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Tips To Building A Better Blog

I have been into designing blogs for three years and in that time I have become quite familiar with which blogs will be successful which will not- even before the blog has been up for very long.

So here are some of my observations- I hope these suggestions help you make your blog even better.

1. Keep it balanced: Some people think that their blog design will draw readers to their blog without putting alot of thought into content (posts). While others think that all they need is good content and who really cares about how it looks. Each of these things alone do not work to create a good blog, I think both these things together are essential to a successful blog. However too much attention must not be focused on one or the other and finding this balance can be difficult- especially if blog design is not a strong suite (or vise versa).

2. Keep It Simple: I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a clean and uncluttered blog. Get rid of blinkies, buttons and distracting widgets- keep a few important ones and put the rest in a post and link it from your sidebar. The reason I emphasize this because looking at a cluttered blog can be distracting and overwhelming- causing your readers to look past good content and not come back to read your blog.
Also another key to maintaining simplicity in your blog is to keep your posts short- if your posts take longer than 5 minutes to read they are too long. The average person stops reading after that point and will most likely not return if you are always writing long posts.

3. Establish a Theme Or Topic: It’s so important to determine a definite theme for your blog and stick to it, people want to know where they can go for certain topics of information. To put it simple, it will draw people to have topics that interest them. Also make sure it’s a theme or topic that interests you- people can tell if you are posting about something you love and are passionate about.

4. Establish Approachability:  I guess what I am trying to say are you relate-able? It’s important to be who you are, believe it or not people are more drawn to someone who is genuine and real. maybe start an about me section that portrays the real you, other ways could be to get to know your readers on facebook or twitter. Although I have to say not all blogs are personal so personal areas are not shared which is alright… However I do think at the very least an “About Me” would achieve this goal.

5. Read Blogs: To get readers- you need to be a reader, Leave encouraging comments for other bloggers. Relationships are another factor in drawing people to your blog, if they genuinely like they are more likely to follow you. This also applies to social applications like twitter and facebook- the more people know you the more likely they will come by to check your blog on a regular basis.

6. Spread The Love: promote other blogs that interest you- usually what goes around comes around and others will usually gravitate to those who are promoting others and not just themselves. It’s alright to twitter about your blog for example but twittering about your blog 10 times a day may not be a good idea. Again really- it’s about balance.

7. Keep It original: I think one of my biggest annoyances is when bloggers take ideas from other blogs they read and claim them as their own. I have seen it a lot,  what I am trying to say is use your imagination and come up with unique ideas for your blog. It’s usually the unique ideas that draw people anyway.

Disclaimer: these tips are all from my point of view, So keep that in mind. My goal really is to get you thinking about your blog and ways to improve it because lets face it, not one blog is perfect and we could all use a bit of improvement (me included).

Are there any blog tips or secrets you’d like to share? I would love to hear your input- I think it’s always nice to learn from others.

Need a blog makeover? Check out the FREE blog template of the week: (click Image to Download)

Sandra

Wednesday 7th of September 2011

Thanks for the tips.. getting a decent Blog together for a non computer savy person can be a misson so its great to find people willing to share there knowledge. TFS

Sandy

Tips To Building A Better Blog «

Tuesday 9th of August 2011

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Rajive

Saturday 23rd of July 2011

Thanks! They are really amazing

sasha

Thursday 19th of May 2011

Great tips, some I hadn't thought of being new to blogging and all. Thanks for sharing

kristennemarie

Wednesday 11th of May 2011

thanks for the tips! :) i got one of your free layouts. ^_^