There are certain criteria that will help get blog visitors
Confusing, isn’t it?
On one hand, you hear there is no right way to blog.
On the other hand, you have people like me telling you that there is a right way to blog.
Instead of taking my word for it, let’s look at successful bloggers and see what criteria for successful blogging they are following that make their blogs successful.
After all, if they can follow simple criteria to have thousands of loyal followers, so can you.
1. They are vitual experts on their topic. They are on a mission, and that is to teach their readers what they themselves know. Their goal is to empower the readers that come to their site, so people return again and again.
When they are not blogging, they are learning how to be niche experts. They read, attend conferences and webinars, and listen to podcasts.
Jon Morrow has thousands of subscribers. According to blogging expert Lorraine Reguly, Jon Morrow is the king of blog promotion.
Morrow worked for Copy Blogger for many years. He wrote hundreds of headlines for them per day. His understanding of his niche, blogging, makes him a world-wide authority. People not only look to him for advice, they pay him for advice.
2. They make the information they share understandable. Matt Banner of OnBlastBlog.com not only has an understandable blog, but his avatar is a cartoon. Children like cartoons. His cartoon avatar gives me the feel that his writing is so basic even children can understand it, and as a reader, I am interested.
3. They make the information they share detailed. According to Successful Blogging‘s Sue Anne Dunlevie, the ideal post should be between 800 and 1200 words. Therefore, your posts should be 1,000 words on average. These detailed posts have two benefits. First, you paint a complete picture for your reader. Second, this length will help your SEO ranking.
I realize this will entail prior planning and research. You shouldn’t just sit down and churn out blog posts, not if you want a loyal following.
Look what a reader said about my blog:
I’ll be back…; you’re clearly reading a tremendous amount more than I have time for, and I appreciate your willingness to share with the rest of us.
Readers appreciate the details you share with them. They return to you since you save them the time it would take them to do the research themselves. Research your posts before you write them, or you are doing your readers a disservice.
4. They focus on their blog. They cut out extraneous activities from their schedule and devote the time they used to spend on those pursuits to researching, promoting, and networking, in addition to writing, their blog posts.
5. They respond to commenters. They may have short and even delayed replies, but they ultimately respond to their readers and answer questions. In this way, they build a loyal community. People feel they matter to the blogger, so they return to the site.
6. They network. They help other bloggers. They don’t just take attention, they give it too.
Sue Anne Dunlevie has many followers. One way she has built a successful blog is through relationship building. She hosts guest bloggers, and returns each and every comment she receives. In addition, she follows her readers on Twitter. As if that weren’t enough, she hosts a Pinterest board and invites other bloggers to share to it.
Many readers have found the graphics to my articles on Sue Anne’s Pinterest board. I have received traffic from Pinterest as a result of people sharing and clicking the pins she allowed me to put on her board. For all these reasons, I am a loyal reader of her blog, and from all the comments I see, others are too.
Jason Cushman of Harsh Reality has over 50,000 followers. He is constantly giving back to the blogging community. He hosts blogging events it seems every weekend, sometimes bi-weekly.
7. They are memorable. Profound? Yes. They are so profound, that when people embed Tweets into blog posts, it is their words that are being quoted.
Don Charisma has almost 40,000 followers. He offers quotes constantly, sometimes three times a day. Whether they are his or other’s quotes is irrelevant to me as a reader. His quotes are so memorable, I ponder their meanings and how I am going to respond to them on his blog.
If your writing is memorable, your readers will return to your site and perhaps quote you.
In the screenshot above, Jon Morrow used Adam Connell’s quote to make his point that the audience is key to blogging success.
8. They are witty. People say blogs should be first entertaining and second informative, they can be both, but entertainment value is a must for readers.
Tammy Bleck of Witty Woman Writing falls into this category. Her writing is so funny, she has been featured in the Huffington Post, she has been interviewed on television, and she is a motivational speaker. I can attest first-hand to her entertainment value since I have been in the audience during two of her speeches.
Does she inform as well? Absolutely. She informs readers about how to navigate life after the age of 50.
9. They know what their blog is about. Do you know what your blog is about? As I traverse through the Blogosphere, I read many taglines that contain the words musings and ramblings. What are their blogs about? Thoughts in their heads?
If they meet criteria #2-9, they may have a shot at a loyal following. Can they meet criteria #1? What can they become an expert in? Themselves? I’ve read that the average reader has an eight-second attention span. While introspective ranters could succeed by not meeting all this criteria, the odds will be more favorable if they meet all nine.
In conclusion, this post examined six successful blogs: Don Charisma.org, Harsh Reality, Successful Blogging, BoostBlogTraffic, OnBlastBlog, and Witty Woman Writing to analyze what characteristics they have that make them successful. If these bloggers can use this criteria to make their blogs successful, so can you.
If you feel others can benefit from these tips, please share.
Readers, which of these tips have helped you the most? Are there other tips that you feel should be added to the list to help bloggers grow a loyal following? I look forward to your views.
Source: Jon Morrow
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