A friend with a new blog asked me for advice and these are the tips I drew up for her:1. Let passion be the magnet. Write about what you are passionate about without worrying too much about your readers. Your passion will show up in your blog, will keep you going, and will attract people.
2. Use compelling images - pics of people's faces are great - to accompany text. The images will draw readers into the text.
3. Shine the spotlight on other people - on their accomplishments, talent, and expertise and create LINKS to those people and their enterprises in the text. People love to be seen and mentioned and it will keep them interested in your blog!
4. Go for LINKLOVE (I think Tim Sanders coined that term.) In the right hand margin of your blog, create a blogroll - a list of other blogs and websites that you like. Ask other bloggers/website owners if they want to reciprocate the linklove.
Creating linklove will drive traffic to others and then back to you. It's the law of Karma, baby!
5. Write from "flash" insights or from experiences you had 5 minutes ago. Sometimes the recent, fresh stuff that is not too thought-out is the most compelling.
6. Vary the format of your entries. They can take these and other forms:
* Lists (people love lists)
* Quotations
* Passages from books
* Announcements of your or other peoples special events.
* Q and As with others / mini-interviews
* Quick "spotlight bios" with pics of people you feature
7. A newsy, personal tone is inviting and helps people feel like they are part of the world you are writing about.
8. Use blogger etiquette. If you quote another blogger or use a photo, credit that person and provide a link back to their site. (I will often email and ask them permission.)
9. Tag your posts, and do it by subject. Tags get picked up by search engines, which drive traffic to your site. I highly recommend signing on with Outside.In
3. Shine the spotlight on other people - on their accomplishments, talent, and expertise and create LINKS to those people and their enterprises in the text. People love to be seen and mentioned and it will keep them interested in your blog!
4. Go for LINKLOVE (I think Tim Sanders coined that term.) In the right hand margin of your blog, create a blogroll - a list of other blogs and websites that you like. Ask other bloggers/website owners if they want to reciprocate the linklove.
Creating linklove will drive traffic to others and then back to you. It's the law of Karma, baby!
5. Write from "flash" insights or from experiences you had 5 minutes ago. Sometimes the recent, fresh stuff that is not too thought-out is the most compelling.
6. Vary the format of your entries. They can take these and other forms:
* Lists (people love lists)
* Quotations
* Passages from books
* Announcements of your or other peoples special events.
* Q and As with others / mini-interviews
* Quick "spotlight bios" with pics of people you feature
7. A newsy, personal tone is inviting and helps people feel like they are part of the world you are writing about.
8. Use blogger etiquette. If you quote another blogger or use a photo, credit that person and provide a link back to their site. (I will often email and ask them permission.)
9. Tag your posts, and do it by subject. Tags get picked up by search engines, which drive traffic to your site. I highly recommend signing on with Outside.In
10. HAVE FUN!!!! Let your blog be a passport to adventure.
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