The Blogsphere – or the Sanctum of Saddos as my Dad flatteringly calls it – has been abuzz this week with the story of a home based blogger who recently sold his blog for an eye watering $15 million. Bankohlic, a blog that provides info about the banking sector, is now in the hands of a corporate site, Bankrate, who felt the blog had acquired such a valuable, distinguished and numerically large audience, they simply had to have it.
Naturally this has had a lot of bloggers dribbling over their keyboards as it seems to prove that there is gold in those cyber hills. Some, like the distinguished Problogger, have let the odd sour grape slip into their reporting, but overall there appears to be renewed excitement in the possibilities – particularly those of the cash kind – that can stem from blogging.
Of course very few people make anywhere near the astronomical amount that Bankoholic`s owner has reaped – and many non-corporate bloggers, individual and organisation based, are probably not interested in making money in the first place. But even if riches aren't the goal, it’s a fact that many blogs fall a long way short of such lofty heights. Many indeed are barely able to keep going or attract a very small amount of interest.
This is a shame as blogs remain an engaging and direct way to communicate with a target audience. Even the internal medico-politics in Wales can produce a decent and interesting blog if, as in this case, its done properly.
Today’s how to guide seeks to highlight the basics behind a decent blog. This isn’t a revolutionary set of concepts and its aimed very much at beginners – but following these steps will give you the building blocks for a well read blog:
How to … set up a blog
Choose a host site wisely: Choosing where you host your blogger – in other words which site you put your blog on – is important as it will effect key elements such as your design and even where you are placed in Google’s ranking system (see our entry on Google rankings). At Skinflakes we are considering the unthinkable and jumping ship from Blogger as while it is easy to use, it has a number of drawbacks. You have to have an account to comment as a reader and it is behind other flexible sites such as WordPress in terms of Google rankings (as WP gets more hits and so forth). Buying your own domain name (something else we are considering) and therefore site is the best option as you wont be at the whim of your host site if it decides to make changes to its structure. Plus you’re given more respect by Google and higher rankings. This is cheap to do and can be achieved quickly through looking at the 123 site, but you may wish to make sure you’re committed to your blog for the long haul before you take this step.
Choose a niche even more wisely: When opting for a subject for your blog ask yourself three questions:
Do you know enough about the subject and are you monitoring other key websites so that you’re up to speed with what is happening in your field?
Are you prepared to update your blog at least three times a week? If you aren’t then you run the risk of losing readers and interest, as well as being displaced by other competitor blogs. And yes, we know Skinflakes occasionally falls down in this regards …
Is the niche you re aiming for popular enough for you to meet you re aims? If you re writing for fun then ignore this question, but if you’re looking to make money or are an organisation trying to get its opinion across, consider carefully whether your target consumers are there in the first place or are likely to be interested in a blog. In short, is it all worth the effort?
Using "ping" sites: In order to get your posts "indexed" on the major search tools and servers it helps to "ping", or rather notify them that your post actually exists. This will make it more visible to users when they are searching for your blog and posting subjects. Some sites, like wordpress, do this automatically, but there is not harm in registering for free with sites like pingomatic and after each post making sure you "ping".
Lay the right technological foundations: Blogs can take a variety of different forms and styles. Lifehacker is completely different in look, feel and content to Al Gore’s blog, which in turn has little in common with Notts County FC’s midfielder Gary Strauchan’s effort (yes, a shameful plug for one half of Skinflakes favourite football club). However, if you want a successful blog, whether as an individual or as an organisation, you do need to get some practical elements right. All blogs need some basic, but easy to achieve technical and style flourishes so that they can attract and retain readers:
Keep your entries short, snappy and to the point: A blog is not a novel and online users don’t have the time or the inclination to read reams of text. If you look at any of the major blogs, such as those mentioned above, you will see that the entries set a premium on being short and snappy. Don’t worry if you cant squeeze all your info into a post as blogs should also be …
Link heavy – To cut down on the amount you’ll have to write, link to other sites and pieces of information that are relevant to your topic. Blog readers appreciate links as blogs are often regarded as a useful bank of information and content - irrespective of the opinions they offer.
RSS Feeds – People have a thousand and one websites to view these days, so setting up an RSS Feed that delivers your latest updates straight to an individual (such as through an RSS Reader) allows you to guarantee visits and readership, as well as build up an army of subscribers. People who browse blogs also tend to be more techy and more likely to use RSS Readers. Setting up feeds is automatic through Word Press and shortly they`ll be a post on Skinflakes showing you how Feedburner allows you to set up feeds easily for other sites.
Social Bookmarking – Make sure your blog has social bookmarking tabs that allow readers – and maybe even yourself – to post your contributions to large community sites such as Digg it, Delicious, Facebook and Reddit. This will increase the chance of more people seeing your entry.
Comments – Finally blogs should be interactive. Allowing people to comment and interact with you directly will make your blog more engaging and more likely to be read. There is also no need to worry about adverse comments - all blog platforms can be moderated as a user function, meaning that you can choose what ends up in print on your blog.
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