Can you believe it's January?
2018 is here and…
…a new year is a great time to take a close look at your blog and evaluate what you can do to make it more successful, whether that means getting more eyeballs on your pages or earning more money or both.
So check out this list and see which of these can help your blog, and then, by all means, get busy.
And, if you want to get more info on how Naomi from Ittybiz and I can help, click on the button below.
- Are you building a list but are sign ups are coming in at a trickle? Maybe you need to optimize the sign-up process. First, make sure your sign up forms are in the prime locations. Usually, these are above the fold and at the end of each post. Second, are you bribing people sufficiently? Give them a powerful incentive for joining your list – preferably something they'd be willing to pay for if you weren't giving it away for free.
- Are you building an email list from your blog? If not, start. Today. Now. Right this MINUTE. Because you are losing out on one of your greatest potential sources of both income and repeat visitors.
- Be a bit different. While your blog or website is going to be similar to other sites in your niche, it should offer a twist that distinguishes it from the others. After all, if there's nothing unique about your site, why should people visit? If you don't know how you're unique, then you probably aren't, so find something that sets you apart from all the others and highlights that.
- Break the ice with other bloggers/website owners in your niche. Visit websites like Alltop to find the best bloggers in your niche, and then email them and comment on one of their posts. And stay in touch, actively supporting them by mentioning them on your blog, etc. After a while, you'll notice some of them are reciprocating, sending you both traffic and links.
- Mix up your content. If your posts are always written, try adding video. If you always make video posts, try some podcasting and articles. Think about adding ebooks, webinars, infographics, slideshows, etc.
- Add images. If you're not already using an image with each post, I recommend you begin. Images capture attention and can keep people on your site longer.
- Conduct interviews with people in your niche. These could be experts, authors, fellow bloggers, etc. Remember, the person you're interviewing will quite often bring traffic to your website by telling their lists about the interview. Plus interviewing smart, knowledgeable people makes YOU look smart as well.
- Guest blog on other people's blogs, and ask for guest posts as well. This gets you seen by new people and brings fresh voices to your own blog.
- When you guest blog, write about topics that you cover extensively on your own blog. This way anyone who's interested enough to read your guest article will likely also be interested in seeing more on the topic, which of course, they can get access to through your link.
- Clean up your website. If it's cluttered, clean it up. Make it look professional. This could be an entire article unto itself, but I suspect you know exactly what I mean. You've been to websites that were so cluttered with ads and links that you immediately felt confused or overwhelmed and wanted to leave. In fact, research shows that too many choices actually causes visitors to leave faster. Do not let your own blog or website be one of those sites.
- Link your new posts to your older, relative posts (interlinking.) This keeps visitors on your blog or website longer and even helps with SEO, according to my favorite SEO blogger, Brian Dean.
- Keep SEO in mind when writing your blog posts and articles. Basically, you want to choose one keyword phrase for each post and use it in the title and phrases like it 2 to 3 times in the body of the post. If you're interested, learn more about SEO writing for 2018 in Brian's special report – it can pay off handsomely in free traffic.
- Email your list when you make a new post and ask them to comment. This gets your post some traffic, and the comments make your post look alive.
- Evaluate which social media buttons are working for your website, and get rid of the rest. Again, too many options will decrease the time visitors spend on your website. So just offer your favorites. You might even notice this actually INCREASES the number of times people share your content.
- Keep an idea journal. Every time you think of an idea for a new article or blog post, write it down. Even if it seems like an average idea, write it down anyway because this will spur your imagination to keep finding new ideas. Plus that idea that seemed silly might make a lot more sense days later when you reconsider it.
You might want to choose the ideas above that really resonate with you and write out a plan for carrying them out over the next few months.
Then watch your traffic as well as your bottom line for the results – I think you'll be pleased.
If you want to get more info about how to expand your audience, strategically figure out what to blog about and how to make more money with your blog in 2018, get on “I Want To Know More Info” List for the next Blog Retreat.
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