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The Best Way To Give Them What They Want

Sunil Pathak — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:18:01 +0000

Writing reader engaging content is one of the prerequisite of blogging. You do every thing in your hand to write great content, content that will keep your blog reader glued to your blog. But how about thinking up the post your audience has been longing? How to write what your blog visitor love to read? or how to determine exactly what kind of posts your subscriber wants to see in their RSS reader?
In this post I’ll be discussing 4 strategies you can use to write what your reader want to read.

Ask Them What They Want:
The easiest way to know what your reader want is to ask them what they want. Ask your readers to submit ideas for posts they’d like to see on your blog. Host a poll every now and then, with topic of your choice. Do this every couple of months and you’ll have a list of ideas you can turn to when you are out of stock with Post idea.

Look for Potential Post Idea in Comments:
Comments are one of the most interesting part of blogging business, your comment counts and quality of comments determines how successful you are and what type of reader you attracts. But the most interesting thing about comments is its ability to provide you never ending flow of good ideas for your blog post. Many A-list blogger believe in these, and that’s why they encourage comments.

Sometimes you reader will ask you to expand on a section of your post. Either he wants more information on a specific point, a more detailed explanation of one of your ideas or a clear explanation of something that’s confused them. Instead of answering it in comment, you can turn your answer in a full-fledged post and use the answer to drive more traffic back to your original article.

Analyze Your Search Engine Traffic:
This is one thing that I do every day (I don’t write every day though). Analyzing search engine traffic can give you wealth of information in them that can be incredibly useful. What questions or phrase are readers typing into search engines to find your blog? What Keywords are sending traffic? Which Long tail string is most relevant to your blog content? All this information can help you know how to optimize your blog for SEO even better and can give hints on what content to write more of.

Web traffic analyzing programs like Woopra and Google Analytic can be really handy here. They give you clear picture about your regular and search engine traffic. But if you want clear view of your search engine traffic then I would suggest you to install Lijit plugin on your blog and signup for 103bees. These two services give you thorough exploration of your search traffic.

Reverse engineer what worked in past:
Look at your blog’s most popular post. You can build on their success by adapting the same format to new content. Let’s say one of your most popular posts was about “How to Optimize your blog for Search engine” you can Capitalize on the success of the first post by creating and update version “How not to Optimize your blog for Search Engine” or “Things to Consider while Optimizing Your Blog for Search Engine”

Another effective strategy is to apply the same post format and headline formula to a new subject. Your list of 21 Most Influential Blogger could be followed by a list of 21 Most Stupid Blog Editors or anything you can imagine (as long as it’s of interest to your target audience).

Original Photo by Tom@HK

Other Interesting Posts
Bloggers confusion: How Long A Blog Post Should Be
Are you Slow Poisoning Your Blog?
Blogging Obstacles And How To Overcome It.
How To Make Your Reader Fall In Love With Your Blog

Blogging Obstacles And How To Overcome It.

Sunil Pathak — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 05:48:08 +0000

Photo sources: thinredjellies
“History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.“ B. C. Forbes

These words are so true about blogging, like real life there are countless obstacles in your path of blogging success, today we are going to discuss 4 such obstacles of our blogging path, and how to overcome it.

Language, Grammar and Vocabulary:

Problem:

This is very common problem for no English bloggers like me (and countless other). Things become really horrible when I have a lot to say, but don’t have right word to express it. When it comes to writing I have limited vocabulary to explain everything without spoiling my message. This limitation of vocabulary use to frustrate me. before I adopted this new writing method

Solution:

In my early blogging day I use to write my post on Microsoft word, it’s in built spell and grammar checker was like a dream gift for me, but after few posts I realized what I was missing, I had very limited words. This forced me to find way to overcome it. After trying different writing method, I found this little lengthy process of writing, which is also time consuming but very useful for me, instead of writing my post in English now I write it in Hindi or Gujarati and then translate it to English, this gives me batter grip on my content and wide range of vocabulary.

Writing Content:

Problem:

Not every one is gifted like Brain Clark or Skellie who can write 10/20 post every day. Or like Darren Rowse who can write series of posts on any topic, be it RSS Subscription, Blog Promotion or Content writing, we new blogger often stuck in writers block. After posting 15/16 post we often meet the dead end of new idea for our next blog post.

Solution:

Joining the echo chamber of writer is the best way to keep your self occupied while stuck in writers block. Write what every one is writing about with your own thoughts and input about the topic. Shanker bakshi of shankerbakshi.com has great tips for you on how to re-write what every one is writing.

Filler Posts are another good substitute when you are left with nothing to write about, some blogger even uses it to maintain the posting frequency. Muhammad Siyab of puttingblogsfirst.com has some excellent ideas about filler post and how to maintain your post flow with it.

Blog Promotion:

Problem:

One thing that troubles every new blogger (and some relatively old ones) is spreading the word about their blog. Your killer titles and great compelling contents are worthless without proper promotion of your blog. I have seen few blogs great content, but there was no activity. This usually happens when your content doesn’t get enough exposure on social media sites like digg, stumbleupon and delicious

Solution:

The best way to promote your content and give it a quick exposure on social media site is to mail your blogging pals (I hope you have made at least 20 blogger friends now) and ask them to stumble and dig your content. Asking your reader for stumble and digg at the end of your post is another strategy that worked for many blogger.

Link building:

Problem:

Social media exposure is good for initial boost of traffic for your blog, but you need piles of link back from authority blogs within your niche for a regular flow of traffic. Expecting a link back or reference to your post without networking or building relation with other blogger would be optimistic to the point of stupidity. You need to build relation with blogger and those so called A-lister before you can ask for a link back from them.

Solution:

Link out generously: One way to make a real impression on another person is to be generous with them. Showcase their best work on your blog, refer their post and thoughts in your articles.

Start with blogger of your level: Approaching relatively new blogger have more chance of working out. And you can help each other drive significant traffic to your own blog. Offer help and consultation: Helping other blogger and reader of blogs you read often can really help you draw other in relation. When you don’t have solution for the problem point them to useful resources or person who can help them.

This creates a good impression upon both of the parties that you connect. Which will lead them come to you again if they have any confusion or difficulty. And you will become the ‘go to’ person, because they know you’ll either help them personally or point them to someone who can.

Join Webmaster Community: Webmaster community forums such as Authority Blogger and Digital Point can be really useful to start your hunt for potential blogging network. Join the discussion, share your thoughts, contact webmaster, and you will see building blogging network isn’t that difficult.

What Obstacle You Have Faced?
So friends what obstacles you have faced during your journey to blogging success and how you over come it. Share your personal experience with us in comments below.

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Bloggers confusion: How Long A Blog Post Should Be

Sunil Pathak — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 20:21:12 +0000

Blog post length has been a biggest puzzle for every blogger ever seen Blogging become mainstream, there are wide rang opinion about post length, some will tell you to
stick with longer more informative post while there is a group of publisher who favor shorter post.

These both school of thoughts have their own merits, and today we are going to discuss why.

Lets start with a I-Love-Short-Post- School.
if you ask professors of these school why they insist for short post you will get the usual answer.

Its Scannable and Reader Friendly:
study says only 16% of internet user read content word to word. Rest will only scan it for phrase of sentence that interest them, if they don’t find something that catch their fancy, they will probably leve your blog (not sure about you but Tom Volkar would surely do). with that being said keeping your content short and simple so that your users can scan it quickly becomes vital.

Shorter Attention spans:
People don’t usually spend a lot of time on a blog post, My Woopra stats shows my readers usually spend 1 to 1 and half minute. As stated earlier, they’ll first scan the post and if you manage to grab their attention, they’ll go back from the start and read the whole article. so keep your article shorter to grab your readers attention.

Quantity of post:
One point that many Blog Gurus argue is that short post allow you to write more posts, and that more posts are better for generating readership with RSS and in Search Engines. if your are intending to cover more things in one post, split it in a series of short (300 to 500 word) post.

When your should write the short post:
If you’re going to post on topics that are breaking news like Today’s Bomb Blast In new Delhi , it would be batter to keep it short and to the point with all the necessary information,

A short post has the advantage of being quickly and easily read, , if you’re considering writing short posts, make sure you keep a higher publishing rate. There is no point in publishing 2 paragraphs every week.

Those are some valid points that can convince a blogger to fall in love with short newsy type post,

Lets see what Don Lawson have to say about Longer post

Writing long blog posts is suitable for “opinion blogs”. Reviews, tutorials, editorials and guest posts usually require and tend to be longer and more insightful.

Here are 4 good points by Don in defense Longer post

If you want your post to rank high in Google SERPS and bring in loads of targeted organic search traffic, you’re more likely to do it with longer keyword optimized post than shorter ones.
You’ll naturally have more long tail keywords in your long blog post. which help you bring in more targeted traffic to your site.

Looking at it from SEO perspective, which post is more informative? A short one or long post? Google is in the business of delivering targeted relevant information to Internet searchers. Google’s algorithm searches for the most relevant and informative information on the Internet when you enter a search into the the search box. So which post do you think it will return higher in the SERPS? A 250 word post or a 1400 word article?

If you are running a content rich site with Adsense, you can increase your CTR with longer post and articles. Why? Because you’ll stand a better chance of the reader losing interest and clicking on an Adsense ad.

You may lose a few RSS subscribers who do not like long post, but you’ll also gain a few more readers who feel long post are more informative and detailed. They’ll see you as a detailed authority on the subject.

Since longer posts require more attention and more time to read, it’s indicated that you format your post well by using short paragraphs and subheadings, lists and images to break large blocks of text. Also a good introductory paragraph describing what your post is all about will catching your readers’ attention.

Conclusions:
There’s no golden rule about the perfect blog post length.In the end you need to find your own way on this. Deciding between short and long blog posts is also a matter or personal choice, some people like to publish three four time a day using short post, Blogger like my prefer more resourceful and well documented long post.

So now tell me, what’s your choice when it comes to deciding post length, and which post you prefer to read loooooooooooooooooong or short?

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How To Make Your Reader Fall In Love With Your Blog

Sunil Pathak — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:05:24 +0000

Photo Sources: cambodia4kidsorg
Ever wonder why some people stick to one blog, why you always see them post their response as soon as the author of that blog hit that cute *Publish Button* ?, or why those avid reader refresh their RSS reader as the cock-crow for updates from their favorite blog?

I am not sure about you but I some time wonder why my favorite writer *Barbara Swafford* have those great peoples gathering on her blog, Why Shilpan Patel get 3 figure diggs and stumbles every time he post a new blog? Or why AL’s blog get tons of comments every time? Or why great bloggers like Darren Rowse Chris Garrett and Liz Strauss are so successful, Whenever I ask all this questions to my self I always get only one answer, *Because their readers Love their blogs*

So when blog readers fall in love with your blog? Well scroll down to know :

Your Blog is a joy ride for your reader:
You make it easy for them to read what you are writing, you post is no longer then it should be, you write in a language that a dumb like me can understand it (even if my first language is not English).

You Welcome comments:
You never forget things that matter, but still you leave space for me to join the conversation, you listen what I say, and take the time to respond to it. You take constructive criticism well, you argue with what has been said, not with who said it

You still believe your readers are human:
Most of us as bloggers forget it from time to time. But you still remember that those who interact with your words are made meat and bones- just like you.

People come to your blog searching for information or an answer to a question, or may seek education, they could be looking for company or even entertainment You Keep the needs of your readers in mind and strive to fulfill them.

You give what you expect from me:
You comment on blog post you find interesting, you make it a point to visit your commentor’s blog, and share your thoughts and view about their blog. you link out generously so you reader get in-depth information of subject you are writing about. You give credit where it’s due, you’re clear about the source of your arguments, facts, links and photographs.

Well friends these are the quality you reader look for before subscribing to your blog, these are the characteristics of engaging blog, many great blogger around the blogshare are admired because of this quality,

So you(my blog reader) what quality you look for before falling in love with any blog? Let me know in comments below.

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