Blogging Traffic System Strategy
Have you read the Blogging Quick Start e-book? Think you know
everything you need to know about setting up your blog and
executing your plan for success?
Before you get carried away, run through this checklist and make
sure that you’ve dealt with each point.
Step 1. The Planning Stage
Before you do anything, you need to come up with a plan. This
means:
Coming up with a brand and website name
Pick a brand name that is descriptive but unique
Deciding on your niche. Popular examples:
- Fitness
- Finance
- Making money online
- Business
- Relationships
- Games
- Music
- Film
Whatever you decide, just make sure that the subject you pick is
something that is:
- Profitable
- Interesting to you
- Popular
- But not saturated
You can also come up with your own niches by going for broader
subjects or by combining multiple topics into a single, new niche.
Step 2. Setting Up
Now you have your business model in mind, itís time to start
constructing your blog.
Choose a CMS or blogging platform. Popular choices are:
- WordPress
- BlogSpot
- Live Journal
- Tumblr
- Joomla
- Drupal
The best option is to download WordPress for your SELFHOSTED
site and then to install it on a server. Use BLUEHOST
to set up your server space and URL.
Now:
Choose a unique theme, a paid or custom theme is better
Change the color scheme to be something that echoes your
branding and adheres to color theory
Pick a custom font
Outsource if you need help doing this. Freelancing sites
include:
- Freelancer
- UpWork
- Elance
Step 3. Adding Content
The most important thing for any blog is the content. Make sure
you add high quality content and that you add it regularly. You
can’t expect to get a full time job from blogging unless you’re
willing to work full time at it.
Think of topics that are unique and havenít been covered
before and that are inherently interesting.
Use keyword research tools to get ideas for the kind of things
people are looking for in your niche and that are likely to be
successful from an SEO perspective therefore.
Read the sites of competitors for inspiration and ideas
Read news sites and particularly those with separate
categories for finance, business, health etc.
Look around forums for inspiration
Remember you can also create curated content which is
content you’ve gathered and collected into one place.
Step 4. Socializing Your Blog
Next you need to add a social element to your blog. This is very
important because it lets you share your content and gives it the
potential to go viral.
Think of your target audience as you write the blog.
Share to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as you post.
Be everywhere - have a social media account on all of the
major social networks.
Add social sharing buttons to your website to allow visitors to
share your content as they wish.
Add Disqus to your website. This is a plugin that provides
support for blog comments and is very feature rich, effective
and popular.
Respond to comments and e-mails. Consider every visitor a
potential fan and don’t underestimate the value of that.
Encourage conversation within your posts - ask for opinions
and elicit discussion.
Step 5. Add an Opt-In Form
This is a form that you will use to collect e-mail addresses
whenever someone visits. This allows you to market to them again
in future and is a very powerful tool.
Use:
GetResponse
MailChimp
Or Aweber
As your autoresponder.
You can also use ‘SumoMe’ for pop-up windows that will let you
collect e-mail addresses.
Step 6. Monetize
Finally, make sure your site is monetized.
Using PPC such as AdSense actually isnít the most effective
way to earn money as you lose visitors every time someone
clicks on an ad.
Instead you should sell a digital product.
Or you can use affiliate marketing. This means you get
commission on sales, which is commonly up to 60%.
ClickBank and JVZoo are places where you can find these
products.