9 Ways to Increase Your Blog Popularity

Seems like every business has a blog these days, but all blogs are not created equal. Even the most dedicated blog owner religiously making posts gains nothing if no one is visiting and/or commenting. How does a business owner increase their blog popularity so their efforts are not all in vain?

Proven Ways to Increase Your Blog's Popularity

1. Give something away. It doesn't have to be a widescreen television or anything so elaborate, but make it something worth wanting. Initiate a contest with the giveaway as the prize to attract interest. If you do hold a contest, be sure to have a start and end date, and post a winner. Follow through; otherwise it is considered fraudulent.

2. Reward loyal visitors and top commentators. Again, the reward need not be costly; just a way to let your blog fans know they are appreciated.

3. Have opinion polls. Blog visitors enjoy putting in their two cents worth, so give them a reason to participate. The topic of the poll should be related to the theme of your blog.

4. Offer a weekly or bi-weekly newsletter. It doesn't have to be lengthy but it does need to contain interesting content that will attract reader interest. Be consistent with its delivery.

5. Post videos; blog visitors love visual content. This does not mean to forego all written text and substitute with only video. A blog looks empty when it contains little or no text, plus search engines frown on sites with no textual content.

6. A controversy, similar to an opinion poll, can be a good draw as long as it doesn't get out of hand; there are lines that must not be crossed. A good healthy discussion on a controversial topic, however, attracts many readers and sometimes draws people into commenting who aren't usually blog participants.

7. Ask questions of your readers. At the end of a post, invite comments by asking, "What do you think?" Keep in mind when they tell you what they think, you did ask. You may not agree with every comment received, but as noted in item 6 above, controversy draws attention. Any sensible blog owner knows that its reader base is not going to agree with everything they say 100% of the time; if they did what a boring blog that would be.

8. Brand your blog. A unique logo helps visitors identify with your blog and after repeat visits it becomes a permanent association. A catch phrase is another good method of blog branding.

9. Share links; when you are willing to show "link love" to your visitors, it will be returned to you. This doesn't mean every trackback should be accepted as a link; you must selectively choose links because there are many spammers out there that devalue the links. Always research where a link is going and what the destination contains before approving it.

These are just a few of the ways to increase your blog's popularity. You want a blog people actually want to read and tell others about. So post regularly, keep it interesting, and be creative in how you catch and hold the interest of your readers. Your internet marketing strategy needs to consider all