Blogging is not rocket science, it’s writing about what you know best. Blogging is much like journaling. The big difference is that other people get to read what you’re writing about and can comment, which adds to the information. You’ll have to work at building a blog readership. People won’t start coming by to read what you have to say just because your blog is on the web. You’ll have to invoke some marketing strategies to gain acceptance and readership in the web community.
• Collect Subscribers – Invite people to reader your blog by putting a link at the bottom of your email signature. Highlight some of the more interesting subjects you’re blogging about on your website. Never miss an opportunity to write about what people are talking about most. The news has to be relevant, timely, interesting and packed with useful information.
• Syndicate Your Stuff – The web provides many avenues to syndicate your writings. Use social book marketing to let the larger communities such as Digg, Reddit, Technorati, StumbleUpon, or Mixx know what you’re talking about.
• Create Cross Traffic – Create cross traffic between your social sites, blog and website by providing links between each platform. That way, the people listening to you on Twitter or Facebook will visit your blog. Tie all of your platforms together using text links or images and make it easy for people to click on interesting items or news stories and move between them.
• Do Some Guest Appearances – See if you can trade posts with some influential bloggers in your business space. You write a few posts on her blog and she writes a few on yours. You’ll get exposed to a new audience and perhaps acquire some new readers.
• Walk the Talk – Most blogs fail because people do not count the cost before launching the experiment. Blogs take time and resources. Make sure you have an ample supply of both and then add a good dose of consistency.
• Be Interesting – This should go without saying, but unfortunately it has to be said: Your writing has to be interesting, motivating, appealing and cause people to want to take action or join in on the discussion.
The good bloggers are those who have stood the test of time and the stiff competition out there on the web: those that write with passion, conviction, creativity and sweat.
