You Can Develop A Winning WordPress Blog!

What it takes to make your blog stand out.

Welcome to the blogosphere! Are you thrilled with your blog or are you looking for more? More, as in increased traffic, better photos and ample ad income? I know exactly how you feel! If you want an effective blog, then operating under the premise of “business as usual” is not something that you want to do. Rather, you must set your blog apart from the multitude to help it shake the blogosphere. You might even make some extra money too!

5 Steps To Better Blogging

My personal blogs have to perform to the point where I want them to perform which requires some dedicated work on my part. But, I’m up to that challenge! So, let’s review some ways that you can build a better blog:

1. Your Traffic — I’ve built up traffic to my blogs by connecting them to several sites that I control. My thinking is this: I might as well take advantage of what I have in order to advance what I control. Additionally, when I guest blog on other sites I am not timid about linking up to my other blogs. Ultimately, I add tons of natural links to each blog, a step that has kept the traffic growing.

2. Your Photos — Most certainly, including images with your blog posts is mandatory and with each entry too. On one of my business blogs, I will regularly contact companies and ask for the right to use one or more pictures that they own, and include it with an article I am writing about that business. Of course with this request I am not about to knock the company, so don’t go down that path if you want to receive their assistance. Many people are happy to help as they see you assisting them in promoting their business, even if you’re doing so indirectly.

3. Your News — Replicating and pasting news releases word for word is a bit much and is considered unprofessional. Nevertheless, citing parts of the news release such as using executive quotes and linking back to the original release is a wise move. I have seen blogs where a passing reference is made to a news release, but the words are purely that of the writer’s. This allows you to harness a trusted news source and put your own twist to the story.

4. Your Themes — WordPress is recognized by many as being the best blogging platform and the amount of themes created by users of this blogging software is impressive. Yet, even the default WordPress theme is rather nice which I’ll sometimes use when I’m first launching a new blog. For other blogs, I like to download an uncluttered, but colorful theme that is easy on the eyes and offers visual appeal.

5. Your Ads — Most definitely, there is no need to overpower your visitors with ads, but operating without ads isn’t helpful either, especially if you are wanting to monetize your blog. The essential Google AdSense adverts can be useful as can any banner ad space that you can offer for sale. The thinking with most bloggers is that you should get paid at least something for all of your hard work!

Personal Sweat Equity

Truly, there is plenty that you can do to shape a more masterful blog. If you want to send your blog to the top of your segment, it does take hard work and plenty of it. Put the sweat equity into your web log and you will harvest the reward of more traffic and greater income. Get noticed by building a better web log right now!

See Also — Good, Better, Best Blogging Practices

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Why Giving Up Blogging May Be Your Worst Decision

Thinking about giving up blogging? Think again.

I’ve been posting to one or more blogs regularly since 2005. That followed three years of running an online forum and several more years of belonging to one or more groups or forums. I became active online in 1995, but had at least a passing fancy with computers for years before.

Blogging Adventure

A latecomer to blogging, I still have managed to see the blogosphere change dramatically. Technorati was the driving force for many bloggers, a platform by which they got noticed, connected with other bloggers and, hopefully, monetized their sites. Technorati’s influence has gone the way of MySpace and Digg, virtual afterthoughts in all things Internet.

Blogging’s strength can be credited largely to WordPress which took the blogging model and ran with it. Early on, WordPress experienced the usual growing pains, but by the time Word Press 3.0 rolled out, those problems largely disappeared. Today, WP is a stable and broad platform, an excellent content management system whether you use it for blogging or other purposes.

Gone Dark

Lately, I’ve been visiting the blogging sites of some of my colleague writers and have found two that haven’t been kept up in at least six months. Both sites offered engaging and sometimes instructive content, but each appears to have ceased being updated. No word from the blogger that the work had stopped, just an aged post occupying the home page. They’ve gone dark, but nobody has turned out the light.

I understand what may be driving some bloggers to quit, especially writers who have a lot of other projects and perhaps personal websites to manage. Matt’s Musings faded in 2011 as I allowed a steady stream of contributors to fill in. I stopped accepting guest posts last May, realizing that this blog belongs to me and it is my voice I want out there. Besides, I have an ulterior motive for continuing this site. Read on and I’ll explain why giving up blogging may be your worst decision:

It is your site and your voice — How do people find you other than you making regular queries? Querying for work is great and needful, but I must admit that most of my current crop of clients found me. Matt’s Musings was one of several platforms where my writings brought me work. Without it, I would lose an important marketing tool.

You can express yourself — You can’t possibly express yourself to the degree that you want anywhere else including on Facebook, the site that seems to have the most impact on pulling people away from blogging. Sure, longer form writing is possible, but it just isn’t the same. Facebook may also delete your content if Mark Zuckerberg changes the rules again.

You own it — Unless your blog is hosted Blogspot or WordPress.com, you probably own the site and have arranged your own hosting. You dress up your site the way you want it to look and you backup your files automatically. Why contribute content to a site that you don’t own when you can connect with your readers at the home base you do own?

Your expertise can shine forth — People who are experts in anything always have a home site where their thoughts can be shared. Unless you have a redirect to a new website, people may assume you have quit writing. Why degrade your expert status by gradually disappearing or getting lost in a sea of Facebook users?

No blog, no income — It is no secret that bloggers make money off of their sites. Yes, paid links and paid content are no longer part of the mix, but a display ad can certainly be a money generator. Matt’s Musings is not a direct money maker, but I’ve garnered work through this site that pays for my web hosting and my time writing articles many times over.

Having Fun

My points here aren’t meant to dispense guilt on anyone. Your reasons for not blogging may have everything to do with your schedule, your interest and your workload. Still, I would venture to say that you have blogged for the fun of it, not worrying about grammar, syntax and a host of other rules we must follow when writing for our clients.