LifeHack’s 6 Tips to Improve Your Blog

Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007 by Andy Beal

LifeHack’s 6 Tips to Improve Your Blog

Lifehack’s Chris Brogan shares six very useful tips for first-time bloggers – and a refresher for the rest of us – looking to improve their blog.

I won’t repeat all six here, but the first tip is usually the one I see most new bloggers guilty of failing to implement…

Display Contact Info Prominently- Put the authorâ€™s name right up there easy to read, and add a photo, an email written out to avoid spiders ( chris at lifehack dot org instead of actually clickable), and even a phone number, if you want people to reach you. Add your IM username, and other contact info. If itâ€™s a multi-author blog, display an â€œAbout the Authorsâ€ link prominently.

Here’s a couple I would add to the list.

Include a blogroll. Adding a blogroll has a number of good benefits. First, a new reader will know who influences you and will be able to decide if they’re going to like your work. A blogroll is also useful for getting links from popular bloggers. If you’re asking another blogger to link to one of your posts, they’re more likely to do so, if they see they’re on your blogroll already.
Engage your readers. One of the best things you can do is to engage your readers in the conversation. Ask them for feedback, respond to their comments and highlight their participation.

So, on that note, I’ll stop there and hand it over to you. What other tips would you share with bloggers just getting started?

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4 comments on “LifeHack’s 6 Tips to Improve Your Blog”

Internet Strategy Blog Says:

January 2nd, 2007 at 11:40 am

My additions:

- Use images to break up big blocks of text.
- Make sure your blog has a full-text RSS feed.
- Streamline your RSS subscriptions.
- Wait a while before activating comments. See tip #6 on SEOmoz’s 21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic :http://www.seomoz.org/blogdetail.php?ID=1347. Endless posts with 0 comments can be a liability.
- Reward inbound links.
- Keep your layout uncluttered. See More Minimal’s 5 things your blog doesn’t need: http://moreminimal.com/technology/five-things-your-blog-doesnt-need.ht ml
- Participate in industry blogs and forums, and keep your comments positive.
- Keep your blogroll lean. Our blog struggles here, but Marketing Pilgrim is in the pundits folder: http://www.bloglines.com/public/isgblog.
- Don’t jump on the meme bandwagon. Does the blogosphere really need another post about Apple’s latest iPod iteration?
- Do your keyword homework. Think about the keywords you use in your body and title tags.
- Submit your blog to blog search engines and directories.
- Ping after every new post.
Christer Edwards Says:

January 3rd, 2007 at 12:21 am

My list includes:

stay on topic
be consistent (regular blogging schedule)
allow comments
link to sources
syndicate (feedburner & pinging)
display contact info
attractive pages (pictures and organized ideas)
tagging and technorati
keep things lively and positive.
Pakistan Internet Marketing Says:

January 3rd, 2007 at 2:53 am

Great inputs… I have not yet been able to catch-up with the blogging band wagon but hope to start a small one soon… I think syndication (RSS) is one of the key things that help spread the word and hence drive more ‘quality’ traffic.
MyBlogLog versus BlogRolls: Can One Replace the Other? » techipedia | tamar weinberg Says:

December 13th, 2007 at 4:06 am

[...] I read Andy’s addendum to LifeHack’s six blog improvement tips, where he states that it is helpful to add a blogroll. Granted, this isn’t the first time I’ve seen such a comment, and in light of recent [...]