Mike Alber's Blog

Be Brief:

Contrary to what you may think, posts that are short and to the point tend to garner the longest Time on Site.  That’s not to say that a long post is never merited, but I often encourage authors to break up long posts into multiple entries.  Though we’d all like to believe that everyone is closely reading every detail in our posts, the fact is that most people will quickly scan through blog content.

Which brings me to my next point…

Break Up Your Content:

By breaking up your content and using formatting variations like italics, bullets, BOLD, and colors, you dramatically increase the chances of grabbing the attention of your readers.

Tip: try the 15 second test with a friend.  Are they able to get the gist of your post through a quick 15 second scan? if not, you may want to make further edits to add clarity.

Use a Blogroll:

A blogroll is a great networking tool that should be leveraged by all bloggers.  I recommend starting off linking to 3 prominent bloggers & 2 peers in your niche.  As you grow, continue adding the names of  frequent commenters,  guest posters, customers and active re-tweeters etc.  This is an easy way to reward those who take the time to engage with you and your blog.

Update Your About Page:

The 1st thing I want to read on an About Page is a 1-2 sentence pitch for why I should care about your blog. 

• Here is an example framework you can use: {blog name} is for {audience} who is looking to {value proposition}.

The 2nd thing I look for is some links to your strongest entries.

• This validates that your blog has quality content, and will increase the likelihood of converting a subscriber.

Have a Subscribe Section at the Top of Every Page.

I recommend having the option to subscribe by RSS, email & Twitter.  Most blogs  include an RSS feed, but often neglect to include these other two options. Even if your readers are a highly technical audience, you will be surprised to see how many of them choose to subscribe by email over all other options (over 33% based on my experience).

Also many people are spending less time in their RSS reader’s in favor of finding new content via their twitter followers.

For Email:  use a tool like Feedburner to create an email subscription option via your RSS feed.
For Twitter: set up a unique account specifically for your blog, and use a tool like TwitterFeed to automatically tweet out your new posts.  This is a one-and-done activity that is well worth the effort.

I have many more points to go into here, but I figured I should take my own advice, be brief, and save them for another post.