Build it and THEY will Come!

It happens in the movies, at least it did in "Field of Dreams." They built the baseball diamond and the crowds and players showed up for the game. It would be nice if that were all you  had to do to get your web sites and blogs out there in everyone's mailboxes and at the top of the search engine lists automatically. It takes a bit more research and work than that. Just recently, I read a well written article discussing ways to have your blog go VIRAL. Here is what I understood.

1. First determine WHY you are blogging. Who is your audience? What are your goals? What interests do your readers have? Answer those questions in a compelling way and your audience will come back again and again.

2.Do basic research. Visit  sites like technorati. Do a search for keywords related to your target audience as well as the topics you intend to focus on. While there answer these questions: Who are the most influential bloggers in your space? Who is being successful in getting in front of the bloggers that you want to get in front of?

Technorati ranks recent posts based on their authority or how many people link to that blog. High ranked blogs are the ones you want to check out. Pay attention to what people write about, note any posts you like, later you can link posts you write to those posts, which may generate return traffic. 

3. Avoid sub domains to set up your BLOG. Install your blog on your own domain as a sub page. The suggested blog is Wordpress.

4. Create a content schedule that is steady of what, when and how you will post, plan ahead and stick to it.This creates structure around your workload. Perhaps plan to post on Tuesdays or Thursdays then stay on that schedule.  Your posting schedule creates expectation on the reader's parts, you drift away—they drift away. Kind of like, "Hey it is Tuesday/Thursday, let's see what she has to say today!" Don't miss a post and disappoint your audience. 

5. Be personal. Add a photo of yourself, write good bios to enhance your credibility to let them know you are a real person. This will engage your audience.

6. Be first. By being the first to post breaking news is an easy way to go VIRAL.

7. Know what other bloggers are saying.If an influencial blogger post a comment and you disagree, state your opinion in a courteous way without insulting anyone. Disagreement creates interaction and builds community. Saying the same thing does not compel readers to your blog.

8. Notice social networking sites to see what people like. An article that goes "popular" on Digg can generate tens of thousands of visitors to your site. The same can happen with StumbleUpon and del.iocio.us. 

9. Control your BLOG, keeping  up with live stats to learn how to add popularity to your postings.

10. Make it easy for your readers with an RSS feed in a prominent place. RSS feeds let users display the content from multiple blogs through one program so they can easily see the latest posts from their favorite blogs.

11. Rinse and repeat. Watch  your blog to see what works. To figure out what works, find out where your traffic comes from and which resources bring the most visitors or comments. 

12. Stand by your opinions, knowing you cannot please everyone.If everyone does not like you, it's OK.

13. Keep the Faith, try not to get discouraged. Building a readership and going viral takes time and experience. It takes effort to find ways to get your particular audience to visit, comment on posts, and recommend you to others—and waiting is well worth it!

Article excerpt from Chris Bennett, President of 97th Floor, specializing in Blog optimization

Hope you enjoyed this summary,if you would like the article in it's entirity, I will be happy to email it to you. Just let me know!

"Every time you stand up for an ideal, you send forth a tiny ripple of hope."

                                                                                                                    Robert Kennedy