Hello friends!
One of my duties here at the Tech Specialist desk is to check out each and every blog that people submit to Blogburst. Having looked at so many, I’d like to offer some explanation as to which blogs we favor and why, so that you’ll have a better understanding of what we look for in a blog.
Probably the single biggest non-technical factor for success is topic focus. If you blog about a single issue (and really, it could be just about anything) you’ll have a much better chance of being accepted into Blogburst and placed on a publisher’s site.
Good (though imaginary) examples:
- Mmm tasty pies! A blog about pies.
- Sample my wares! A poignant look at ye olde worlde of renaissance faires.Â
- Pointy Pointy! This blog will cover all aspects of cutlery.
If we, as Blogburst editors, look at “Pointy Pointy” and the blog posts consistently (at least once a week, preferably more), has a history several months long, doesn’t bounce around topically (just about every post is about cutlery, new designs, materials etc.) and has full feed output, it’s a sure entry into Blogburst. The key is to stay on topic in the posts.
If your blog is about cutlery, then post about cutlery. Pretend you’re a cub reporter, bringing news about latest kitchen cutlery trends, new material science breakthroughs for knives, a history of Damascus steel, sharpening tips, Wusthoff vs. Henckels… any and all knife-related talk. Remember - the end goal is to have a publication pick up your posts. Aside from the opinion columns, most papers like to keep things focused so that they’ll know how and where to place your work. For instance, if you blog about pies in “Mmm tasty pies!†and you do it well and consistently, you are very likely to be accepted into Blogburst, and may even find a home in a publication’s food section.
If your blog tends to include a variety of topics, splitting up your multi-topic blog into several blogs will increase the chances of being accepted into the network – and picked up by publishers. Usually the multi-topic blogs I see tend to bounce around several of the same topics - there will be personal “diary” entries, then maybe some news about your pet hobby (car restoration, for instance) and maybe a picture from your digital camera. Seeing as how almost all blog platforms are free, why not create separate blogs? You can have your personal diary blog, and then your “Restoring my Split-Window Corvette” blog, and a photography blog for all those cool photos you took. It is perfectly acceptable to submit multiple blogs to Blogburst, and we’d much rather see you submit 2 blogs that are topically focused than one blog with multiple topics and personal stuff piled on to each other.
So to re-cap: if your blog has a solid topic focus, has been around for several months, has full feed output, and brings some original content to the table, it’s all but guaranteed that your blog will be accepted into our system.
Good luck, and get to blogging!
- J. Dock
My blog has got nearly 300,000 headline views until now but click through rates is simply miserable. I just wish that I could find a way.
Hi Razib, this is something we are working on. A big part of the issue is where the headlines show up on the publisher pages. We continue to push the publishers to give BlogBurst better placement on their pages and where that happens, click thru rates definitely improve. We are also working to get Blogburst placed on pages beyond the sectional pages where we show up today. Sectional pages are full of links and headlines so there’s a lot of competition for the reader’s eye. This is a continuous improvement for us so hang in there.
Beyond that, bloggers should make sure to think about writing headlines that will catch the eye of the reader and also your posts should call out other content you have in your blog (related to the topic at hand) to encourage readers to click from the post and read more of your blog.
My blog has a focus. It just happens to be a multilayered focus, and not one that is readily recognized by the casual reader.
That said, I have a lovely seasonal recipe posted today. Maybe someone will notice it. It’s full of appropriate keywords!