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Increasing blog readership : Five tips

February 15, 2006

Five tips for increasing blog readership is the subject of a post from Kent Newsome. Kent gives credit to Scoble for the ideas.

1) Use a Clever Headline.

I caution folks on this. One, the number one rule on the web is do not make me think. Let me know what I am going to read. I don’t have time to guess, I move on. In addition, most blog software will place the title of the post in the title tag. It’s that title tag dictates how your post is indexed and found by people at Google. I like people to find what I am writing about, not some glib phrase.

2) Use Technorati, and with a Photo.

3) Be Different.

Good advice. But, as Kent says, make sure it’s good different and not bad different. And when you are different be ready to defend yourself. The world says they want people to be themselves but crush those who are different from the pack. Once you’ve defended yourself a few times, your sincerity will carry the day.

4) Use graphics and good design.

Huge part, Ken says. “Most blog nerds like me read blogs via RSS feed readers, but approximately none of the rest of the world does. So how the page looks probably has a major effect on first impressions and a reader’s likelihood of returning.”

5) Use Tags

15% of Ken’s traffic comes my from Technorati, Ken believes because of Tags. We’re looking at Tags at LexBlog. However most non geeks, the target audience of law firms and professional service firms, do not have a clue what tags are. Tags, though I believe important for the future, are not something I’d lose any sleep over.

6) Make Friends with Other Bloggers

Agree with Ken that this is huge. Developing a relationship with other similarly situated bloggers by writing about their blog posts, commenting on their blog itself and exchanging emails may be the secret sauce of blogging. One, you’ll learn a lot. Two, you’ll find these bloggers writing about your content. Their blog readers will include members of your target audience and those who influence your target audience. You get the idea, let other people spread the word about you. And don’t forget to do the same for them.

Source for post: Micro Persuasion

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