25 Questions to Ask Yourself to Make Your Blog Better

admin — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 07:00:26 +0000

In the previous post we talked about the 5 elements to consider when grading the success of your blog now I have some question for you to help you take stock of where you need to make improvements in case your currently failing blogging now and would like to become an ‘A’ blog or maybe just move up to being a ‘C’ blog.

Do you have a copyright or creative commons statement?
Do you use a domain name that matches search terms?
Does your blog title include a description of what the blog is about?
Do you post at least 3 times per week on your blog?
Do you vary the length of the posts?
Do you provide a search option?
Do you provide a way for your readers to contact you?
Do you tag your entries?
Do you list your tags alphabetically or in a tag cloud?
Do you write about a variety of topics, some professional and some personal?
Are your headlines simple, descriptive and declarative?
Do you make it easy for visitors to subscribe to your blog or RSS feed?
Do you have a blogroll?
Do you have a photo of yourself somewhere on the blog?
Do you invite comments from visitors?
Do you regularly include photos?
Do you regularly include streaming audio or video?
Do you write mostly in first person?
Do you include a link to your company website or other personal websites? (social network profiles count)
Do you frequently file reports from conferences or events attended?
Do you respond to comments from visitors?
Do the number of comments you receive exceed the number of entries you post?
Do you have an “About” page with descriptive information about yourself?
Do you make it easy for people to bookmark your entries to Digg, Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon and/or other social bookmarketing sites?
Do you always attribute and link to source material? (speaking of which, these questions come from Paul Gillin’s Secrets of Social Media Marketing)

For everyone of the above questions you can answer you get one point. More than 22 points gets you an ‘A’. 17 points gets you a ‘C’.

Good luck with your blogs-please feel free to leave a comment below with links to your blogs and scores

Twitter is HOT but Blogs Rule!

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:13:50 +0000

Twitter may be hot and on the top of mind but you shouldn’t forget about blogging.

If you haven’t started blogging…what are you waiting for? (if you’re stuck on ‘What to blog about?’ contact me for a consult, we’ll get that taken care of straight away!)

Having your own blog remains the strongest platform for sharing your ideas and having a continued dialogue with the world.

Here are 5 reasons you need to blog.

Tells a Story of True Commitment. As often as you blog you are sharing your passion with your industry and the world. I’d recommend setting a goal of at least 2 blog posts per week. Remember, your expertise grows in significance with each post. Yes it may seem odd the first few posts, like you are putting messages out there for no one but look back a year later and you’ll be proud at your accomplishments and discipline.
Search Engine Juice. Ideas expressed in blog posts are indexed by Google and there for anyone to search and find you forever. Your Twitter and Facebook updates maybe archived by Google but don’t carry the same weight as fresh content on blogs.
You own the content. If your blog is self-hosted then you own all of the content that you put up on your blog. This is often not the case when you post content to Twitter, YouTube or Facebook. Additionally, on your blog YOU determine how that content is shown to the world and don’t have to fit within anyone’s 140 or 160 character parameters.
Analytics. On your self-hosted blog you can easily install Google Analytics and see who is visiting your website, how long they stay on your site, and where they come from. This is extremely useful in deciding which advertising/marketing methods are working for you. This is also the reason why when you update Facebook or post links in Twitter they should direct people back to your blog so you can track what your community is doing and use the information to further provide value to the community.
YOU are the Producer. The beauty of social media and Web 2.0 is that it allows you and me to become producers of whatever type of content we want to share with the world. No longer do we have to rely on Madison Avenue Ad agencies to tell us what to think and how to be cool. You can become a thought leader for your community. So why are you holding out on sharing this gift, your thoughts with the world?

Bonus tip!!! Traditional media (radio, tv, newspapers) will find your blog (from Google) and will recognize you as an expert. Because of my efforts in providing content to you a producer from WPTV reached out to me for an interview earlier this month. Watch WPTV Interview here. This can happen for you too!

To Your Prosperity,

Mande

P.S. Remember if you need help with implementing ANY of the social media tips and tactics I talk about on FreeSocialMediaHelp.com don’t hesitate to contact me for a consultation!

P.P.S. What are you blogging about? Please share your blog with me by leaving a comment below!

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25 Questions to Ask Yourself to Make Your Blog Better

Twitter is HOT but Blogs Rule!