Month: July 2015

I know – it sounds so technical. What blogger has a policy review and why would you even need one?

Bear with me, I think you’ll find today’s challenge super useful even if you think it doesn’t apply to you.

Of course, for some of you it’s a legal requirement in your jurisdiction to have a privacy policy if you’re collecting emails, or a disclosure policy if you’re working with brands. For the rest of you, it’s just good form to be transparent with your readers how you operate.

You may even have just a quick run-through of procedures you follow in general, or if something goes wrong. They don’t always have to be published.

In the workbook, I mention six areas you might want to consider a policy, and in today’s podcast episode, I go into detail with those, including how you can go about creating them to be as simple or as complex as you like.

You can also use today to create these policies if you don’t have any to review. I think you’ll find them incredibly handy. Click here to listen to day 21 of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog series on the ProBlogger Podcast.

Further Reading:

• The ProBlogger Privacy Policy
• DisclosurePolicy.org
• Writing your First Pages: About, FTC Blogger Disclosure, Privacy Page: Art of Blog
• Blogging and Social Media Policy Example: About Money
• How to Create a Privacy Policy for your Blog: Road to Blogging

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

The ProBlogger Podcast How-To: Conduct a Policy Review

The post The ProBlogger Podcast How-To: Conduct a Policy Review appeared first on @ProBlogger.

For a lot of you, today’s podcast topic on 31 Days to Build a Better Blog is one you’re already doing – or at least have done before!

Leaving comments on other blogs is one of the most commonly-recommended things you can do to drive traffic to your blog and to increase your online visibility.

As time goes on, however, it can be hard to keep up with when we’re constantly creating content for our own blogs and spending a lot of time on our social media channels, but it really has so many benefits it’s worth carving out some moments of your day to devote to it.

In today’s episode I also mention how although there’s truth in the advice that leaving comments is a great way to boost your blog, it can also be a technique that can really damage your blog. I’ve got some tips to help you harness this technique in the right way so you can build a really great connection with other bloggers in a mutually beneficial way.

I also discuss some of the ways you can find time in your schedule to devote to this kind of community-building exercise even though we’re so swamped with our own blogs.

I hope you’ve been enjoying the series so far, and that the things you’ve implemented have seen positive impacts on your own blogs. As always, I’d love to hear any feedback you have in the comments, or on Twitter, where I’m @ProBlogger.

Click here to listen to day 20 of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog series on the ProBlogger Podcast.

Further Reading:

• The Ultimate Guide to Leaving Comments on Blogs
• How to Leave Meaningful Blog Comments – Writer’s Digest
• 19 Ways to Build Relationships with Blog Comments – Social Media Examiner
• Benefits of Comment Marketing for Traffic and Popularity – SEO Siren
• 10 Blog Commenting Tips to Get Traffic from Other Blogs – Learn to Blog

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

The ProBlogger Podcast How-To: Leave Comments on Blogs

The post The ProBlogger Podcast How-To: Leave Comments on Blogs appeared first on @ProBlogger.

Today’s challenge in 31 Days to Build a Better Blog should be easy for some of you – but terrify the rest!

Opinion posts come easily to those who are happy to share and engage in the feedback that they get. For others, though, it might not come naturally to put yourself out there and perhaps meet some resistance from those who don’t agree.

I’ve definitely had to push myself out of my comfort zone to share how I feel about something. It comes with a range of emotions about how your post will be met – what will people say? How will they think of me?

It turns out your opinion is something your readers want, so by not sharing it, you’re doing yourself and them a disservice. In today’s episode I outline the reasons why opinion makes your blog useful, and how it differentiates your blog from standard news and even other blogs in your niche.

So of course today’s challenge is to actually write an opinion post. Be brave! In the podcast I give some ideas for different niches about what you can write about and what might work for your situation. You’ll find some are easier than others, but the point is not to be controversial, just to mention where your values align.

Having said that – don’t shy away from controversy if you think it will be a relevant discussion.

Feel free to share your post in the comments below, and have a look at other bloggers’ posts as they come in. You’ll never know where it will lead you.

Today is day 18 in 31 Days to Build a Better Blog and you can listen to it here.

If you’ve never created a sneeze page on your blog – one of the single most useful ways to get readers to stick around and get to know you so well they won’t want to leave – you need to do this today!

I’ve talked about sneeze pages for a long time, and it’s a term that I came up with in the first incarnation of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog in 2007. It’s a great way for all those posts you have in your archives that are still useful and relevant to be all in one place for the ease of readers who may be new to your blog.

The goal is to make the pages so interesting that the reader can’t help but click on more and more posts to read and before they know it, they’re deep inside your blog reading everything that they’re interested in.

In this episode I talk about the importance of sneeze pages for traffic, and the other benefits they bring. I also run through the types of sneeze pages you could create, depending on your niche, and whether to have standalone pages or posts. I also give a few examples for you to check out when creating your own in the show notes.

I’m going to discuss the type of sneeze page I think you should create for today’s challenge and give you tips on how to make the best one to really hook your audience – and also how to ensure they actually get seen by new readers to your blog.

It should be a nice and easy challenge for you today, but one that will see a heap of return on your effort.

It’s time for day 17 in our 31 Days to Build a Better Blog challenge.

Here’s a frightening reality – within just a few seconds of arriving on the blog that you pour hours and hours of time and energy into, a new reader will make snap judgements about what your blog is about and if it is worth their time to spend time on it.

First impressions are so important in real-life interactions but online it’s even more so.

You might look at your blog hundreds of times a week and therefore might miss little things, or be so familiar with it you don’t know what it’s like from a new reader perspective.

It can be nerve-racking to hear feedback about your pride and joy, but it’s necessary to ensure you’re providing readers with a place they want to stay. And the only way you’ll know how they feel about it is to ask them.

Today’s challenge is to conduct a “first-time reader audit” on your blog and try to see it from their perspective, so you know what you can tweak to make their experience better.

In this episode tell you how best to do this, and a list of things you’ll need to complete the audit. I’ve also got a series of questions to ask yourself as you watch the reader go through your blog to gauge their reaction. There will be questions you can ask them to prompt their description of their experience and give you valuable insight into how your blog looks to the outside world.

The show notes also include some tools and services to make this easier for you – especially if you don’t have a newbie on hand!

Good luck – would love to hear how you go.

Click here to listen to day 17 of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog series on the ProBlogger Podcast.

Further Reading:

• Suggestions for a Better Blog: Help Me Enjoy Your Blog! – some pet hates.
• Are You Making These Common Website Navigation Mistakes? – Kissmetrics tells you what people often get wrong and how to fix it.
• The girls at A Beautiful Mess run through 10 Blog Layout Tips that will help keep people on your blog.
• And Bec lets us know 12 Things Your Blog Needs to Improve User Experience

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

Ask Yourself: How Do Readers See Your Blog?

The post Ask Yourself: How Do Readers See Your Blog? appeared first on @ProBlogger.

Today’s challenge in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog series is another writing challenge, and one that’s close to my heart.

In both my blogs I strive to be useful – every day, my goal is to solve at least one reader problem. There are many reasons why helping to solve a pain point for your reader is good for both your blog and your audience, but it boils down to creating a connection with people that keeps them coming back. And if you’re lucky, recommending you to others!

In this episode, the challenge is to solve a reader’s problem. I go through the best starting point for this kind of task (which might surprise you), and of course, how to find out what is bothering your readers so you can help to solve it for them.

There are plenty of ways to canvass your audience to get a sense of where they’re at and where they’d like to be. You’ll come away from this podcast with a whole heap of ideas to try, and how to turn that information into future posts for your blog.

As you do, ask yourself – what do you notice about your readers’ problems?

We’ll also discuss how to find your readers’ issues without asking them directly – we talk about where to look and how to define what the issue is that you can see they’re facing. I’ll tell you how I find these problems, and the tools I use to help me.

Of course you can’t spend all your time looking for problems, so I’ll also talk about how you can go about solving the issues for your audience in a variety of useful ways.

I hope you’ll join me, and I look forward to hearing your feedback in the comments here on the show notes of todays challenge.

Click here to listen to day 16 of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog series on the ProBlogger Podcast.

Further Reading:

• Content isn’t King – Here’s What Is!
• Survey Your Readers and Discover Who They are and How You Can Be More Useful to Them
• Blog Post Idea: Answer a Reader Question
• The Surprisingly Simple Secret to Knowing What Your Readers Want

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

31DBBB Day 16 Challenge: Solve a Reader’s Problem

The post 31DBBB Day 16 Challenge: Solve a Reader’s Problem appeared first on @ProBlogger.

Let’s kick off this new week of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog with a podcast about finding your tribe.

I’m an introvert, and blogging and podcasting work really well with my personality type. I enjoy interacting with others, but at a bit of a distance. But one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over 13 years in this business is that sometimes I have to push myself out of my comfort zone and be among people, because it’s then that my blogs grow best.

In my first few weeks of blogging when I had no idea what I was doing, I realised the value of having a helping hand in other bloggers. Their support is indispensable, especially when you feel as though you’re not getting anywhere, or you’re better off doing something else with your time.

In today’s episode I go through the challenges I’ve faced over the years and how the presence of other bloggers have helped me. I’ve achieved so much more as a result of collaboration and reaching out to others, so I’ve a few ideas to share about how they help and why you should find yourself a friend or two to make this online journey with.

It’s probably pretty obvious, but today’s challenge is to find a blog buddy or buddies. That might not be as easy as you think, so I’m on hand to give some advice about how you might like to go about this.

Click here to listen to day 15 of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog series on the ProBlogger Podcast.

Further Reading:

• Building Your Online Tribe: Jeff Goins Shares his Top Tips and Tools
• The SITS Girls tell us how to Find Your Blogging Tribe in this first part of a several-post series.
• How to Form a Bond with Fellow Bloggers – Twelveskip
• Kat from the How They Blog Podcast talks us through how to start and run a mastermind group during her chat with Trina Holden

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

ProBlogger Podcast: Blog Buddies

The post ProBlogger Podcast: Blog Buddies appeared first on @ProBlogger.

Here we are, day 14 – two full weeks of tips to help you create the best blog possible, and plenty more to come!

Although this week we’ve covered social media, forums and groups, alerts, brainstorming, editorial calendars and even getting off your blog to find inspiration, we haven’t talked much about the static pages on your blog.

And that is what todays episode is all about!

Often these pages get left behind in the day-to-day grind of churning out fresh content. But think – how long has it been since they were updated? Are they full of old information? Do you have much of a schedule for updating them? I know that every time I check mine, there’s always something that needs changing.

In today’s show I run through a few types of pages you can make changes to and what you might need to change. There’s a lot to think about and plenty of tiny little items you should get in the habit of checking. I also touch on the need to update (and how) those posts you wrote years ago that still get high traffic – what can you do to bring them into 2015?

Click here to listen to day two of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog series on the ProBlogger Podcast.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

31DBBB Day 14: Update a Key Page

The post 31DBBB Day 14: Update a Key Page appeared first on @ProBlogger.

Today’s challenge in our 31 days to build a better blog podcast series is a bit different, and hopefully – a lot of fun. It’s to not blog at all!

Today I want you to leave your electronics behind and go to your local mall or shopping centre. Why? Because it will put you out in the real world where real experiences will help give you real content. It will also ensure you brush your hair for the day!

In this episode I’ll go into detail about what happens when I do this, and why I now recommend it to everyone. I also outline the things I’ve learned and how it’s had an impact on the way I blog now.

I also tell you how to get the most out of your visit so it doesn’t just feel like a day wasted in a consumerist vacuum.

Listen to this challenge here or find it on iTunes and Stitcher (just look for episode 13).

Enjoy!

Click here to listen to day 13 of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog series on the ProBlogger Podcast.

Further Reading:

• 10 Lessons in Blogging I Learned on a Shopping Expedition
• Unusual, Cheeky, and Fun Ways to Get Inspiration for your Blog Posts – Income Diary
• 5 Ways to Find Truly Unique Blog Post Ideas – CoSchedule

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

An Unexpected Piece of Advice that Will Help You Grow Your Blog

The post An Unexpected Piece of Advice that Will Help You Grow Your Blog appeared first on @ProBlogger.

So yesterday your 31DBBB Challenge was to brainstorm 10 posts for your blog (you could come up with more, but 10 was the minimum!) and today we will be building on that – developing an editorial calendar.

This is going to serve as the next week of content on your blog. Ultimately these two exercises will get you on the road to setting up a publication schedule you can carry on, specifying what kind of content you’ll publish on what days.

If you already have an editorial calendar, I recommend you use this day to review it – how has it been working? Check in your stats to see if your most popular posts are being scheduled on your biggest traffic days. How have the comments been? Have the posts been resonating with readers? Have you enjoyed writing them?

In today’s episode I outline what I think are the benefits of editorial calendars, and briefly touch on some of the tools you can use to do so – but really, what I’m ultimately encouraging is just a simple calendar you can use for the following week. I’ll take you through the steps I use to develop mine.

Feel free to share your editorial calendar in the comments On todays show notes. Don’t forget to tune in tomorrow for a new topic.

Click here to listen to day 12 of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog series on the ProBlogger Podcast.

Further reading:

• An earlier ProBlogger.com webinar I created about how to plan an editorial calendar
• Behind the Scenes: My Low Tech Editorial Schedule
• 3 Ways Scheduling will Make You a Better Blogger
• The Complete Guide to Choosing a Content Calendar: Tools, Templates, Tips and More – Buffer
• 2015 Editorial Calendar Template Free Download – Early Bird Strategy

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

31DBBB Day 12: Develop an Editorial Calendar (and How to Do So!)

The post 31DBBB Day 12: Develop an Editorial Calendar (and How to Do So!) appeared first on @ProBlogger.