How to make a unique and successful blog
Every day there are more ways to communicate on the Net, the blog is one of the most popular in recent times. It is a page where the blogger publishes an article with some frequency, often it can also be accompanied by an image.
The usual thing is that it can be updated once a day but few are the users who renew so regularly. Some bloggers explain their day to day, others publish specialized articles related to professions or hobbies, others dedicate their space to curiosities or topics such as cinema, literature or gastronomy.
But regardless of the style of the articles, all blogs have a common denominator: they want to be read and share opinions. Here are some tips to get a greater number of readings and participation in your web space.
The first steps
The biggest advantage of the blog is the freedom it offers. It has infinite possibilities but for those who are not yet familiar with it, it may cost them a little more to take advantage of it.
The first thing is to know and read other blogs, either recommended by friends, professional colleagues or in Internet forums. Already with an idea or project more or less defined, it will be necessary to decide the tool to use, some examples are:
Simple and in Spanish: The Shaker
To customize the blog: Blogger, Typepad
Advanced Feature Capability: WordPress, MovableType
Some users have more than one blog, each with different themes. But the truth is that taking care of them takes a lot of time and dedication. One recommendation is to choose well the topic on which you are going to write.
The most important thing is that it is interesting and enjoyable, that it be fun for the blogger. Otherwise working on it will be a heavy task and the readers will perceive it.
Another condition for choosing the subject is the knowledge one has of it. The more one knows about something, the easier it is to surprise readers with curious facts, new or original points of view.
It is evident that the writer does not know everything and that he resorts to other sources. There is no need to hide it, on the contrary, the most correct thing is to cite the origin of the information that is offered and/or offer a link to it.
You have to take care of and take visitors into account, write for them clearly, without too many technicalities, with verified information so that they do not feel cheated, with ethics and respect and, obviously, answer their comments.
Design an original blog
Originality always has positive effects, it is a perfect tool for others to remember us. There are tons of blogs and most of them are drawn from the same pre-designed pattern so they are almost the same.
To begin with, a default template can be used, but if you want to go further and impress the reader, it is best to hire a designer who can create a much more personal and expressive blog. If this is not possible, it is at least recommended to change the logo and/or colors.
Colors are a much bigger tool than it may seem at first glance. The color/s of the blog is the first thing that is appreciated, the first impression (good or bad) is given by the design of the web and its colors.
They are associated with emotions and have different connotations depending on the context. With their combinations, very varied effects can be achieved. There are color dictionaries that would be a perfect guide to design a web space.
The post
The text of the post cannot disappoint, it has to be entertaining, constructive and attractive. For this, it is essential to take care of the way of writing, literary resources, spelling, etc. There are many spaces on the web dedicated to giving advice on how to write good texts.
idrc.ca
galinus.com
Holder well:
The title is what will make the navigator decide to visit a particular blog. It is the presentation phrase that is read in search engines. Thus, the title must be explicit and as striking as possible.
Stay true to the theme
To keep readers who are already assiduous, you have to respect as much as possible the theme that was decided at the beginning. Readers expect to find more information on a given topic, and if they are disappointed, they may not visit the blog again. Flexibility is great but it is advisable not to lose the north.
Post in the morning:
As a general rule, people usually visit their favorite sites in the morning, so it is a good time to update the blog. The important thing is that the visitor finds something new as often as possible so that his interest is maintained.
It also depends on what you want to publish, if it is news it will be better to publish it at the moment it is achieved. If, on the other hand, it is a timeless theme, you can be more flexible.
Periodicity:
To make an adequate calendar of publications, the life of the articles must be taken into account (whether they are timeless topics or breaking news), the real availability of the author and the attitude of the audience, blogs normally receive fewer visits on weekends but each space has its own characteristics.
For fun:
Some games circulate on the internet to apply to blogs. The grace is to get to know each other better among the visitors of a blog, interact and meet others.
The meme:
A series of questions are published with their corresponding answers and at the end of the post the five names of the people who will have to do the same are indicated, so you can follow the trail of the Meme and meet many new bloggers. An example:
Number of movies you have bought
Last movie purchased
last i saw
Next thing I’m going to see
Five movies that I watch a lot or that have some meaning for me
The addition: take the nearest book, open it to page 23, find the fifth sentence and post it on your blog
Another curious but somewhat more complex “game” is the Blog Festival.
How to write good reviews
The comments left on other blogs is one of the main tools to make yourself known and encourage the reading of your own blog. Even if they are addressed to someone specific, they will be read by many more people who may be attracted by the text and go looking for more information about the author.
The first thing is to decide on the signature, it does not have to be the real name of the person who writes, but it is important that it always be the same so that readers can identify the author and thus be able to remember him. In any case, keep in mind that the IP is always present in each comment, so total anonymity is difficult to achieve.
Before writing on a blog, especially if it is the first time you visit it, it is advisable to first read what other people have written. In this way the style, humor or irony is known, possible misunderstandings are avoided and it is easier to write something interesting for the readers, because there may be a conversation to follow. The best attitude is always that of respect and positivism.
It is good to return after a while to those debates in which you have participated, perhaps the conversation has evolved or questions have been asked that it would be good to answer to maintain the feed-back.
At the end of the day, what you do on blogs is establish relationships with other people. And you have to maintain and care for them. This does not mean that you always have to leave a post to have the maximum number of links, nor is it advisable to spam, quality and interest should prevail over quantity.
The language and mode of expression of the blog is unique, it is not an SMS to a friend. Care should also be taken here with spelling and expression.
Increase the number of visits
It is clear that if a web space receives few visits, its number of readers will also be low. But you have to be careful with this premise because the reverse is not 100% true.
That is, a high number of visits does not imply the same in readers. If the visitor finds the web boring or heavy, he will pass by without reading it and, obviously, he will not return.
The ideal is to apply the following list of “tricks” to increase visits when a good product has already been designed. Once an original and interesting blog has been created, it is when you can move on to promoting it, so all efforts will be used to the maximum and it will be easier to get occasional readers to become loyal followers.
Include the blog address in the email signature.
Add the URL to Google.
Offer the option that users can send an email with the post of the day.
Enable entry pages in menu options. So each post will have its separate web page and when someone searches for something on Google, the search engine will have more links.
Design a button for the blog with a code that other users can copy and paste into their sidebar.
Register in search engines such as: Technorati, Daypop (they are specific to blogs).
Read tips on how to increase visits to your blog.
Blogs are a whole new world full of possibilities and utilities, each one is responsible for their space on the web, the way they want to give it and what they want to achieve with it. Here only some general considerations have been presented to start and take into account, but the limit is in the imagination of each one. But it is always good to read some tips to make your blog unique and successful.