Blogging to Nowhere

You have had your blog going for a few months, posted an entry every week and followed up on random comments from other bloggers but still don’t rank anywhere in Google. If you want to be a blogger there is much you need to keep in mind, primarily that blogging is in fact not for everyone and tends to become frustrating & infuriating when you are beginning; so here are some quick tips to becoming a better blogger.

Don’t Abandon Your Blog

There’s nothing worse than a blog that hasn’t been updated for months on end, simply forgotten to spam comments and eating up dead space on your site; if you intend to make a blog then actually do something with it. Leaving a blog abandoned also abandons anyone interested in your ideas or products that happens to stumble upon it in the future. If you’re trying to be professional or you’re selling something, an empty blog won’t leave a very good impression for your visitor.

Updates

Aim for weekly updates of your blog, every few days or daily if you can. It’s always better to have an active blog, which shows your visitors that you care about their comments. When it comes to your product or service adding content to your blog constantly, with explanations or testimonials is always beneficial; remember you need fresh content to keep Google happy and people coming back for more.

Answer Comments

If someone takes the time to leave a comment on your blog then answer the comment and engage your reader, an active blog is a happy blog and responses show you care what people are saying on your posts. Best of all this will bring back blog visitors, people who may end up following you and vicariously promoting your product. Blogging is all about interaction so make your visitors feel welcome.

Get Quality Content

Always try to write the best you can on your blog and make every attempt to provide the best quality possible. Forget the PLR articles, spam articles, presell pages and other nonsense; regardless what it sounds like sometimes you just need to write. Doing nothing does nothing for your blog; instead talk to other bloggers who write for similar pages and work out and exchange of guest spots. Always write fresh articles but remember to keep close to your sites’ theme, you can deviate on occasion but wandering too far off point may see you lose subscribers. Quality is what will get you the visitors and also allow you to rank higher on the search engines. You should try and be seen as an expert in your field so create the best content you possibly can and remember that everybody is a critic.

Use Social Media

Make sure your blog is setup for social media accounts wherever they are offered and share everything on those sites. Facebook, Myspace and Twitter are excellent ways to discuss topics with other people while promoting your blog at the same time but there are hundreds of other social sites with smaller audiences and cheaper advertising. You can start a business page or a personal page and include links to your blog site, main site or other lead in pages with pertinent information for the casual browser to find.

Photos, Images & Videos

Google and Facebook love to promote and connect people to images and videos, providing either to further convey your message is damn smart and quite easy to do. Youtube, Vimeo, Facebook and tons of other sites offer you the capability of uploading a video and even adding a soundtrack. Better still are SlideShare and Animoto which offer easy methods to create slideshow advertisiements. Try to create the best videos you can, luckily you can be funny, interesting and informative or just stay on topic.

Help is a click away!

When I need help from a professional I don’t have to look far, any of my coworkers, confidants, Facebook friends and even a few family members can assist me in doing what I do. For the “everyday Joe” finding real help online is tricky if not impossible and could end up disastrously. But things are changing and changing fast.

Need a website NOW

Using any of the websites listed here you can generate a functional temporary or permanent website to begin blogging on, garner Google's attention and create social media buzz. These websites can all be used as both free website builders or paid website builders, my suggestion is start free and use whatever tools they have for your level. Remember revisions can count against you for rankings sometimes, so be careful what you change and don’t lose your cool when it does.

Webs.com Website Builder- Available both paid and free with easy to use and launch design tools. Some advanced SEO tools or use of custom domain may require subscription but remain cheaper than using a designer right out the gate.

Yola Site!- With Free, Bronze, Silver and Gold packages for service, Yola provides anyone the ability to build a page, provides all sorts of different designs and options. Bundles are available for advertising and design, the sites are easy to deal with and incredibly easy to use.

Weebly- Not the best nor a personal favorite due to a tracking glitch which will at times appear as a malware issue, Weebly does provide the option to use your own domain purchased through them or previously. A great tool for small sites without tons of content or site associated blogs. Either way it still provides an awesome tool for a great price; FREE!

JimDo- More of an Ecommerce website builder JimDo offers you the capability of easily adding a paypal payment option to the website templates they provide. Not high ranking and possibly on the weaker side of website builders, JimDo is not to be disregarded with over 500mb of free space, custom layouts, business oriented templates and a plethora of other free or cheap tools.

BraveSite- This Site Builder is among the easiest site builders on the web! Good for Noobs and Veterans, plenty of templates to choose from, sitemap creators and even an HTML editor. All this and free can’t steer you wrong. Paid services and domain purchases are available as well.

WebNode- Personal or business website templates and editors available, along with paid SEO services and Domain sales.

Just remember, Don’t Quit! Blogging can be fun and profitable, you can promote your brand or your band, the team you love or the kids you coach; approach it in the right and you too can be successful.

Remember your goal is to blog and convey a message, whether this message makes you money, increases your publicity or flat out exposes your raw nerves; success is only achieved by continuing to blog beyond your limits!