10. Mix it up. Change up the format of posts to keep readers engaged. We alternate between full-scale reports, interviews, news recaps, and more to keep our content fresh.
11. Link back to previous posts. Since we cover several facets of the digital industry, we often write about topics that relate to previous posts we've published. When this happens, we link back to previous posts, which provides necessary context to the reader and also helps usher traffic to pages that might have been otherwise missed.
12. Tag your posts. Tagging posts with relevant keywords will help readers find content by topic. Categories serve a similar purpose and provide a layer of organization to your blog that becomes more important as you produce more and more content.
Management
13. Designate a point person. Our blog taps into the brainpower of several individuals across a company, so it's important that the buck stops at someone. Designate an editor with strong project management skills to keep assignments on track and keep content flowing.
14. Make posts shareable. Look at other blogs for ideas on how to make your content more shareable. We include links to share posts on all major social platforms, as well as a "Tweet This" button to simplify sharing across Twitter. Facebook's new "Like" button is also growing in popularity, and according to a recent TypePad study, is boosting referral traffic for some blogs by as much as 50 percent.
A re-tweet button makes it easy for readers to share articles with their followers. The share button at left has a similar function, and simplifies sharing across all major social networks.
15. Include a contributor's page. This gives proper credit to your authors and provides a human face to your articles. Our contributor's page includes photos and short bios about each member of our editorial team.
16. Incorporate relevant widgets. Most blogs have a handful of widgets or other add-ons used to enhance the blog experience. Ours include a button for registering for email distribution, a Facebook page widget, a dynamic Twitter feed, and a blog roll that links to other industry blogs as curated by us.
17. Set up an email distribution system. There are several services that will distribute your content directly into readers' inboxes for a nominal fee. You will need the help of your tech/design team to set this up, but it's worth it.
18. Make friends with your tech team. Although much of managing a blog is editorial, there are times when you need the aid of professionals with website design and/or development background. Some things your tech team will need to handle are SEO plugins, domain set-up and redirects (when needed), design/tech implementations, widget implementations, and any other changes to the backend of the site.
19. Learn some basic HTML. Blogging sometimes requires the use of basic HTML coding when it comes to formatting your posts. Most times you won't need this (most blog platforms allow you to edit via a "visual" view) -- but there will be times when you will need to tweak code. Learning basic code will help you overcome hiccups that might arise.
<< Previous page | Next page >>
