After 13 years of online publishing, 7 years of blogging for a plethora of blogs, being an SEO for six years and being paid for blogging for five years by now I finally am convinced that I know how it works.
What I learned about online publishing, blogging, SEO in more than 10 years you can now read in 10 minutes.
This is my list of 101 ways to make your blog more popular and successful. Most of it I tried myself, other measures have been taken by numerous other bloggers with success so I have to catch up on them myself.
1 – 5: Twitter
1. Get social on Twitter, the people on Twitter will support your blog if you do it right
2. Follow some people on Twitter who share your interests but not too many
3. Reward people tweeting and retweeting you, or say “thanks” at least
4. Tweet only good stuff, so people get interested in you and visit your blog
5. Add a retweet button like the one above to your blog posts or web pages
6 – 10: Niche social news sites
6. Target niche social news sites like SERPd, Earners Club or BizSugar
7. Become a power user at the one that fits you most
8. Tweet good articles from the niche social news communities
9. Use a striking avatar like the sombrero guy image I use
10. Socialize with other (power) users and add them as friends at Facebook or LinkedIn
11 – 20: Your blog
11. Add an unforgettable image or huge headline in your blog header
12. Use WordPress, as it’s the most widely used blogging platform and makes socializing with pingbacks easier
13. Use a great design or customize a great WordPress theme [partner-link]
14. Allow pings, trackbacks and real links in comments (dofollow)
15. Reply to your genuine commenters who add value in the comments
16. Link to other bloggers, most notably your peers, not only the well known ones
17. Create pillar or flagship content like huge lists, thorough tutorials, breaking or unique news
18. Be the first to say something: break news, uncover scams, debunk myths
19. Review and address other bloggers
20. Create a blogroll of blogs that are similar to yours and/or a good supplement
21 – 30: Other blogs:
21. Accept and support authorities in your field
22. Make a list of the top 10 blogs in your field and try being like them and better
23. Contribute guest posts on other blogs
24. Notify other bloggers if they have “Page not found” errors or their design is broken is some browser
25. Get inspired by other bloggers
26. Comment on other blogs, out of interest, not only for marketing purposes
27. Go to un/conferences and bar camps to meet other bloggers
28. Submit other’s blog posts to your favorite social media or vote there for them
29. Do not expect other bloggers to like you just because you’re there, actively befriend them
30. Do not annoy other bloggers with IM, email or other means, only contact them if it really matters
31 – 40: Copy writing
31. Write about popular topics but not those everybody else already covered
32. Find a new angle to a story instead of mere repeating or linking
33. Use striking, funny, easy to remember post headlines like “The Day I was reborn, twice”, “I ate my iPod“, “10 Ways to become a Millionaire in 5 Weeks”
34. Do not write too short or too long posts
35. Write timeless blog postings not just yesterday’s news
36. Know your audience and offer it what it wants, not only what you think is appropriate
37. Be yourself, do not write like you would write for an employer, write as if you write a letter to a friend
38. Offend offenders
39. Do not offend people weaker than you
40. Ask questions and incite discussions
41 – 50: X/HTML and CSS
41. Use X/HTML and CSS (Flash blogs exist!)
42. Use headings, lists, bold, italic and other means of making a text readable
43. Use large headlines
44. Use the h2 tag for post headlines (h1 is for the blog name)
45. Use image replacement to make your headlines look better
46. Do not use fonts for headlines which are not meant for them and look ugly (Verdana)
47. Make your font size readable in your posts but not too big, your readers are not half blind
48. Use colors that contrast but not too much and not too many of them, black on white is still king
49. Be original but let people recognize that your blog is a blog, by using some well known elements
50. Use compatible CSS rather than CSS 3 tricks only newer browsers support
51 – 60: Images
51. Use images in posts
52. Use striking images in your posts, like collages, bright colors, images that metaphorically illustrate your point
53. Be original, do not just display the Google logo when you write about Google
54. Do not steal images without proper attribution
55. Use a list of images to attract large audiences, but don’t forget #54
56. Use screenshots or parts of them as images for your blog posts
57. Use pictures of beautiful women
58. Do not use pictures as the only content of a post if it’s not a list
59. Do not use images that are bigger than 50 Kb or 500*500 pixels, not everybody in the world has a fast connection
60. Use thumbnails for bigger images
61 – 70: Topics
61. Cover the most important things in life: Love, peace, happiness, community, freedom
62. Do not write about SEO (it’s too late for me)
63. If you write about SEO call it blogging tips or make money online
64. Write about how you feel
65. Interview interesting and well known people
66. Write about stars, people love stars: Angelina Jolie I love you!
67. Write about what you know first hand, what you have experienced
68. Concentrate on positive topics, do not just write how bad everything is
69. Do not write about your wife, kids, where you live, how much you earn or what you bought unless you’re properly armed or live in Sweden
70. Write you earned thousands of dollars by blogging to get known
71 – 80: Blog SEO and promotion
71. Use blog communities like MyBlogLog or BlogCatalog
72. Tweet your blog posts
73. Ping Technorati and Google Blog Search (default in English WordPress)
74. Use WordPress 3.+ as it’s already SEOed to the max out of the box
75. Link out to others to get linked, do not engage in link exchange, link buying or selling or any automated link schemes
76. Do not use keywords like “california real estate” as your name when commenting unless it’s your blog’s name
77. Don’t overdo conventional SEO on your blog, it’s in most cases counter productive
78. Do not write content – write articles, reviews, interviews
79. SEO is not Spam, Blog SEO is not trackback spam
80. Do not automate your blogging efforts
81 – 85: Getting Subscribers
81. Display a (big) orange feed icon where everybody can see it
82. Use Feedburner to enhance your RSS feed
83. Let people subscribe by email via Aweber or Mailchimp
84. Offer a full feed not just excerpts
85. Explain what RSS is for people new to the concept and offer a choice of the best RSS readers
86 – 90: Branding
86. Create a personal brand. Don’t blog as “admin”
87. Get a unique and remarkable name for your blog
88. Get a short and easy to remember name for yourself, Tadeusz Szewczyk = Tad Chef
89. Use your blog URL and/or avatar throughout the Net
90. Trademark your blog name
91 – 101: Miscellaneous
91. Do not offend people for being different than you
92. Be open minded, let anything and everything inspire you
93. Treat your readers and other bloggers like real people, with respect and compassion
94. Explain stuff that you know, there are always some people who don’t know
95. Be different but stay true to yourself, do not pose as somebody else
96. Do not overload your blog with ads
97. Do not use Google Adsense or Text Link ads unless you have to or depend on it
98. Become an expert in your trade, be a specialist for your topic, don’t try everything at the same time
99. Do not try to do everything or be everywhere, concentrate on the stuff you like, prefer and are good at
100. Cooperate with others, altruism is the best egoism
101. In short: Practice SEO 2.0
