How to Blog

As you may have noticed, I’ve started putting at least one picture in every blog post. I started doing this at first, simply to add some flair to my posts, but now, I’ve realized how many benefits this really gives me. Now, I never do a post without it.

First, it gives my site some color. Especially with my black and white theme, it really needs some color to brighten it up some. I try to pick very bright, eye-grabbing photos, to snatch people’s attention, and then direct it to the posts.

Second, it helps as a navigation tool for your blog. When people are looking through your site, having large pictures can help people remember where they are on your blog. It sounds stupid, but they can count the pictures and realize what post they’re on. This helps people who are looking for a particular article, to find it, as opposed to just skipping your site all together.

Third, it also helps as a navigation tool within the actual post. When people are reading a post, especially when it’s one just large block of text, it’s easy to lose where you are in it. You look up for just a second, and look down and you’ve lost your place, then you have to spend precious seconds finding it again. With a picture in the post, you subconsciously affiliate where you’re reading, in relation to the picture. This give you the ability to look away from the screen, and back, and easily find where you are.

Fourth, when you first visit a website, you instinctively scan it once, just giving it a “look over.” If you have some really interesting pictures, this will cause the people to look again. This also really helps for visitors from social-media sites. Vistitors from sites like Digg, Stumbleupon, and Entrecard, often don’t stay very long. With them, every picture helps. It keeps them on the site longer, and hopefully will be persuasive enough to get them to read the content.

Fifth, pictures help individualize posts. People mentally begin to affiliate your posts, with certain pictures. They’ll remember which post had the waves, which had Britney Spears, and which had a stack of books. So when people want to find specific things, they’ll know right where to look on the page.

Sixth, it takes up text space. Now, before you laugh at this, this is a very legitimate way to help loosen your blog writing load. A few pictures in your post, can make a 600 word article, look like a 1000+ word article. That is a Huge Victory for you! Nobody wants to read 1000+ words, but everybody wants to think that they just read one. If you’re a good writer, you should be able to say what you want in 600-1000 words, but with the added pictures, it gives the allusion of much more researched, and intelligent looking articles. You look good, your site looks good, and your reader feels good. Everybody wins.

Seventh, it breaks up long blocks of text. Reading an article can get boring very quickly, when it’s just one large block of black on white. You get distracted, you get annoyed, you get lost in the page. Lots of different things can happen, that can be solved with a simple picture in the center, to break up the post, make you smile, and then return to reading. It’s truly amazing how much a great picture can do to our perspectives of something.

Eighth, it brings humor to your site. Your goal is to make the visitors stay on your blog enjoyable. Pictures are a great way to get people to laugh. When people laugh, they are enjoying your content, which means you win!

Ninth, pictures are a great way to say “this is important!” Or “read this again!” You can use pictures to get emotion from your readers, in ways that pictures can’t. Whether you want sympathy, laughter, acknowledgment, joy… Pictures can help you draw in your readers, and hammer in the “prompt,” or “hint,”  you were trying to get them to understand.

Tenth, pictures can also get you extra traffic. A while ago, I wrote a post about “What Barack Obama can teach us about Blogging,” and it still gets me traffic to this day. I ranked on the first page for “Barack Obama” in images. I’ve gotten lots of traffic for different keywords. At this point, it’s one of my biggest traffic getters. And that’s without any effort as all. By merely posting a picture, I gain all these benefits.

Eleventh, pictures say a thousand words. No, even more than that. Pictures say what words can’t, no matter how many  words you might use. If you’ve ever tried to explain something over chat, you’ll understand how difficult it can be. But with a simple picture, you can easily say what you want. Pictures serve avery wide assortment of uses, elaborating a point, drawing in a reader, advertising a product, making the visitors stay enjoyable, drawing emotion from readers, helping them navigate your site, there are tons of valuable things you gain. All of that, from only posting a picture.

If you liked this post please consider sharing it through sites like twitter, stumbleupon, digg… so that others can benefit from it as well. I publish articles several times a week, so if you like, you can subscribe to my blog through email or feeder to stay updated. Thanks for reading!

Content is what separates the contenders from the pretenders. Creative and informative posts are what make a blog successful. But you need more then just quality content, you also need it on a very consistent, constant basis. A site that publishes one great article a week, typically won’t do as well as one that publishes five “average” posts a week. To really make money from a blog, you need to be posting at least three times a week. Any less then that, and you’re merely hurting yourself. But how can you keep up? No matter how much you love the niche you’re in, it can be hard to write 200+ articles a year. So what’s the secret. How do people like Pro-Blogger and John Chow write multiple times a day, every day? The secret, is a great reading list.

A reading list?!? You’re probably asking? How does that help?

I wrote a post a while back about Google Reader, and how much I loved it. Having a good feed reader is essential to keeping a successful blog. Ask any powerful blogger, and I can assure you they have a feed reader that features around 100 different sites that they follow. Mine has a plethora of sites, and I check it every single day. First of all, because I comment on them and build relationships with the different bloggers. But also, it lets you know what’s going on in the blogging world. Pretty much all of those sites I follow are Blogging Tips sites. Some are brand new blogs, and some are really popular ones. I read practically every post they write, and it has several great results.

First, I’m informed about the Blogging World.

Second, I’m able to keep tabs on my competition.

Third, I’m able to see what other people are using and possibly utilize it on my site as well.

Fourth, I know what everybody’s talking about.

And Fifth, it gives me ideas about what to write about.

One of my favorite things to do is to see a article that somebody else made, and see how popular it was. And then I use the same idea, and just make a post that features more of “whatever it is,” than they did. This is a great way to see what is popular at the moment. And as long as your list/article is the biggest/most informative… then people will love your post just as much as the other one. Some of my best post ideas, were sparked by something that I read on another site. Often I’ll read a post, and they’ll mention something that I think is really important, but they didn’t expand on it as much as I thought they should have. And so I write a post about it, to expand the idea for my readers.

So as you can see a Reading List is Really important. Because with it, you have an unlimited amount of content in your niche, that you can get ideas from. If you’re following enough blogs, you should be able to get ideas every single day if you want. Unfortunately, this still doesn’t write the posts for you, but if you have a good idea then it can make writing the articles much easier.

So the key to quality, consistent posts, is staying informed by reading a lot. This will make your articles more informative, and give you the ability to write them more.

One of the most important parts of any blog, is turning casual viewers, into dedicated readers. The vast majority of visitors to your site, will not return. No matter how many visitors your site averages a day, the ratio of return visits, to new visits, is typically at least 5:1 and often much higher. If there was someway to get this 5:1 ratio lower, even to 4:1 or 3:1, the difference in traffic would be enormous!

Dedicated readers will return multiple times a week, often every day if you post that much. If you post frequently (3-5 times a week) then your traffic could easily triple! So the question is, how do you hook these new visitors so that they come back.

PEST: A Professional Easy Simple Template

“Pest” doesn’t really have anything to do with it, but it’s good marketing, because it will stick in your head! Your site must be professional looking. It has to look slick and clean. Colorful but not Flashy. Loaded but not Cluttered. It has to catch the eye, and leave you with a warm comfortable feeling, so that you can read the content without distractions. After reading the content, (assuming the reader liked it,) they will instinctively  observe the other features of the site.

It must be easy to look at, easy to read, and easy to navigate. Visitors should be able to find everything easily, quickly, and without having to even think about it. Example: “Contact page, top left corner. Home Page, top left or center. Post archive, standing out on either sidebar.” The exact location can vary slightly, such as the sides of the page, but the navigation should be childishly simple. The result of this, is that the reader will be able to find what he is looking for, without trouble, and he will find your site enjoyable and friendly. Having complicated or flashy templates are hard on the eyes, and hard on the mind. Both of these will turn away readers.

The Importance of Content in Blogging

Quality Content

You’ve heard the phrase, “Content is King.” Well content is much more than just king. Content is the supreme, ultimate, all-powerful dictator. With great content you can have a great site, even if everything else is messed up. The other pieces make the content more inviting, but the content is what sells the site. Original, creative, entertaining! smart, well-researched content, is the most important part of getting visitors to come back.

Free Stuff

There are two types of free stuff, prizes, and services. You want to be offering both as much as you physically, and (monetarily) can. Prizes are great for contests, and the occasional flip nano, ipod, xbox 360 get everybody excited and  eager to come back. But those contests only last so long. Once the “three week” contest is over, then many of the visitors will just leave again. That’s where services come in to play.  Offering free advice, free reviews, and free small services such as creating avatars, are Great ways of getting new visitors, and getting them to stay. People will remember the guy who helped them out, and they will return the favor however they can. For most that’s just a new subscriber, active commenter, and devoted reader. But for many that can also mean back-links from their site. People love to talk about the ones who helped them. Take advice from the Big Leaguers, Pro Blogger and the like, they don’t disrespect to the newbie. They realize that everybody had to start at the bottom.

The best type of service I’ve found, is offering advice. People, especially newbies, want to know what the people who’ve been in the business for a while think of their work. So be friendly, be respectful, and help each other out. I set up my Ask Jonathan page for a reason, to be there for my readers. If you’ve got a question, hit me up! I’ve love to help you however I can. mastersofseo@gmail.com

Targeted Traffic

My final advice is this: find your audience and focus on them! That may sound like a stupid thing to say, because for many their audience is whoever they can get to their site. But your real Audience, needs to be the people that your site is made for. And if you say your site isn’t made for anybody specific, then sit down and think about who would most benefit from what your site offers, and design your site around them. New visitors will return if the site is relevant and useful to them. That’s why Targeted Traffic will help with getting returning visitors, because your site will be focused on a specific group. The specific group for How to Blog, is really any type of blogger, who is eager to expand the influence of their site. Mastersofseo focuses on how to get traffic, and how to grow your blog. That’s why I focus on those keywords in search engines, and that’s why I focus on getting bloggers who’re interested in growing their readership. What are you focusing on? What is your targeted group?

Ask yourself these questions, and use this post as a checklist, to grow the return visitors to your blog.

If you liked this post please consider sharing it through sites like twitter, stumbleupon, digg… so that others can benefit from it as well. I publish articles several times a week, so if you like, you can subscribe to my blog through email or feeder to stay updated. Thanks for reading!

I’ve compiled a list, of the different characteristics, attributes, and skills, that I think are the essentials for a  blogger to be successful. I hope you find this list enjoyable and helpful, but most of all, inspiring. Feel free to comment below with any suggestions, and I’ll add your idea with a link like this:

Be Original

Be Honest

Be Creative

Be Passionate

Be Funny

Be Inviting

Be Helpful

Be Kind

Be Interesting

Be Simple

Be Artsy

Be Respectful

Be Informative

Be Knowledgeable

Be Quick

Be Dedicated

Be Informed

Be Consistent

Be Correct

Be Dreaming

Be Persuasive

Be Marketable

Be Driven

Be Available

Be Friendly

Be Well-Read

Be Researching

Be Analytical

Be Unorthodox

Be Clever

Be Intelligent

Be Appealing

Be Fun

Be Influential

Be Professional

Be Respectful

Be Giving

Be Sharing

Be Open

Be Frugal

Be Patient!

When I started this blog in the winter of 07, the blog quickly got a PR of 4, and it stayed that way until I stopped for the summer and it dropped to a 2. In the fall of 08 I started again, and the PR remained a 2 all the way until January-February when I stopped. I come back now in April, and guess what, My PR went up during the last update to 3. That’s very exciting, but also pretty confusing, what did I do wrong from September-February, that got fixed… when I stopped blogging…? The whole topic of PR can be pretty confusing sometimes, so in this article I will explain this seemingly odd phenomena, and also give you some tips to help you better understand how to work with it.

Riding the waves of Page Rank

Do you see that little guy? That’s you. That little man is you, and that wave is Google, the blog world King. The foam everywhere, is PR. Page Rank is everywhere, and often it seems like it’s in places where it shouldn’t be. If you see to the right side of the picture, the waves are covered with foam, all the way to the top. While on the left side, the foam is only at the bottom, and there’s a large, glaring vacancy of foam near the top. This picture kind of describes the blogosphere. There are some people riding the tops of the waves doing very well. Most people are somewhere in the middle or near the bottom of the wave. And all the still water in front, is dormant blogs. As you already know, there are far more vacant blogs than active ones, hence the larger amount of still water. Now you’re probably wondering what this had to do with PR, I will explain.

If your blog is at the top of the blogwave, then theroetically you should have a high PR correct? Wrong. See the left side where there’s almost no foam? Those are the John Chows, successful blogs at the top, but low PR. While on the right you’ve got the probloggers, and Steve Pavlinas who have high PRs.

The first thing I want to say about PR is this, patience. I was doing all the right things to get a higher PR, but starting in September, the update was in October, so I hadn’t done enough yet to be rewarded. The next was in January, and I was right on the borderline of being moved up, and finally in March I was rewarded. Was that because my being gone helped the blog? No. Remember, these things take several months to update. You may have a higher PR ranking a week after the update, but your score won’t change until the update does. So the lesson I learned and give to you is patience, if you’re doing the right things, and more importantly avoiding the wrong things, than your PR will improve.

Another tip, stick around! Yeah, I know I’m not one to speak, but blogs get higher PR with age. My search engine results all improved from when I was last blogging, search engines yield to older blogs. Again this is just another one of the right things you need to do.

The most important thing of all to do, is to not do what you shouldn’t do. Learn from John Chow. Don’t use those bidveritisers sites, they destroy your PR, for years to come. My favorite example is Blogger Noob. Hes got a large readership, lots of visitors and subscribers, but he’s still paying the price for using the wrong sites. He’s got a big fat 0 for his PR, and he’s got tons more links than I do. “It takes years to build a blog, it takes weeks to destroy one.” You can quote me on that

So remember, if you’re frustrated in your PR expedition, be patient, keep doing the right things, and justice will be done. Those sites that are brand new and get a PR 4 a week later, they will happen, I know several myself. Online Bull is a great example, it got a PR 4 out of no where. Nothing against the guy, I like the blogger, but now he’s at a PR of 1. A much more fitting ranking for his site. Over time the internet evens out fairly.

So be patient, keep gathering the right connections, and avoid the wrong crowd. Lol sounds like a mother’s  doesn’t it?