The 10 steps to growing your blog organically
Everyone wants to "make money online" because everywhere they read claims it's easy; no one says it's one of the most lucrative ways to make money imaginable. You can't force your blog to make money by saturating it with adverts, text-links that no-one buys and affiliate links stuffed into your content - people need to care about what you have to say. Blogging is quite an organic thing, you just need to get your priorities right.
The 10 steps to building your blog properly
You can't just jump in with a fresh site, monetized to the sky with every scheme on the Internet and write 5 generic pieces of content a month and expect to succeed. There are some fairly obvious and common sense driven things that you should take into consideration when trying to grow your blog.
#1 - Write a mission statement, defining where you're taking it
Whether you want to admit it to anyone else or not, sometimes the mission of your blog is to make money (whatever your motivation). It's always worth having a "mission statement" of sorts to define the direction you want to take the site in. Do you want to be a respected name within a niche market? Or do you want to be an anonymous reviewer? Or do you want to pile-drive into an untouched market and become the leading source on it? Whatever your ambitions it's always worth trying to define your goals before you start walking too far down the wrong path.
#2 - Be creative!
To organically grow your blog you need to be creative. The blogging world is becoming increasingly overpopulated and it's more than likely that someone else (with more time than you) is going to be covering the same topic. This means you need to be distinctive and set yourself apart from the others. Whether this is your writing style, an unusual perspective or maybe a funky-beyond-words website - you really need something to allow people to recognise what's different.
#3 - Be yourself, or don't!
It's an awkward decision to make (and often one that is made upon purchasing a domain). Do you take the site in a very personal direction and use yourname.com or do you operate under a brand you create? There are pros and cons for both but you need to make a decision. I went for Seopher.com to offer some distance between myself and the Internet world - yet sometimes wish I'd gone for my name as a domain. Andy from AndrewSellick.com thinks the opposite - that operating under a brand gives you more room for growth. Ultimately I think he's right but you need to take that step and stick to it.
#4 - Don't post if you're not happy
If you're not happy with your content - don't post it. There's a lot of pressure on blogs once you receive traffic to keep the content regular but that only works if the content is GOOD. Bad content will push people away quicker than a lack of content will so that's a vital consideration. But, it does go hand in hand with...
#5 - Post on a regular basis, whatever the period
You need to post at regular intervals - but it doesn't matter how long you leave it between posts as long as you're consistent. If people know to expect a new post from you on Monday's then they will return on Mondays. If you post 7 days a week for the first week of the month, then nothing until the next month: there's no conistency for potential return visitors to latch on to. It's worth remembering that Google favours sites that update their content on a regular basis - your search engine traffic would benefit from 3-4 posts a week.
#6 - Learn some SEO, for gods sake
Chances are you're using Wordpress for your blog so *for the love of god* learn some things about SEO and template development. Some Wordpress templates don't have H1 tags and all of them come with awful article URL's by default. www.yoursite.com/4/2007-01-06 isn't something that search engines will enjoy indexing. www.yoursite.com/why-you-should-visit-me is much better. In short, readable URL's, sensible use of the HEADER and TITLE attributes and some logical keyword considerations will take you a long way.
#7 - Don't upset Google
Search engine traffic is the best organic traffic available, with all visitors having an information requirement. Google dominates the search engine market (Seopher.com receives 99% of search engine traffic from Google) so don't upset them by trying something clever. Just write normal content, get yourself a Google Sitemap (or Sitemap plugin for Wordpress and let them push people in your direction).
#8 - Don't be afraid to be sensationalist
Dull headlines don't sell newspapers - the sexy ones do and the same philosophy applies to blogging. If you've got a title that screams interest, sexy secrets and tips then people are more likely to read your content. For example take Andy Sellick's Sexy Sliding Menu for script.aculo.us post; that did well because the title offered more than just a tutorial. He could have named it "Javascript sliding menu tutorial" and avoided the surge of traffic he received from StumbleUpon. Don't afraid to be a little cliched from time to time.
#9 - Appeal to the lowest common denominator every now and then
It's something that all bloggers have done at one time or another. Surges of traffic are satisfying in a very addictive way and unfortunately the *real* traffic comes from appealing to the lowest common denominator every now and then. Lists are a very good idea because they help people obtain a summary of your content without reading it. The average Internet browser is lazy and hungry for information - you need to break out of the novel-esque paragraph technique and start copywriting for one of the most awkward audiences in the world.
#10 - Don't be afraid to ask questions to fellow bloggers
Bloggers have issues with their ego's - fact. That's why we write our thoughts on the Internet - in the hope that people read them. Therefore if you're stuck or at a dead-end with your site, don't be afraid to ask someone with more experience than you - it inflates their ego and makes them happy. Most people in the blogosphere are normal, friendly and thoughtful people. If you need help, just ask for it.
And there you have it, 10 tips to help grow your blog organically. Monetisation should be one of your last concerns - what you actually need to do is gain a limited level of respect. You need to care whether people are enjoying your content or not because otherwise you'll never reach your goal. If your goal is to make money, be respected, win the girl etc you still need traffic to do so. High quality traffic at that. Sensible SEO, clever, original writing and some slightly evil thinking will take you a long, long way. Just make sure you know where you're going.
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