One of my major roles at Digital Firefly Marketing is writing blogs, lots and lots of blogs. When it comes to writing a blog, I’ve become somewhat of an expert. I get to write about anything from water damage restoration to nursing home issues. So, I thought it appropriate to explore ways to build a bigger blog following.

Tips to Grow Your Audience

• Write blog entries often. The more active you are, the more people will want to follow you for updates or new information.
• Come up with catchy blog titles, but that use SEO. Come up with innovative and interesting titles for they are what ultimately draw your readers in. It is a good idea however to use the right keywords in the title and in the first paragraph of a post. This will help your blog post get found on Google.
• Start a debate by asking questions. Try to involve your readers and invite commentary on your posts by simply asking for it.
• Comment on other blogs, a lot. By commenting on other blogs and linking back to your blog, you are establishing a connection and letting others know about you and your expertise. A good way to search for blogs is Google Blog Search or Ontolo.
• Use your social media outlets to promote your posts. This will not only help you keep your Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc accounts up to date, but it will let your followers know that you have new content.
• Use your RSS feed. Make sure that the RSS icon is obvious for visitors to your site by placing it above the fold. Also provide a RSS-to-Email option so that people can automatically receive your latest posts in their inbox. Feedburner provides this for free.
• Use images (and videos) in your posts. Images help communicate your message on a more aesthetic level and often make posts more interesting to readers. If you do use images, make sure to include an Image Alt Tag!
• Don’t forget H1 tags. These will help Google find your blog and increase its visibility. Make sure to use strong keywords wherever possible.
• Structure your posts in a way that is visually appealing. More often than not, readers will visually scan a post before deciding to read the whole thing through. Therefore, avoid long sentences and go for lists or smaller paragraphs.
• Think about the topic. When choosing what you might write about, think about your interest in the topic and how marketable it is. Do you think people will find it interesting?
• Try video blogging. This is yet another way to amass visitors. If you do make a video, use TubeMogul to publish it in as many places as possible. Also, don’t forget to use text descriptions and to link your blog URL.
• Link to your and others’ blog posts. If the content is related, link away.
• Make sharing easy. Install links to various social media outlets so that others can quickly share your post on their accounts. Try ShareThis to get started.
• Read other blogs and see what is being shared. A little research can go a long way. When needing ideas or motivation, have a look at what’s out there. Don’t be afraid to write posts in response to other posts as well.
• Use Analytics. Google Analytics is a great way to see who is viewing your blog and how it’s being utilized.
• Be yourself and have fun with it. Blogging doesn’t have to be a job, after all it isn’t. Write about topics that you find interesting, it’s likely others will too!

Now get blogging!