There are hundreds and thousands of blogs today. Moreover, the odds of getting your blog noticed are getting smaller and smaller day by day,unless there is something unique and interesting that you can offer to ensure loyal visitors. there is no sure shot formula to get people to visit or to be a highly visited blog. Nevertheless there are certain steps once taken can ensure that.
Be Unique : Have your own unique writing style. It could be professional, casual or a little bit of both. Many blogs are in conversation style, which really is the best since a blog is your own personal space and it makes for easier writing also.
Topic: Choose a topic that your are passionate about. It's always tempting to start a blog on a commercial topic only to loose interest later. I have enjoyed reading those bloggers who are passionate and enjoy what they are writing about. Write creatively, keep it short and concise. Content is the most important ingredient for a successful blog. All else will follow.
Attention Grabbing Title: First impressions are always important. Ever notice that for most search results in Google and in most SE's, there is a title, a passage and an URL. The highlighted and the most attention grabbing of these is the title and the key in getting people through SE's. Treat the title as a mini advertisement of your work.
Be Disciplined & Organized: Create a schedule and stick to it. Do not let distraction get in your way of writing.Keep a journal handy, you never know when you will have a creative moment. Have a publishing deadline and stick to it. It will keep you on track, motivated and try not to fall behind.
Connect & Network: When visiting other blogs leave genuine and worthy comments. Do not leave " I agree" posts. Write something meaningful and noteworthy. This ensures a visit from the blogger and other visitors.
Update your blog often: SE's especially Google give more points to an updated page rather than a stale page. These blogs that are cross-linked, well networked and are updated daily enjoy a high visibility status.
Promote: As you would promote your business, promote your blog; on your business card, advertising, emails, in PR activities and so on. Back this up with interesting content and it finds mention in other blogs. You reciprocate and mention other blogs in your blogs.
Now that you have a productive blog, the next logical step is to decide how to generate revenue from that blog.
While its great to write what you are passionate about, if it happens to be a non-commercial topic nobody will click on your ad sense ads. our post should be about commercial viable ideas. For Ex: Write about hotels, resorts, health fads, fad diets....and so on. Create your own niche and work at revenue generation from there.
Find all the product and services that your blog can sell through Affiliate Programs and focus your posts on them. this will generate increased revenue if your recommended affiliate product is targeted to your niche audience(blog theme). Post regularly with meaningful content and build a relationship[ with your readers. This creates your credibility, trust and authority on a product.
Associate Programs is a good place to start. Here you get access to affiliate programs, articles and useful tips.
Take advantage of leaving comments on blogs. Put a text link to your site directing them back to your site to view the ads. This guarantees traffic and visibility.
Another profitable tool is Google Adsense. this is pay per click advertising. Here you get a percentage every time someone clicks on an adsense ad from your blog. Google displays relevant text and image ads based on your sites content. Google ads are a virtual sales tool.
Finally offer other popular sites a Link Exchange. To put it simply, this is where you both agree to exchange links or post a link to each other. This is also a great way of generating traffic.
In conclusion, all these tips are a sure shot way of making your blog profitable. It also helps to have numerous blogs, each catering to a different product or service, unless of course you want to have a private blog.
