HOW TO: Best Practices in Blogging
Even though every blog and site is different, there are some best practices you can follow to be successful.
1. Big Ideas
Use your blog to talk about ideas and topics that appeal to a wide range of people. If you’re a plumbing parts vendor, blog about home decor. If you’re a spa/salon, blog about beauty or stress management or health tips. If you’re a real estate agent, blog about neighborhoods, city life. If you’re a florist, blog about event planning. The idea is to blog about topics that you are familiar with and are more general, and then you establish your expertise while garnering traffic and drawing people in.
2. Include Polls for Feedback In Your Sidebar
A lot of people will not post comments on your blog. They might not feel comfortable doing so, but the anonymity of a poll will be something they can interact with, giving you valuable feedback.
3. Use first names when you reply in your comments.
It’s all about connection. These are people, treat them with respect.
4. Be consistent
Have a blogging schedule. Blogging takes time and has to be scheduled like anything else. An abandoned blog or blog that hasn’t been written in is worse than no blog. If you approach it as something you will do consistently, on your schedule whether it is monthly, biweekly, weekly or daily, then you will be more successful. Things might happen to throw you off of your schedule, so when that happens, start again and blog consistently even when you don’t see traffic or comments. Building a blog takes time. The only way to fail is to quit.
5. Use the media you are comfortable with.
Blogs don’t have to be written, though they should have at least a paragraph of written text for search engines. However if you feel more comfortable speaking, consider video or audio blogs.
6. Have a formal comment policy on your blog
If you’re worried about negative comments, then be proactive and state your comment policy up front. It’s okay to moderate comments. But great companies take the time to address problems head-on. A negative comment can be a great opportunity to shine. If you reach out, be respectful and respond to any negative feedback then it can reflect positively.
7. Avoid Banner Blindness
There is such a thing as too much content on a page. Ask your readers what they think after a design change and listen to their responses. Carefully consider the site structure and the way the information is arranged. More important information needs to go closer to the top and simplify, simplify simplify. Consider consulting with a designer even if you’re doing it yourself for ideas on how to make improvements. Remember a blog is never finished, so feel free to make changes and track results, then adjust accordingly.
8. Measure.
You can measure site traffic, comments, number of subscriptions, poll results, link-backs, tweets and retweets. The important thing is that you measure and track the results. Are you measuring? If not, why not? Identify key metrics and start tracking the blog traffic data now, then use the data to refine your processes.
