readership and help keep your current readers by including certain keywords in your blog. If you have entered your blog on a search engine, these keywords that point to your blog will come up after a search. This is a great way to get readers interested in your blog. This is also a good way for companies to increase the traffic to their blog.
Blogging is the new way to keep a diary or journal online. Blogging is increasingly popular for companies as well. If you want to make your blog stand out against the thousands of other blogs, keep your readers interested and coming back for more everyday by updating your writing, participate in online communities, understand your readers and include keywords.
If you’ve just entered the world of blogging or if you’ve been blogging for a short time and find that things are not working out as you expected, it will be worth your while to spend some time understanding the common mistakes that bloggers make, mistakes that make it hard to enjoy what should be an enjoyable, satisfying experience: Blogging!
The five most common new blogger mistakes are:
Diving in (rather than wading in)
Having unrealistic expectations
Losing focus
Plagiarizing
Ignoring the reader
Diving in! Many bloggers are so anxious to get started that they dive in rather than wading in slowly — its a mistake in an unfamiliar swimming pool or pond and its a mistake when entering a new arena such as the ‘blogosphere.’ Consider these things before you start your Blog:
Find a focus for your blog . . . a focus that reflects what you know, what interests you and what you enjoy talking and writing about. No topics are out of bounds: politics, religion, science, sexual orientations, comedy, exercise, diet, diseases, etc., etc..
Take the time to read dozens of different blogs: note the colors, graphics and layouts to get an idea of what appeals to you. Also note that some bloggers are long-winded and others are brief and to the point . . . others are just chatty and entertaining and have no particular point to make . . . this too is a personal style you get to choose.
You need a host for your blog, some are free, some charge a small amount per month for their service, some are simple to use and some require more technical knowledge, some have more features than others; choose carefully, once you’ve established your blog and have a few regular readers you may not want to change your address (your URL).
You may or may not want to use your real name on your blog, this depends on many factors, not the least of which is your stance on controversial issues and how publicly you want to be identified with your opinions.
Unrealistic expectations! If you come to blogging expecting instant results: a large readership and many complimentary comments, you may be disappointed. There are tens of thousands of blogs online vying for the same audience. Patience and tenacity are essential on your part. If you write well, find a unique niche to fill, have appealing titles for your posts and tirelessly promote your blog the readership and comments (some of which will be complimentary) will come.
Losing focus! When you started your blog you had a particular reason for doing so; it might have been to express your views on a topic or it might have been to just communicate with a close circle of friends about your daily activities. Readers will come to your blog for the first time and either be interested in your subject matter or not, will either like your style or not and, if they like your subject and style they may comment and then come back later. Once you’ve established a topic and tone for your blog you’re free to change it but to do so you’re basically starting all over.
Be aware that you can have more than one blog, each one devoted to a particular topic and each one, if you choose, under a different identity.
Plagiarizing! There are some great bloggers out there and as you surf through blogs you might find one who said something really well, something that resonated with you and something you want to put in your blog. DON’T just copy and paste someone’s words in your blog without giving them credit, making it look to the world like the words are yours. If you write it, write it in your own words and write it better, adding your own thoughts and feelings and then be gracious, mention where you got the idea and provide a link.
Ignoring the reader! Some of the people who read your blog will leave comments; some readers will agree with you and some readers may even praise your insights but most will pick a point you’ve made and criticize it. People leave comments on others blogs for the same reason they themselves blog, to exchange ideas and express their points of view. Always respond to your readers comments; thank them for reading and taking the time to comment (even the severe critics) and then respond, as appropriate, to their comment. If you ignore your comments your readers may end up ignoring your blog.
If you’ve just entered the world of blogging or if you’ve been blogging for a short time and find that things are not working out as you expected, it will be worth your while to spend some time understanding the common mistakes that bloggers make, mistakes that make it hard to enjoy what should be an enjoyable, satisfying experience.
The five most common new blogger mistakes are:
Diving in! Many bloggers are so anxious to get started that they dive in rather than wading in slowly — its a mistake in an unfamiliar swimming pool or pond and its a mistake when entering a new arena such as the ‘blogosphere.’
Find a focus for your blog . . . a focus that reflects what you know, what interests you and what you enjoy talking and writing about. No topics are out of bounds: politics, religion, science, sexual orientations, comedy, exercise, diet, diseases, etc., etc..
Take the time to read dozens of different blogs: note the colors, graphics and layouts to get an idea of what appeals to you. Also note that some bloggers are long-winded and others are brief and to the point . . . others are just chatty and entertaining and have no particular point to make . . . this too is a personal style you get to choose.
You need a host for your blog, some are free, some charge a small amount per month for their service, some are simple to use and some require more technical knowledge, some have more features than others; choose carefully, once you’ve established your blog and have a few regular readers you may not want to change your address (your URL).
You may or may not want to use your real name on your blog, this depends on many factors, not the least of which is your stance on controversial issues and how publicly you want to be identified with your opinions.
Unrealistic expectations! If you come to blogging expecting instant results: a large readership and many complimentary comments, you may be disappointed. There are tens of thousands of blogs online vying for the same audience. Patience and tenacity are essential on your part. If you write well, find a unique niche to fill, have appealing titles for your posts and tirelessly promote your blog the readership and comments (some of which will be complimentary) will come.
Losing focus! When you started your blog you had a particular reason for doing so; it might have been to express your views on a topic or it might have been to just communicate with a close circle of friends about your daily activities. Readers will come to your blog for the first time and either be interested in your subject matter or not, will either like your style or not and, if they like your subject and style they may comment and then come back later. Once you’ve established a topic and tone for your blog you’re free to change it but to do so you’re basically starting all over. Be aware that you can have more than one blog, each one devoted to a particular topic and each one, if you choose, under a different identity.
Plagiarizing! There are some great bloggers out there and as you surf through blogs you might find one who said something really well, something that resonated with you and something you want to put in your blog. DON’T just copy and paste someone’s words in your blog without giving them credit, making it look to the world like the words are yours. If you write it, write it in your own words and write it better, adding your own thoughts and feelings and then be gracious, mention where you got the idea and provide a link.
Ignoring the reader! Some of the people who read your blog will leave comments; some readers will agree with you and some readers may even praise your insights but most will pick a point you’ve made and criticize it. People leave comments on others blogs for the same reason they themselves blog, to exchange ideas and express their points of view. Always respond to your readers comments; thank them for reading and taking the time to comment (even the severe critics) and then respond, as appropriate, to their comment. If you ignore your comments your readers may end up ignoring your blog.