Getting Blogs to sell - Stuff I learnt from Godin!

How to get traffic for your blog

My friend Fred, a talented blogger, asked me for advice the other day. Here's a partial answer, with a few apologies to Swift: (and when you're done with this list, feel free to read my post about shark attacks).

1. Use lists.
2. Be topical... write posts that need to be read right now.
3. Learn enough to become the expert in your field.
4. Break news.
5. Be timeless... write posts that will be readable in a year.
6. Be among the first with a great blog on your topic, then encourage others to blog on the same topic.
7. Share your expertise generously so people recognize it and depend on you.
8. Announce news.
9. Write short, pithy posts.
10. Encourage your readers to help you manipulate the technorati top blog list.
11. Don't write about your cat, your boyfriend or your kids.
12. Write long, definitive posts.
13. Write about your kids.
14. Be snarky. Write nearly libelous things about fellow bloggers, daring them to respond (with links back to you) on their blog.
15. Be sycophantic. Share linklove and expect some back.
16. Include polls, meters and other eye candy.
17. Tag your posts. Use del.ico.us.
18. Coin a term or two.
19. Do email interviews with the well-known.
20. Answer your email.
21. Use photos. Salacious ones are best.
22. Be anonymous.
23. Encourage your readers to digg your posts. (and to use furl and reddit). Do it with every post.
24. Post your photos on flickr.
25. Encourage your readers to subscribe by RSS.
26. Start at the beginning and take your readers through a months-long education.
27. Include comments so your blog becomes a virtual water cooler that feeds itself.
28. Assume that every day is the beginning, because you always have new readers.
29. Highlight your best posts on your Squidoo lens.
30. Point to useful but little-known resources.
31. Write about stuff that appeals to the majority of current blog readers--like gadgets and web 2.0.
32. Write about Google.
33. Have relevant ads that are even better than your content.
34. Don't include comments, people will cross post their responses.
35. Write posts that each include dozens of trackbacks to dozens of blog posts so that people will notice you.
36. Run no ads.
37. Keep tweaking your template to make it include every conceivable bell or whistle.
38. Write about blogging.
39. Digest the good ideas of other people, all day, every day.
40. Invent a whole new kind of art or interaction.
41. Post on weekdays, because there are more readers.
42. Write about a never-ending parade of different topics so you don't bore your readers.
43. Post on weekends, because there are fewer new posts.
44. Don't interrupt your writing with a lot of links.
45. Dress your blog (fonts and design) as well as you would dress yourself for a meeting with a stranger.
46. Edit yourself. Ruthlessly.
47. Don't promote yourself and your business or your books or your projects at the expense of the reader's attention.
48. Be patient.
49. Give credit to those that inspired, it makes your writing more useful.
50. Ping technorati. Or have someone smarter than me tell you how to do it automatically.
51. Write about only one thing, in ever-deepening detail, so you become definitive.
52. Write in English.
53. Better, write in Chinese.
54. Write about obscure stuff that appeals to an obsessed minority.
55. Don't be boring.
56. Write stuff that people want to read and share.

Starting a blog can be a huge improvement to any website or online business. While technical websites and detailed, professionally written web content is great for some customers, a blog is a place where ALL people can come together around a business. It doesn’t matter what your business is, because anyone can benefit from blog marketing.

To learn more about blog marketing, or to get started with your own blog today, visit Contentyogi

27 vs. 34

33 vs. 36

42. vs. 51

You ignored 49.

Nice catch ;)

I did not ignore. The forum won't let me post an URL for the original source.

You probably touched upon this if read between the lines but giving your blog a brand I think is very important. Readers want to feel like they are part of something.

Contentyogi is definitely not worth visiting.y? cos it quotes written work of others without citing any reference. Secondly not everyone can benefit from blog marketing. One needs a flair for writing.

by the way you are also breaking ur own rules (rule no. 47 & 49)

Did you not understand what I wrote in my last message? Do you even take time to read before you flame on?

their are several ways of citing the original source, even the url. anyways i just raised the objection, so chill.

BOOOOO

You could have at least (and you should have) cited the original source. You made NO INDICATION that it was not your work, in fact you claimed it as your work, and then promoted yourself and only when called out back tracked.

This should be entitled "how to kill your reputation, by trying to fool the experts"

Hmm, lemme think... the title reads "Stuff I learnt from Godin"?

What exactly is your expertise again? lol

The title should have read "A post I copied from Seth Godin and attached my own contact details to, hoping I could ride on the coattails of someone else"

Very funny! Really . You should rest your case now since you have my attention.

So clearly, this isn't about credit owed to the original source anymore. So all of this is about how to form a "funny" title.

BTW, speaking of reputation, I hope this is earning you some nice reps yourself given that you seem to have a lot of time jerking around, telling people what they should be doing with their threads.

Takes me about 10 seconds each post.

BTW - this isn't technically "your" thread, as you stole the content from someone else.

Ha ha. I don't doubt that at all. It should take longer than 10 seconds to say anything sensible.
But dude! seriously, I trust you have something important to do with your time. Oh! I forgot, congratulations on the "Top 5 poster" title.


Ignored! My point's been made.

Well coyogi, you obviously don't have anything more serious to do with YOUR time than plagiarize someone else's content.

But then again, I suppose I should have expected that from someone who built their web site to look EXACTLY like a Google result.

If this is an example of the kind of service you provide, your customers will go right to the bottom of Google in a big hurry thanks to duplicate content penalties.