TechRepublic offers some great tips - 10 of them - on how all bloggers can improve their writing and their chances of increasing their audience numbers and site visits.
When we read the post, we felt there were many similarities between what we at BlogBurst see as good ways to increase your chances of getting pick up on one of our publisher sites, and what TR had to say. Here are our top three tips from TR that we think are the most relevant for getting picked up and syndicated:
#1: Define Your Purpose
We, at BlogBurst, could not agree more. Finding a clear and focused objective for your blog will garner you more loyalty and more readers. Audiences/Readers like to tune into the expert opinion, and a focused blog can show you off as a resident expert, or at least as someone who is following a particular topic or issue, more so than they can.
#2: Create Visual Appeal
You’ve seen us post over and over about your avatar, and how important it is to create one that is visually appealing for the publisher and reader. Interesting graphics, colors and fonts help users connect with your blog before they’ve even read a word.
And, as TR points out, visual appeal of the blog itself can make a big difference between attracting more readers, or just having your close friends and family reading your blog.
A couple of good tips from TR on visuals for your blog site:
- avoid dark letters on a dark background, tiny or overly fancy typefaces
- pick a design that fits your blog theme (i.e. blogs on the environment can be green or blue because they represent nature - but these are only suggestions)
#3: Engage Your Readers
TR recommends that you “establish a relationship with your readers..tell your readers who you are and something about yourself.”
- don’t remain nameless (i.e. pick a pseudonym if need be)
- interact with your readers in your comment section, and even provide a contact email if you are comfortable with that option
“Engaging readers involves winning their trust,” says TR. Creating a brief identity for yourself and opening up to the idea of interacting with your readers will give you more credibility and definitely spread the word about your blog….and more importantly, get you picked up by a publisher!
*Editorial side note. TR’s tip #10 - Go Syndicate Yourself.
Being a part of the BlogBurst network is a great way to do this!
Three cheers for visual appeal! I think that effective use of white space, a clean look, and proper use of color can go a long way to attracting, retaining, and/or turning off the audience.
On a personal note, I have a lot of trouble with webpages where white/light text is used over a black/dark background. In theory, it looks great, but just a few seconds of reading fries my eyes.
Thanks for the thoughts.
JLB
Excellent pointers. Thank you for rehashing this and for the link to a new resource (TFR).
I have been managing a very content focused team blog and I am constantly frustrated by newbies and lazy bloggers leaving a comment as Anonymous, when one can easily pick “other” and create a pseudonym - even be a different person each time.
I have ground rules posted at the top of my sidebar and I think I am going to add this rule about picking a blog handle, just for the sake of conversation flow and turn off the Anonymous option.
My gut tells me that people new to blogging just don’t know that they are not required to sign up to have a creative nickname, as many sites do require it.