SEO Hosting Blog

If you want to hook readers, the first thing you need is a great headline. With the way blog posts are shared (Twitter, Facebook, voting websites, etc.), most people decide whether or not they’re going to click and read a post based solely on the headline. So if your headline sucks, you’re not going to get much attention.

Thankfully, it’s not all that difficult to write a powerful blog headline. The best headlines share these 4 qualities.

1. Clear—No one is going to take the time to click on your blog post if they don’t have a decent idea of what it’s about. I’m not saying you can’t get creative and clever with your blog headlines. By all means, go for it. Just make sure you don’t sacrifice clarity along the way. Someone should be able to look at just your headline and know what topic the post is focused on.
2. Unique—Your target audience is constantly being bombarded with content from all across the web. Everyone is fighting for their attention. If you want to stand out in the crowd, you need to have a unique headline that forces people to stop and click.
3. Interesting—A great headline creates intrigue. It compels the people you’re targeting to read the rest of the post because their interest is piqued. For this post, I chose to ask a question in the headline. You probably clicked on it because you wanted to know what the 4 qualities are that I was referring to and if your blog headlines had them.
4. Useful—Headlines that promise practical information are considered useful. There’s a reason “how-to” posts are so popular. They provide solutions to common problems faced by readers.

What are some other qualities the best blog headlines boast? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment. 

Running a blog takes a lot of time. You have to come up with ideas for your posts, write them and polish them up to be the best they can be, reply to comments, promote your posts across the web, engage in social networking…the list goes on and on and on.

That’s why so many bloggers get burned out and give up. The good news is that running your blog doesn’t have to be a chore or feel like having a second full-time job. If you work smarter, not harder, you can make the most of the time you devote to your blog.

• Schedule time to work on your blog—If you don’t schedule time to work on your blog, you’re going to have a hard time getting around to it. You’ll tell yourself that maybe tomorrow you’ll write another post, if you can find the time. You need to create a blogging schedule, based on your available time. Find slots of time where you could work on your blog, and put them on your schedule. This ensures you work on your blog regularly, while also keeping you focused on getting the job done in the allotted time.
• Find times for multitasking—There are certain times throughout the day where you can do a couple of things at once. For example, if you take public transportation to work, you could write your blog posts during your commute. Or, if you find yourself doing some menial task that doesn’t require a lot of your attention, you might be able to scratch out some content then.
• Moderate comments in bulk—You don’t have to moderate and respond to comments in real-time as they come in. You’ll constantly be getting distracted. Set aside some time each day (maybe a few short blocks of time throughout the day) to deal with all of your comments at once.
• Build a network of promoters—Promoting blog posts effectively takes time, but if you get help from others, you don’t have to do it all on your own. Try to build a network of people you can rely on to help promote your posts. In exchange, you can help them with their promotional needs.

What are some other tips for blogging more efficiently?

“Write every day. It doesn’t matter what you write, but just write something.”

How many times have you heard that piece of advice? As writers (more specifically, bloggers), we’re told that we need to write every day to keep our writing muscles strong. The idea is that the more you write, the better you’ll get at writing. It’s like a basketball player shooting hoops every single day. If he keeps shooting, he’s bound to refine his shot, right?

Honestly, I’m not so sure.

I used to think the advice to write every day was brilliant, but lately, I’m not so sure.

That’s because, as a writer, I know that writers tend to get stuck in a rut, writing the same types of things over and over. We develop little nasty habits over time (some try to call this “their style”), and by writing every day, those little habits and shortcomings we have as writers tend to only worsen.

(more…)

I’ve been blogging now for a few years at various sites around the web. Some of the blogs I write on are for pay (I’m a freelance writer for hire) and others are my personal pet projects on blogs I’m trying to grow myself.

During the past few years, I’ve learned quite a bit about blogging. Hell, I’m still learning things today, and I’m sure a couple of years from now, I’ll still be learning even more stuff I wish I’d known earlier.

There are a lot of things I wish I’d known when I was just starting out as a blogger, but as they say, experience is the best teacher. Hopefully though, there are some newbie bloggers out there reading this post who can learn something from my experiences.

Here are 5 lessons I’ve learned as a blogger.

1. The “design” of your posts matters—I’ve heard the phrase “content is king” so many times that it makes me want to put my head through a wall. Yes, content is important. Very important. But good content alone will not be enough to bring in readers by the droves. This is especially true if you’re trying to get a post to go hot on a site like Digg or ReddIt.

Simply put, the look of your posts matters too. You need to have a clean blog design, and your posts should contain images and be laid out in an easy-to-read manner.

2. Overnight success just isn’t realistic—Sure, we’ve all heard of blogs that have come out of nowhere to grab instant success (e.g. People of Walmart), but for the typical blogger, that’s just not how it goes. Unless you have a really special idea, it’s going to take you several months before you start building up a good audience. It might take even longer. You need to understand this in the beginning so that you don’t lose hope and give up.

(more…)

Being a successful blogger is about giving your readers the content they want. You need to give them quality content on subjects that interest them enough to read your posts on a daily basis.

But how can you know which topics your readers really care about?

It’s actually pretty easy. You just have to pay closer attention, and your readers will leave you little clues that can help you pinpoint their favorite topics.

• Look at your most popular posts—Installing the Popular Posts plugin on your blog will help you instantly see which posts your readers responded the most to. Popular Posts clearly displays the posts on your blog that have received the most comments, views, or average daily views. Once you get it installed, take a look at your most popular posts. What do they share in common? Is it a particular topic? Is it the style of writing…the way the headline is phrased?
• Monitor what people search for in your blog—Do you have a search box on your blog? If so, Search Meter can record what people are searching for. This gives you a clear idea of the topics that interest your readers, allowing you to create content that matches their interests. It also allows you to improve the categorization and tagging of your posts to make searches more successful.
• Track your search engine traffic—I’m going to assume you already have some sort of analytics plugged into your blog. You should be studying these analytics on a regular basis, monitoring where your traffic is coming from and what visitors do once they land on your site. Take note of the various keywords searchers use to find your blog. This helps you see the type of information they’re looking for, allowing you to target these phrases better in future posts.
• Read your comments closely—What are your readers talking about in the comments? Are there any topics they bring up that you can expound upon in a future posts? Be a good listener, and get in the comments and talk it up with your readers. You’ll get to know them better, and as a result, you’ll be able to write content that better matches their needs.
• Follow your readers on Twitter—Most of your readers are probably on Twitter. Find them. Follow them. Pay attention to what they talk about. Look at the links they drop in their Tweets. The more closely you pay attention, the better able you’ll be to see which subjects they find most interesting.

How do you know which topics your readers are most interested in?