How Not to Become a “Browse Over” Blog

By Stacey Thompson

There are literally millions upon millions of blogs in the entire Internet, and even more people (bloggers included) that read them. The range and depth of topics of these blogs are effectively infinite, as this medium can support pretty much anything that can be expressed in words, videos, or images.

Even with the rise of world-spanning social media sites and “microblogging” applications, blogs are still a very popular medium of broadcasting one person’s (or many) thoughts and ideas. While your Facebook wall post or tweet will be memorable (and easily accessible) for as long as people re-share it, your blog will pretty much have it ready to dig up at a moment’s notice.

With all the blogs covering all topics known to man, it’s quite a feat to remain relevant and well-read in the blogosphere. It’s inevitable, with all the choices out there and the inherently short attention spans of the majority. For those with a motive to keep their blog/s popular (monetary, social responsibility, etc.), this matters greatly.

From my experiences, as well as some practical wisdom gleaned from the wiser entities of the Web, here are a few bits of advice that a blogger can apply on their blog/s so as to keep pulling people in to read, comment, and keep them tuned in:

Fresh Content

A blog that contains precious, sought-after information will always be visited by people, but is very important that new information should always be added in so as to give people a reason to return. This applies to any and all kinds of blogs out there, from personal diaries to hobby blogs to organizational blogs.

A single person, or even a group of people will eventually run out of juice and will need to recharge their blogging batteries. This is why having a guest blogger or three to chime in and share their insights can add new conversation topics and a new enthusiasm to even the oldest blogs.

Link Love

There are always new insights to old topics, and this should be the opportunity a blog owner/contributor/editor should take to refer to older blog entries. Also, sharing the link love and referring to other blogs on topics and insights that have already been covered. Nobody has the monopoly on information, after all. Hopefully, they will link to your blog and your posts for interesting content that you have shared to the world.

Always be careful of potential abuse that could be done as the linking game is just one of the ways blogs try to stand out among the rest, even if their content isn’t exactly that good or relevant.

Speaking of information, liberally (well, not way too liberally) spread links to information and authoritative sites (Wikipedia, major news networks, information repositories, established blogs, etc.) in order to further concretize and back up the ideas you have on your own blog posts. It helps to cite your sources, after all.

Pay Attention to Aesthetics

Presentability and site ergonomics matter. You might have a lot of great and compelling content, but your site will become a pariah if your fonts are hard to read, the layout is atrocious, and the site loads slower than snail mail.

You do not have to be a seasoned web designer or a natural digital artist; there are many premade layouts and other site elements available for websites (for WordPress blogs, in particular). If you really want to get into the major leagues of blogging, it’s a good idea to acquire the services of a good designer.

If you commit to making your blog last for as long as you can manage it (or even beyond), don’t scrimp on it. Purchase a hosting package (domain name, web hosting,ready-to-use tools/plugins/apps, support, etc.) from one of the more reliable providers out there. There are great variety of hosts to choose from, and the subscription rates nowadays are very light on the pocket.

I wish you all the best in your blogging!