How to Build a Blog Following

[quasso]

Both of them generate content on leading social media-centric sites that they’ve built up themselves. The Social Media Examiner recently named Sheridan’s Sales Lion and Smith’s PushingSocial.com among the top ones out there.

So how did they get there?

Sheridan, whose other job is running River Pools and Spas, and Smith,
who’s a digital media strategist by day, share the secrets that
skyrocketed them to success in the blogosphere.

You already have your material

The purpose of your company's blog should be to bring the information
customers and clients want in an accessible, digestible way. So go
straight to the source.

Be an active listener, and encourage your team to do the same. Go over commonly asked questions, review customer inquiries and brainstorm topics that people might not fully grasp right away. Each of these is a totally useful, readably blog post.

In the several times Sheridan has worked through that process with
companies, he says the team usually comes up with about 100 questions in
15 minutes. That's a lot of blog fodder that's just begging to be
written (and read).

Recognize that it's not about you

Personal anecdotes are sometimes compelling, and often the easiest to
write. But don't fall into that trap, because it doesn't keep readers'
interests as readily as topics that are directly related to their lives. Steer clear of opinions in favor of objective advice.

"They care about how you're going to help them solve problems," Smith
says. "A healthy percentage of your blog posts should be offering tools
and offering guidance to your readers, so they can walk away from the
blog and say, 'I learned from this.'" And that's what will keep them
coming back.

Identify your audience

You have to key on your readership for two main reasons.

First, you have to make sure that you target market is
neither too broad nor too narrow for your blog to emerge as a success.
Consider who your product or service helps, and what ways you can better
understand the kind of consumer you're trying to reach, Smith says.

And second, to understand where to promote your blog and introduce
the right readers to it, you have to know where your ideal audience
exists online. You'll have to know where to find them so you can sell
them on your blog.

"There is a sea of information out there," he says. "Simply writing a
blog post and hitting publish will not guarantee and audience. You're
going to have to go out there and find them."

Be clever and captivating, starting with the headline

Especially in an age where people click links based on how
interesting they sound in 140 characters or less, it's important to
fine-tune your headlines so they're as interesting, useful and clear as
possible. You can optimize your search-engine results with a snappy headline, too.

So what makes a winning headline? It all goes back to your first
step: identifying the subject matter for your posts based on the
questions people are already asking. If you note a problem and include
the promise of a solution, Smith says, "then you've at least got the
minimum required to catch a person's attention who has that problem."

Brand and package your content creatively

If your blog is as much a part of your brand as your business’ other online offerings, you can expect people to be more engaged, repeat visitors.

One way to boost your company’s recognition–and better portray
yourself as an expert in your given field–is to package a selection of
your blog posts into an e-book. That becomes a consistently available,
easily identified resource for consumers, boosting your credibility and
favor with them.

“The content is the best sales tool in the world, when it's used the
right way,” Sheridan says. “Sometimes we just write blog posts and
that's it, we're done. That's clearly not the way.”

Promote wisely

How your promote your blog–and how vigorously – depends on the kind
of business you run. For example, Sheridan’s pool company, which is
regarded as having one of the best blogs in the industry, does just fine
without a lot of social media engagement.

But Sheridan’s SalesLion blog, focused on social media, exists in an
industry where a wide social network and abundantly shared content
define success. It can be tricky to place your company on that spectrum,
but it’s worth careful consideration.

“Every business needs to figure out where their people are and what
platform is going to be the best medium by which they can generate leads
and sales because ultimately that's the only thing that matters,” he
says.

That said, if you want to spread content, you need to be a savvy
sharer. Smith explains that social media require a relationship first,
marketing second. In order to build a loyal network, users have to trust
your content. And that doesn’t come from simply posting every time you
have a new blog post up.

“That will not be as effective as really being a curator of great
information,” Smith says. “I try to talk about other things that appeal
to my audience 12 times as much as I talk about my stuff.”

Pay attention to ROI

And when you’re considering where to funnel your efforts with blog
promotion, it’s crucial to have a way to gauge the return on your
investment based on the different content-sharing sources. A program
like Google Analytics, which is available free of charge online, can streamline that process.

Engage with your readers

One advantage to running a small business is that you are much freer
to engage directly with your consumers than a large corporation is.
Integrating that touch in your blog can help keep readers captivated,
and it bolsters your trustworthiness, too.

People don’t expect to have meaningful interaction with businesses,
so instead of being faceless, provide the sort of service that many
customers hunger for.

[sachinsg]

Very best thought
thanks for the share with us.

[Johnlawrence]

That's really a best sort of utilizing the skills in a productive manner..... and i would also gave them a bit of try ....in fact i tried the 1st one of my blog..... and obviously consider for the others