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21 Lessons Learned From From a Problogger

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When we talk about “Blogging Tips and Tricks” one of the first names that emerges in a bloggers mind is Darren Rowse from Problogger. As you might already know he wrote a book titled “31 Days to Build a Better Blog.” Here is how he described it:

The idea is simple. By the end of this challenge you’ll have learned 31 aspects of blogging and put them into practice. It is designed not only to fill your head with knowledge ABOUT blogging, but also to give you some concrete things to actually DO something with the knowledge.

Basically you had a teaching and a task each day. The teaching would give you the concepts and theory, and the task would force you to take action on what you had just learned. Now without making any preface here are my tips, which I have learned from Darren’s book……

  1. Focus on a niche topic
    The more you narrow your blog topic, the better it is for your blog’s potential. It is better for your SERP’s and to attract readers and subscribers. A specific blog topic allows you to become an expert in the field and your readers know what to expect from you. It is also easier to monetize a narrow niche. Remember don’t try to be “A Jack of all trades & Master of none.” Try to build unique brand of your blog.
  2. Write List Posts
    Using lists has always been a popular and effective technique among bloggers.If you look at pages like the front page of Digg and Delicious and you’ll see that much of the hottest content on the web is written in list style. Because lists are scannable, it keeps post succinct, it looks clean, it can be persuasive and comprehensive and it goes viral.
  3. Write Link posts
    Writing posts with the outbound links to other useful resources not only build readership on your blog but it also give something of value to your readers and build your credibility and relationship with other bloggers.
  4. Interlink your old blog posts.
    Try to build this task into your daily posting schedule. if you have a lot of content that you’ve never interlinked before start with the most popular posts. This technique gives opportunity to your readers for further reading and to stay more on your blog.
  5. Create a Sneeze page for your Blog
    Sneeze page is a page in which you list posts of your blog in some categorized order, it helps you to show off your archives and to promote old posts. Linking to old posts can help grow your search engine ranking.
  6. Write Review posts
    The Web is increasingly being used by people for research to help make purchasing decisions. You can write a review on a book, any website on your niche, any article from a magazine, a tool relevant to your niche etc. You can also use any affiliate link associated with what you are reviewing. A well written and balanced review can be very good for driving sales.
  7. Extend your old posts
    One of the biggest challenges bloggers are facing is that after a few months they find it hard to come up with fresh content on a regular basis. You can extend your old posts by picking up a question or idea a reader asks in comments, by exploring opposite points of view or by explaining something which was not adequately explained in previous post etc.
  8. Find some blog Buddies
    Bloggers who work together often last longer and have more success in the building of their blogs. Having your blogging buddy you can share eachothers posts with social media and with other bloggers, encourage each other through commenting, share communities, guest post for each other, etc.
  9. Don’t be Shy, promote your Blog
    If you want success for your blog don’t be passive, get out there. Find your target audience and connect with them. Show that you are the expert. Promote your blog wherever you can, whenever you can.
  10. Analyze & Follow the Probloggers
    Analyze top blogs in your niche, Follow them, see how they write articles, when they write them, how often they are posting, how they style them, what complaints readers are making in their blog comments etc. Don’t necessarily only listen to what they say, but analyze how they say it and why.
  11. Join Forums and Social Media Services
    Join forums and social media services like twitter or if you’ve already joined one spend 10-15 minutes participating in it. Your forum posts and activity in social media services would bring in dozens of visitors every day. Even if you have various subscribers already.
  12. Plan your blogging activity schedule
    Make a plan, list what you have to do i.e. frequency of publishing posts, specific days for some specific posts, specific days for admin, editorial and promotional tasks, a day for readers (for emailing, answering questions etc), specific days to analyze stats etc, So grab a calendar and map out specific tasks that you want to achieve over the next month.
  13. Be aware; try to post Breaking news in your niche
    Bloggers should be aware what is happening in their niche. It gives you ideas for fresh up-to-date content for new blog posts.  If you break some news in your blog it builds your credibility very fast. Setup alerts for your blog, for this purpose you can use Google Alerts.
  14. Analyze your readers deeply
    Do some analysis of what is the first impressions of your blog on your visitors. Analyze where they navigate, where do they click, where do they pause to read, where do they skip over, which keywords they search in your blog etc. For visualizing the user experience on your blog CrazyEgg.com is a great tool.
  15. Ask questions to your reader
    Try to ask some question for your readers in your post, as it is a fantastic way to grow your blog. It gives readers a sense of community and participation, it increases blog stickiness, moreover, reader answer can fuel future post ideas for your blog.
  16. Make active your passive readers
    Motivate your readers to go beyond reading and take some kind of action for this purpose ask your reader to write some comments, vote a poll, vote for you on social bookmarking sites, persuade readers to subscribe to your feed etc.
  17. Promote your readers
    Make your readers famous by Choosing one or more of your current readers and do anything to encourage them, show them that you value them, and highlight them to your other readers. For this you can promote a comment in your post, write a post about their blog, choose a reader of the week, invite guest posts etc.
  18. Be SEO friendly
    While writing your posts take SEO into consideration, Search engines can send you a lot of traffic, allow it by changing blog permalinks, title of post and description of your post to include your post keywords in them. Remove broken links. keyword density in your post should not be more than 5%. But remember don’t write your posts just for search engines, readers should be given first priority.
  19. Monitor your Blog statistics
    Keep an eye on your blog’s statistics and see what you can learn from it. Make sure you have some metric package installed in your blog. Analyze your total visitors, most popular posts, referral sites, traffic sending keywords, bounce rates, visitor’s avg. time on site etc. Google Analytics is the best tool for this kind of information.
  20. Be Consistent and Unique
    Consistency doesn’t mean you have to publish posts daily on your blog but it means to setup a schedule and publish your post according to this, be aware plans often remain just plans and don’t become reality, so don’t just plan follow it strictly.
  21. Don’t just spend your time online
    Success in Blogging takes a lot of hard-work. But it’s not the only thing you have in your life. Learn to enjoy your life, give time to your family, go out and observe what is going on around you, read books, enjoy your weekends. It will improve your energy levels and will keep you and your mind sharp.

Guest Post:  Faisal Khurshid a student of Cost and Management Accounting in Pakistan, In his spare time he writes various articles about Weight Loss Tips & Gold Silver Trading Tips etc.



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  1. 22 Comment(s)

  2. By Jen on May 4, 2010 | Reply

    This is an awesome post filled with great information. I am going to link it over at TB. I was going to try to put together something like this but you hit on things I hadn’t considered and knocked it out of the park.

  3. By Sheila on May 4, 2010 | Reply

    Hi Jen!

    You’ve got a lot of it down with Tribal Blogs – we’re a group of blog buddies. I’ve been trying to hook up the linkwithin on my blog but it messes up my feature thingy up top. I like the way you link to your old posts in your current posts – I always have to click through.

  4. By Sourav on May 4, 2010 | Reply

    One more thing can be added to this list – Guest Blogging (after all, this was a guest post). I think it really works to build a brand for oneself and make him/her a bit more popular among other bloggers, and then traffic follows. Well, that is what I have learnt, just my 2 cents to it.

  5. By JuneZach on May 4, 2010 | Reply

    Wow! One of the most interesting posts I’ve read in “The Ad Master” so far!

    I bookmarked this one. I’m already using some of these tips and thank you for the loads of information. These will surely help.

    Scheduling is a challenge to me right now but I’m doing my best to manage it smoothly.

    Brilliant post Sheila! ^_^

  6. By Sheila on May 5, 2010 | Reply

    Sourav – Guest posting is mentioned twice – in number 17 and number 8 – I love meeting people and running guest posts –

    June Zach – This post really does have a lot of great ideas – I actually printed this one out and stuck it up on the wall next to my computer.

  7. By mrsblogalot on May 5, 2010 | Reply

    This was some post there Sheila. I have to admit I was distracted by the girl’s picture. Would I look like her if I pierced my lip? …Yeah, I know, I know.

    Was there a number up there for focusing? Sorry, I’m working on it. Truly.

    Awesome job on a jam packed blog info post!!!

  8. By Sourav on May 5, 2010 | Reply

    Oops!!Yes, missed those two. Btw, I would have loved to try the CrazyEgg tools, but for the monthly fees. Are there any free alternatives to it?

  9. By Kay | Window Cling printing on May 5, 2010 | Reply

    I never tried to Join Forums and Social Media Services, because I am not familiar with it, but I would definitely try it since you said that it will bring in dozens of visitors every day, Thank you for sharing these tips!

  10. By Naomi on May 6, 2010 | Reply

    I have been dropping by and reading quite a few of your posts recently. this one particularly is magic! i’m going to have to subscribe, your content always prooves to be really helpful! thanks for posting this.

  11. By Tomas on May 6, 2010 | Reply

    Thank you for so informative post. While reading your suggestions, I visualized my blog in the new light. Your prompts on how to blog showed how to make Tomas’ art more attractive to all and thus to spread its message more effectively.

  12. By Sheila on May 6, 2010 | Reply

    mrsblogalot – Get your nose pierced while your at it – you’ll look hot!! Advertising can be such a boring subject I have to add some eye candy – it’s my spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down.

    Sourav – Try http://www.labsmedia.com/clickheat/index.html

    Tomas – Glad it helped!

  13. By Man Over Board on May 6, 2010 | Reply

    I love Darren, he has lots of good stuff, no wonder he is number one. Soon you will be right next to him :-)

  14. By cheryl on May 7, 2010 | Reply

    nice information, I had know a few lesson, and thanks for another lesson.

  15. By Mom To The Power Of Three on May 7, 2010 | Reply

    These are really great tips and thanks for sharing. Time to brainstorm and improve!

  16. By Micirox EC on May 7, 2010 | Reply

    I really think having an own niche is the best way to optimize your site. Although I like to talk about a lot of topics, maybe I should narrow it down by getting another domain. hehe

  17. By melds on May 7, 2010 | Reply

    nice to know him

  18. By Raj on May 11, 2010 | Reply

    hey, these are some very nice tips. Really liked the one which says Dont just spend your time online. Most of the bloggers do just that and then wonder why do so less people visit their blog….

  19. By Naoko on May 12, 2010 | Reply

    Thank you for the great tips you shared in this post. I think I can use this to improve my blogging more now.

  20. By azenra on May 14, 2010 | Reply

    very nice tips, a lot of things i must do to get my blog as popular as yours, thanks again for the wonderful share :d

  21. By benwaynet on Jun 4, 2010 | Reply

    Where do you get all of your images? I’ve been looking for a good place to get royalty free images.

  22. By Sheila on Jun 4, 2010 | Reply

    I buy most of mine at bigstockphoto, istockphoto and fotolia -

  23. By Laura on Sep 17, 2011 | Reply

    I’ve done the 31 Day Challenge a couple of times now. I still skip the same steps. Not every blogger or every blog fits the same way.

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