5 Tips To Increase Comments
Comments are one of the things that make blogging worth while but, in the age of feed readers, how do you convince people to click over and leave one?
That's what we're going to discuss and, no, I'm not going to tell you to end every post with a question.
If you follow these five steps, within two weeks you will be well on your way to developing a community around your blog.
Show Some Link Love - This is one of my personal weaknesses. Take the time to acknowledge other bloggers. Make a special folder in your bookmarks for those posts you read and find interesting then, once a week, put together a post featuring the best articles you read that week.
Offering a little praise and linking to a post will almost always bring a positive response from the author and put you on their radar.
Comment On Other Blogs - I know you've heard this before but it really does matter. Why would you expect someone to go to the effort of rewarding you with a comment if you wont take the time to do it for them?
The most important things to remember about commenting are; make your comments relevant, be polite and do not include a link inside the comment body. (Be sure to fill out your email and URL in the author box.)
Give Something Away - It may seem like simple bribery and it is but, it works. many blogs have had great luck giving away prizes in contests where the only way to enter was by leaving a comment.
Write Compelling Content - If all you write are "Tips & Tricks" and "How-To" posts, you're going to have a hard time getting beyond the "Great Post" and "Thanks for this info." comments.
Write one or two posts a week where you express your opinion about something. Don't be afraid to take a position and back it up. Your posts don't have to be argumentative, just passionate. Write about something you care about, a favorite charity or a touching experience.
Answer Every Comment - I saved this point for last because I feel it is the most important. Your response to a reader's comment is your opportunity to encourage a conversation.
Imagine being at a party and an attractive guy or girl compliments you on your outfit. If you say "Thanks" and keep walking, do you think they will make an effort to talk to you again? Imagine, however, if you stopped for a moment, acknowledged their presence and gave them a compliment back. You have now encouraged them to talk to you again.
Always make your new commentators feel welcome and encourage them to comment again. It never hurts to end your response to a new comment with a question, but only once. Don't make them feel obligated to keep answering repeated questions, you'll run them off.
Take care of your regular commentators by encouraging continuing conversations. You must remember also, this is not a one way street. You should, at least, visit your commentators blogs and become a regular reader and commentator on the ones you like.
Summation
If you write about topics you are passionate about as well as knowledgeable of, it will show in your content. If you care about your readers and treat them that way, they will appreciate it and show you.
If, however, all you want out of blogging is for people to click your ads, just hit the delete button and walk away. Turning off your computer will save you more money on electricity in a year than you will make blogging.
August 22, 2008
August 21, 2008
10 Tips for Writing Bookmarkable Content
10 Tips for Writing Bookmarkable Content
There is a certain level of mystery to why one blog post is heavily bookmarked and another isn’t, but there are also some variables we can control. You can shape your content in such a way that it is more likely to get bookmarked, and in this post, I want to show you how.
Why should we write bookmarkable content?
There are several benefits to writing bookmarkable content. It has the potential to become popular on social bookmarking services like del.icio.us, and it brings in repeat traffic from readers who’ve bookmarked it for future use. Bookmarkable content is also a form of vital content: content readers can’t do without. This kind of content has been the foundation of some of the world’s best blogs.
Elements of bookmarkable content
It’s not necessary that you try to include all these elements at once, but each on their own (or in a sensible combination) will increase the likeliness of your content being bookmarked.
1. Length. One common reason why readers bookmark is that they want to read the content from start to finish but don’t have the time at the moment. Writing a good quality article which is longer than your average blog post is a good way to get bookmarked.
2. Introduce a new idea. Seth Godin’s blog posts seem almost contradictory to the above point, in that they are frequently bookmarked but tend to be quite short. What makes them bookmarkable is that they contain thought-provoking ideas readers don’t want to risk forgetting. You can encourage bookmarks by innovating.
3. Write a useful tutorial, how to, or guide. Tutorials tend to contain too many steps to memorize in one sitting. If a reader thinks what you are teaching is worthwhile, they’ll bookmark it. The most successful tutorials and guides are written about something a lot of readers want to do but haven’t been shown how elsewhere. Uniqueness and demand are the key factors in deciding whether a tutorial is bookmarkable.
4. Create a one-stop reference. This requires more hard-work than creativity, and as such anyone can do it. Pick a topic and assemble all the useful information and resources you can find on that topic in one place. Readers are likely to bookmark this because you’ve done all the hard-work for them.
5. Create a recommended list. If you’ve developed a sense of trust with your readers then they’re likely to respect your opinion. Create a list of your favorite blogs, or favorite websites, or favorite posts, or favorite albums, etc. Readers will appreciate the recommendation from someone they trust. The longer the list, the more likely it is to be bookmarked and returned to later.
6. Create a cheat sheet for your topic. A cheat sheet is any single-page reference guide for a topic. A web-designer’s cheat sheet might contain definitions of every CSS term, a beginner chess player’s cheat sheet might outline how the pieces are set-up on the board, and how they move, a traveler going to Japan might create a cheat sheet with key Japanese phrases, tourist attractions, notes on local customs, and so on.
Cheat sheets encourage bookmarking because they’re a quick reference for information that can’t easily be remembered. I’ve written in detail on creating cheat sheets here.
7. Make a convincing argument on a controversial topic. Readers who share your opinion will often bookmark the post if they feel you’ve stated their case more eloquently than they themselves could. When the argument comes up elsewhere, that reader is likely to point others to your article as a means of stating their case. There is even a chance that your post could go viral — though you have to be prepared for a little controversy in the comments section!
8. Compile great videos on a topic. Search for the best ten (or whatever number) videos on your topic and compile them in a post. If each video is 5 minutes long then it might take half-an-hour to watch them all. Readers will be more likely to bookmark the post and watch a new video when they have the time.
9. Remedy a problem. If the remedy is not a simple process readers are likely to bookmark it so they can implement the points over time. Even readers who are not yet suffering the problem might bookmark the post just in case they suffer it in future. I myself have bookmarked a post which lists dozens of content ideas — even though I’m nowhere near running out of ideas yet.
10. Compile a directory of links. These links are usually grouped under one broad topic and divided into sub-headings. There might be a sentence or two of evaluative or descriptive text next to the link. The more links, the more bookmarkable the content.
Over to you
* Do you have any other ideas for bookmarkable content?
* Have you written any content that has been frequently bookmarked?
* Why do you think it was bookmarkable?
* What kind of content do you yourself tend to bookmark?
There is a certain level of mystery to why one blog post is heavily bookmarked and another isn’t, but there are also some variables we can control. You can shape your content in such a way that it is more likely to get bookmarked, and in this post, I want to show you how.
Why should we write bookmarkable content?
There are several benefits to writing bookmarkable content. It has the potential to become popular on social bookmarking services like del.icio.us, and it brings in repeat traffic from readers who’ve bookmarked it for future use. Bookmarkable content is also a form of vital content: content readers can’t do without. This kind of content has been the foundation of some of the world’s best blogs.
Elements of bookmarkable content
It’s not necessary that you try to include all these elements at once, but each on their own (or in a sensible combination) will increase the likeliness of your content being bookmarked.
1. Length. One common reason why readers bookmark is that they want to read the content from start to finish but don’t have the time at the moment. Writing a good quality article which is longer than your average blog post is a good way to get bookmarked.
2. Introduce a new idea. Seth Godin’s blog posts seem almost contradictory to the above point, in that they are frequently bookmarked but tend to be quite short. What makes them bookmarkable is that they contain thought-provoking ideas readers don’t want to risk forgetting. You can encourage bookmarks by innovating.
3. Write a useful tutorial, how to, or guide. Tutorials tend to contain too many steps to memorize in one sitting. If a reader thinks what you are teaching is worthwhile, they’ll bookmark it. The most successful tutorials and guides are written about something a lot of readers want to do but haven’t been shown how elsewhere. Uniqueness and demand are the key factors in deciding whether a tutorial is bookmarkable.
4. Create a one-stop reference. This requires more hard-work than creativity, and as such anyone can do it. Pick a topic and assemble all the useful information and resources you can find on that topic in one place. Readers are likely to bookmark this because you’ve done all the hard-work for them.
5. Create a recommended list. If you’ve developed a sense of trust with your readers then they’re likely to respect your opinion. Create a list of your favorite blogs, or favorite websites, or favorite posts, or favorite albums, etc. Readers will appreciate the recommendation from someone they trust. The longer the list, the more likely it is to be bookmarked and returned to later.
6. Create a cheat sheet for your topic. A cheat sheet is any single-page reference guide for a topic. A web-designer’s cheat sheet might contain definitions of every CSS term, a beginner chess player’s cheat sheet might outline how the pieces are set-up on the board, and how they move, a traveler going to Japan might create a cheat sheet with key Japanese phrases, tourist attractions, notes on local customs, and so on.
Cheat sheets encourage bookmarking because they’re a quick reference for information that can’t easily be remembered. I’ve written in detail on creating cheat sheets here.
7. Make a convincing argument on a controversial topic. Readers who share your opinion will often bookmark the post if they feel you’ve stated their case more eloquently than they themselves could. When the argument comes up elsewhere, that reader is likely to point others to your article as a means of stating their case. There is even a chance that your post could go viral — though you have to be prepared for a little controversy in the comments section!
8. Compile great videos on a topic. Search for the best ten (or whatever number) videos on your topic and compile them in a post. If each video is 5 minutes long then it might take half-an-hour to watch them all. Readers will be more likely to bookmark the post and watch a new video when they have the time.
9. Remedy a problem. If the remedy is not a simple process readers are likely to bookmark it so they can implement the points over time. Even readers who are not yet suffering the problem might bookmark the post just in case they suffer it in future. I myself have bookmarked a post which lists dozens of content ideas — even though I’m nowhere near running out of ideas yet.
10. Compile a directory of links. These links are usually grouped under one broad topic and divided into sub-headings. There might be a sentence or two of evaluative or descriptive text next to the link. The more links, the more bookmarkable the content.
Over to you
* Do you have any other ideas for bookmarkable content?
* Have you written any content that has been frequently bookmarked?
* Why do you think it was bookmarkable?
* What kind of content do you yourself tend to bookmark?
Is Your Blog Easy To Read?
Is Your Blog Easy To Read?
Do you want people to stick around and read your blog? Then you should ask yourself, “Is my blog easy to read?”
Here are some things to check for:
1. Are your colors easy on the eyes?
People are not going to stick around to read a blog that strains their eyes. Pick some easy-to-read colors, like dark gray or black text on a white or off-white background. If that is too plain, at least use dark colored text on a very light background.
You can always dress up the look by putting more color in your heading and sidebar, or add some images.
2. Is your font easy to read?
Take a good look at your font. It may be cool, but is it easy to read? The best fonts for the web are Verdana, Georgia and Lucida Grande, according to Jim Whimpey.
3. Can people figure out your navigation?
I have visited many blogs where I would gladly read more, but after the front page, I have no idea how to find more content.
You might think your blog is easy to navigate, but you are used to it. Ask a friend to see if they can figure it out. You might be surprised. (Especially if that friend is not very web-savvy.)
4. Does it look spammy, with ads plastered everywhere?
5. Do the links stand out?
On some blogs, the links are only subtly different from the rest of the text. If I have to squint to figure out if it is a link, do you think I am going to click on it?
6. Do your pages take a long time to load?
Check your actual page load time here. People will not stick around long if navigation is slow. Try to get your page to load more quickly. Maybe you have too many widgets, or maybe your images are too large or too numerous. Adding width and height attributes to images makes them load faster too. This page will give you ideas on how to improve your load time.
7. Is your page messed up in other browsers?
If you have Internet Explorer already, download Firefox and test there too. If you always use Firefox, test in Explorer. Those should be the minimum you test, but test more if you can.
Also, change your screen resolution (can be done in your Control Panel in Windows) to see how your site looks in different resolutions.
You can also visit Browsershots to get screenshots of your site in different browsers. It takes quite a while, but you don’t have to do this often - just when you make big changes to your template.
Your visitors should feel welcome, no matter what browser or resolution they are using.
8. Are you using too many acronymns, jargon, or slang?
Think about the audience for your site. Will they understand you, or is it going right over their heads? If you want beginners to read your blog, you might not want to use too many technical terms, or, if you do, then define them.
Also keep in mind that you might have readers from other countries. They may understand English, but they may not know a lot of slang terms.
If your site targets a different generation from your own, you might need to adjust your language and even the look of your site. This could happen if you are writing for a niche audience that is “not you”. Keep your audience in mind.
Conclusion:
I hope this checklist will help you look at your blog with new eyes and think about whether you are scaring away any visitors. It might be helpful to get some friends or family members to look at your site and give their opinion as well.
Once you are sure you are not scaring visitors away, then it is time to work on getting more visitors. See my book, Blog Traffic Jump Start, for more information about how to get traffic to your blog.
Do you want people to stick around and read your blog? Then you should ask yourself, “Is my blog easy to read?”
Here are some things to check for:
1. Are your colors easy on the eyes?
People are not going to stick around to read a blog that strains their eyes. Pick some easy-to-read colors, like dark gray or black text on a white or off-white background. If that is too plain, at least use dark colored text on a very light background.
You can always dress up the look by putting more color in your heading and sidebar, or add some images.
2. Is your font easy to read?
Take a good look at your font. It may be cool, but is it easy to read? The best fonts for the web are Verdana, Georgia and Lucida Grande, according to Jim Whimpey.
3. Can people figure out your navigation?
I have visited many blogs where I would gladly read more, but after the front page, I have no idea how to find more content.
You might think your blog is easy to navigate, but you are used to it. Ask a friend to see if they can figure it out. You might be surprised. (Especially if that friend is not very web-savvy.)
4. Does it look spammy, with ads plastered everywhere?
5. Do the links stand out?
On some blogs, the links are only subtly different from the rest of the text. If I have to squint to figure out if it is a link, do you think I am going to click on it?
6. Do your pages take a long time to load?
Check your actual page load time here. People will not stick around long if navigation is slow. Try to get your page to load more quickly. Maybe you have too many widgets, or maybe your images are too large or too numerous. Adding width and height attributes to images makes them load faster too. This page will give you ideas on how to improve your load time.
7. Is your page messed up in other browsers?
If you have Internet Explorer already, download Firefox and test there too. If you always use Firefox, test in Explorer. Those should be the minimum you test, but test more if you can.
Also, change your screen resolution (can be done in your Control Panel in Windows) to see how your site looks in different resolutions.
You can also visit Browsershots to get screenshots of your site in different browsers. It takes quite a while, but you don’t have to do this often - just when you make big changes to your template.
Your visitors should feel welcome, no matter what browser or resolution they are using.
8. Are you using too many acronymns, jargon, or slang?
Think about the audience for your site. Will they understand you, or is it going right over their heads? If you want beginners to read your blog, you might not want to use too many technical terms, or, if you do, then define them.
Also keep in mind that you might have readers from other countries. They may understand English, but they may not know a lot of slang terms.
If your site targets a different generation from your own, you might need to adjust your language and even the look of your site. This could happen if you are writing for a niche audience that is “not you”. Keep your audience in mind.
Conclusion:
I hope this checklist will help you look at your blog with new eyes and think about whether you are scaring away any visitors. It might be helpful to get some friends or family members to look at your site and give their opinion as well.
Once you are sure you are not scaring visitors away, then it is time to work on getting more visitors. See my book, Blog Traffic Jump Start, for more information about how to get traffic to your blog.
August 20, 2008
5 ways to increase Internet traffic to your blog or web site
5 ways to increase Internet traffic to your blog or web site
However, getting good backlinks is not easy! It’s actually quite hard if you’re just starting off and not showing up anywhere in the SERPs. However, you can quickly boost your traffic if you follow a couple of suggestions that I’ve tried out. Remember, these suggestions are only going to work as long as your content is good. If you’re writing about something that no ones cares about, none of the following techniques will help! You need to make sure you write HIGH-QUALITY and UNIQUE articles.
I’ve found that 5 really good well-written articles do much better than 20 quickly-written not-so-interesting articles. The 5 really good articles will be picked up by the search engines and will eventually get you links when people read them. Write some more and you’ll get more links and more trust.
So with that idea in mind concerning content, here’s what I’ve tried and that has been working well for me.
1. Technorati Tags - I didn’t realize that Technorati tags could help so much! I had written well over 200 posts by the time I figured out that I could get some good links to my blog if I simply used tags. Technorati tags won’t get you much in terms of traffic, but that’s not what you’re looking to do here. I was able to go from an authority of 12 after 3 months to 40 only one month later!
2. Submit to Article Directories - You’ve probably read this one before, but it’s really important. There are tons of sites out there, the biggest ones are EZine Articles, Buzzle, WebProNews, and GoArticles. Remember that when submitting to an article directory, you want to make sure you submit new content. Do NOT post an article on your blog and then submit it to 20 article directories. It’s going to be duplicate content and will be penalized. It’s best to write one article and submit it to only one or two of the top directories and that’s it. You’ll get a good amount of traffic from EZine and Buzzle! And the links will help your Trust rank also.
3. Submit posts to tip or knowledge-based sites - I tried this only recently with HUGE results! For example, I submitted a couple of articles to LifeHacker, a site all about life tips, etc, and two were accepted and posted to their site. I received 11,000 hits in one day for one article and 5,000 from the other one. Just by getting those two articles on their web site, I was able to get well over 50 backlinks. Of course, I had to write something good, such as how to detect if someone is spying on you and how to create a locked folder in XP, but it really paid off! If you’re not a tech blog, find the top blogs in your niche and see if they accept tips or ideas from others.
4. Join and win blog contests - This is not so easily done because your blog usually has to have been around for a while already and have pretty good content. But if it has and you’re getting decent traffic, try to submit to blog contests in your niche. For example, DailyCupOfTech has a weekly Tech Blog of the Week that highlights and links back to the best blog of that week. It’s a great way to get some traffic and get good links back to you.
5. Use keyword tools when writing posts - Writing a good title for your blog post is essential! However, it is impossible to simply guess what a good title for your post, so use Google Keyword tool, KeywordDiscovery, Overture Keyword tool, etc to find the best target phrases for your content. For example, when I wrote this post, I looked up the keyword increase blog traffic and got a list of possible alternative keywords and search volumes.
Using these five methods above, I’ve seen my traffic increase by 1500% within the last five months. Keep writing good content, but also focus on getting your blog noticed by others and the search engines! Good luck!
However, getting good backlinks is not easy! It’s actually quite hard if you’re just starting off and not showing up anywhere in the SERPs. However, you can quickly boost your traffic if you follow a couple of suggestions that I’ve tried out. Remember, these suggestions are only going to work as long as your content is good. If you’re writing about something that no ones cares about, none of the following techniques will help! You need to make sure you write HIGH-QUALITY and UNIQUE articles.
I’ve found that 5 really good well-written articles do much better than 20 quickly-written not-so-interesting articles. The 5 really good articles will be picked up by the search engines and will eventually get you links when people read them. Write some more and you’ll get more links and more trust.
So with that idea in mind concerning content, here’s what I’ve tried and that has been working well for me.
1. Technorati Tags - I didn’t realize that Technorati tags could help so much! I had written well over 200 posts by the time I figured out that I could get some good links to my blog if I simply used tags. Technorati tags won’t get you much in terms of traffic, but that’s not what you’re looking to do here. I was able to go from an authority of 12 after 3 months to 40 only one month later!
2. Submit to Article Directories - You’ve probably read this one before, but it’s really important. There are tons of sites out there, the biggest ones are EZine Articles, Buzzle, WebProNews, and GoArticles. Remember that when submitting to an article directory, you want to make sure you submit new content. Do NOT post an article on your blog and then submit it to 20 article directories. It’s going to be duplicate content and will be penalized. It’s best to write one article and submit it to only one or two of the top directories and that’s it. You’ll get a good amount of traffic from EZine and Buzzle! And the links will help your Trust rank also.
3. Submit posts to tip or knowledge-based sites - I tried this only recently with HUGE results! For example, I submitted a couple of articles to LifeHacker, a site all about life tips, etc, and two were accepted and posted to their site. I received 11,000 hits in one day for one article and 5,000 from the other one. Just by getting those two articles on their web site, I was able to get well over 50 backlinks. Of course, I had to write something good, such as how to detect if someone is spying on you and how to create a locked folder in XP, but it really paid off! If you’re not a tech blog, find the top blogs in your niche and see if they accept tips or ideas from others.
4. Join and win blog contests - This is not so easily done because your blog usually has to have been around for a while already and have pretty good content. But if it has and you’re getting decent traffic, try to submit to blog contests in your niche. For example, DailyCupOfTech has a weekly Tech Blog of the Week that highlights and links back to the best blog of that week. It’s a great way to get some traffic and get good links back to you.
5. Use keyword tools when writing posts - Writing a good title for your blog post is essential! However, it is impossible to simply guess what a good title for your post, so use Google Keyword tool, KeywordDiscovery, Overture Keyword tool, etc to find the best target phrases for your content. For example, when I wrote this post, I looked up the keyword increase blog traffic and got a list of possible alternative keywords and search volumes.
Using these five methods above, I’ve seen my traffic increase by 1500% within the last five months. Keep writing good content, but also focus on getting your blog noticed by others and the search engines! Good luck!
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