How to Be a Good Blogger

It's a lot of fun to blog, but it can get old fast if no one is visiting! Getting your blog to the top of the search engines for your main key phrases should be your goal to make this traffic happen. Keep in mind that it will take time, but it's very possible.

Part One of Five:
Starting a blog

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   Start a blog. If you don't own a blog you can start blogging at Wordpress. Other recommended sites include blogger (it allows you to see statistics of who has been looking at your blog, along with many customization  options for the layout). If you do own a blog, good for you! Go to the next step.
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   Pick a topic that you are passionate about. Even if you don't have a passion, writing about your daily life can make for a good read, depending how you word it. If you are going to blog about what you did today, make it interesting. People are looking for a funny story or your opinion on a debatable subject. They may not be as willing to read how you changed a lightbulb today. Using photos can help enhance the reading experience and engage readers more

Part Two of Five:
Making your blog easy to find

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   Learn about search engine optimization (SEO). The very basics of this is knowing which keywords to focus on. These are what people are searching for in the search engines, and how they might find your blog. Some of these keywords get a lot more searches than others get, so it's in your best interest to eventually choose the ones that do get searched for often. Keep in mind that these are often more competitive than ones that are searched for less -- but you might get lucky.
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   Focus your efforts on these keywords for now. Choose a big one that will take longer to reach, as well as three to four additional terms you're going to try to rank for. These should all be similar! Then, you're going to include these keywords in each blog post you make in various combinations. Always focus your posts on one term, and include the others only if they make sense. As you focus on these similar keywords the search engines will start to rank you more highly because your blog is tightly focused and relevant to what you're targeting.
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   Do what you can to get relevant links that point to your homepage and your individual posts. A lot of ranking decisions are based on how many backlinks you have coming into your website. You can get these links by writing articles to submit to directories, writing guest blog posts on other high traffic blogs, using social networking sites, using social bookmarking sites, and buying links (be very careful with this tactic).
   
   

Part Three of Five:
Providing brilliant, accessible content

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   Show consistent, relevant postings over time. Google seems to favor domains that have had some time to age and that are going to be a good bet for their visitors. Remember -- Google's (and other engines') goal is to provide the best experience possible for the people who search with them. If your blog is going to be a good match for your search terms it will be easier for you to rank and stay there.
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   Stay on topic. If you are blogging about music, then don't make a post about twilight or something. If you don't stay on topic it will change what visitors think of your blog.
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   Make your posts unique. Make your posts something you can't get on other blogs. Try to change your format. Also try to organize your post. The better your post is organized the the better the post will seem. The better your posts seem the better your blog will seem.

   • Make sure that you're always posting amazing content. The better your content and the more interesting your blog, the more people will link to it. There is nothing better than getting free links just because people liked what you have to say! Keep your mind on the SEO side of things, but also remember that you are ultimately catering to the needs of the people in your niche. If they like you, the search engines will like you.
   
   

Part Four of Five:
Promoting your blog

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   Promote your blog. When you start only you will know about the blog. Only start promoting your blog after you get about 15 posts or so. If you promote it before people will think your blog isn't good enough. Don't spam your link. There are plenty of ways to promote your blog.

   • Add tags to your post. That will make your posts show up in search engines like google.
   • Add a link to your site on a forum signature. It will be better if the forum and your blog are the same topic. Make sure you post on the forum though.
   • Exchange links with others sites. Make a blog roll.
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   Take a break once in a while. Don't take a break every other week though.
   
   
3. Part Five of Five:
   Interacting with your readers

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   Be a responsive blogger. When readers leave comments, it means they're interested in interacting with you and getting your feedback. If you ignore them, there is a risk that they'll feel unappreciated and will stop reading your work.
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   Consider encouraging interaction from readers. There are many ways to do this, such as surveys, polls, quizzes and even competitions.