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Three Out-Of-The-Box Ways To Take Your Blog To The Next Level

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Take Your Blog To The Next Level

Blogging, like any pastime, can quickly turn into a passion. I know that it has for me. When I first started blogging, which is really a form of article marketing by the way, it was more or less a hobby. Soon thereafter, however, I noticed that some advertising and affiliate programs that I had signed up for started to bring in some money.

Once that happened, something changed. I quickly realized that there was a webmaster/blogger stirring inside me looking to claw its way out. I grew little horns and from that point forward, it was all over with. I was trapped. I realized that blogging and running an online business was a passion that I never knew I had.

That being said, like anything, once you do it long enough, you quickly become bored with the “status quo” and you find yourself looking to push the envelope more and more.

Lets Do This!

Generally, in terms of blogging, this means challenging yourself to drive more traffic, ranking higher in search results for not only more search terms, but more competitive search terms to boot. Additionally, if you’re like me, you’re always looking for ways to “juice” the bottom line too, if you “get my drift”.

Now, if you have a website or a blog and have been at it for a while, you may have experienced a meteoric rise in popularity at one point only to see it slowly taper down on the back-end. This is what many have complained about and I, for one, attribute this to a great degree to the latest string of search engine algorithm updates that have been released.

Three Out-Of-The-Box Ways To Take Your Blog To The Next Level

If you feel that this is happening in your case, then here are three simple ideas that I have implemented on my own site that I feel have benefited me and that have helped me take my site “beyond” SEO. So here they are in no particular order:

Offer A Free Service

Oops. Did I just use the “F” word? Yep. I sure did. I said “Free“. You will just have to trust me on this. In my opinion, this is a great idea because it is a great way to get your foot in the door in terms of marketing your products and services. Why do you think software and drug companies offer free trials? Its to “get ya hooked, man!”

If your website or blog is based around a  product or service, take a close look at it and see if there is a simplified or stripped down version of it you can offer for free. Then, paste a giant banner front and center on your site that advertises it. Now that’s what I call “link bait“.

Of course, this will cost you money on the front end, but if you play your cards correctly, it will be worth its weight in gold in terms of advertising expenditures. 😉

Syndicate Your Blog Posts Or At Least Some Of Them

I have had a lot of success with this personally. Now this is a bit of a grey area in terms of SEO and marketing according to some, but in my experience, article marketing (even post-Panda) still pays off. Side note: And its a great way to dilute the effects of black-hat scrapers that steal your content.

With that in mind, all of your blog posts are prime candidates for syndication. You can syndicate to a variety of places such as other blogs, e-zines, article directories, document sharing sites or even your own private network if you have one.

Of course, you don’t have to syndicate all of your posts, but at least try a few that you feel may not be getting the love they deserve while just sitting there on your site. Just remember, follow Google’s guidelines on this matter for the greatest benefit and they are as follows:

“Syndicate carefully: If you syndicate your content on other sites, Google will always show the version we think is most appropriate for users in each given search, which may or may not be the version you’d prefer. However, it is helpful to ensure that each site on which your content is syndicated includes a link back to your original article. You can also ask those who use your syndicated material to use the noindex meta tag to prevent search engines from indexing their version of the content.

Source: Duplicate Content – Webmasters Help

Interestingly, some blogs and directories disallow linking back to the original because they feel that it detracts from the “use experience”. I say “nonsense”. They’re just trying to outrank you for your own article. Don’t fall for it.

Give Your Reading Public A Vested Interest

What in the world does that mean? Simple. It means “link out” WITHOUT slapping the “nofollow” attribute on everything. It never fails to amaze me when webmaster “nofollow” everything thinking that they will be conserving “link juice”. I say “Give And Ye Shall Receive”.

One of the best things I have ever done to my blog was remove the “nofollow” attribute from my comment names. Sure I get some SPAM, but I’n not afraid of it.

If you have trouble with comment spam, simply enable the “Bad Behavior” and “Growmap Antispam” plugins for WordPress and these problems will disappear. Sorry “Scrapebox”. Its nothing personal. Please understand. LOL!

Honestly, why would you NOT reward visitors that add highly valuable (SEO-valuable that is) User Generated Content (UGC) to your site or blog. Why would you NOT reward contributors that increase your “ping rate” keeping your site and posts fresh in search results? Why would you not reward your visitors who so kindly keep your site from looking like a “ghost town”?

So, Whats The Bottom Line?

The Bottom Line Is This: SEO by itself is simply not enough. You have to offer value and give your reading and visiting public a vested interest in your site. THAT is what will keep them coming back and THAT is what will take your site to the next level, which, in turn, will lead to higher traffic levels and (you guessed it) more revenue. 😉

About

Administrator of TheBitBot Organic SEO Services Blog and Chief Editor of the TBB SEO Newsletter. Writes. Scripts. Hacks. Cracks. Re-Writes. Mods. Practices SEO of ALL shades. Has Some "VERY SMART" Friends ;) Boldly Experiments. Is VERY WELL Connected. Publishes. Moderates. Trains. Explains. Pursues Three Important Careers Simultaneously. Has A Blast Doing It All :)

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{ 32 Responses }

  1. Trung Nguyen says:
    SEO is great way to take blog next lever, however, as you said, value content is the first thing we have to build before we're going to take our blog next lever :) CONTENT is KING - as many bloggers thinking.
  2. Louis says:
    I agree. Nothing beats value as the best SEO method. There's no shortcut to giving values either.
  3. jigar doshi says:
    great and simple tips.. though I haven't turned my passion into a money-earning process as yet, I am sure it would be very helpful to those who are trying to do so :)
  4. Jeevan Jacob John says:
    Hey Mark, Agree with your article. Giving a free service will sure help us to increase the number of subscribers that we have. This is also where I have committed a big mistake (I didn't have put up any free stuff for my newsletter subscribers for almost 2 years). But, then I corrected my mistake :D Thanks to all the articles about newsletter subscribers and conversion rates :D When it comes to content syndication, I usually submit my articles to blog communities like Blog Engage, Blokube and so on. I also agree with your third point about rewarding your readers (If I were to apply that on my blog; I would probably conduct surprise giveaways - randomly - to a commentator; this way, I can get more out of less. That is, I can still get people to comment more even if I don't have a giveaway for the month). Thank you for the awesome read, Jeevan Jacob John
    • Mark says:
      Jeevan, The giveaway concept sounds intriguing...as opposed to linking out. I may give that a try. Thanks :) Mark
  5. Erich says:
    I'd say the best way to keep visitors coming back is to provide them quality content worth reading. Provide them the information that they came to your site for.
    • Mark says:
      Oh absolutely Erich. That should definitely be your foundation. The only problem is, when everybody is already doing that, you have to start thinking out of the box. :) Mark
      • Erich says:
        I agree--quality content paired with quality writing ought to be the foundation of any blog/site that wants to earn credibility from its readers. I suppose there's no harm in using marketing tactics to drive traffic to one's site. But, still, even if I empty my pockets in giveaways/promos, if the content on my site is just a low-quality rehash (or worse, a poor rehash) of something that has already been said before, then site visitors will only be coming to my site for the giveaways but not for the content. And, my intent--presumably also every other blogger's intent--is to have my content read and help readers. After all, that's the reason I'm blogging--to provide useful information.
  6. Beth Hewitt says:
    Hey Mark, Great post. I was interested in what you say about syndication. I see syndication as one of the most important parts of my marketing efforts but I was interested in what you say about original and duplicated content. I think so much can be achieved from syndicated if you do it properly and actually make relationships with others doing the same thing. Beth Hewitt :)
    • Mark says:
      Hi Beth, Personally, I think syndication should be at the heart of everyone's marketing efforts. Interestingly, not all sites will let you link back to the original as Google specifies. To these I say "see ya" :) I have ad success with it and plan to continue... ;) Thanks Mark
  7. Brad says:
    Might work :).
    • Mark says:
      I think it will. It has worked for me and many bloggers I know. If I had to recommend anything, Brad, it would be syndication, even if you syndicate unique articles not posted on your site, so your content stays unique. Mark :)
  8. Warren says:
    Syndication is something new for me. I've had a couple of bigger, higher traffic sites ask to syndicate my content recently and I've allowed it. Haven't noticed any increase in traffic because of it, but I did recently get a PageRank update to PR4 (who really knows if it's because of those links though as I'm always building them)
    • Mark says:
      Interesting. If you have other sites asking you to syndicate your content, then those must be some pretty high quality articles. You should syndicate more widely. Mark
  9. Nasrul Hanis says:
    I agree on the "dofollow" part - it's like giving your readers something to appreciate with. You leave your comment, you got something - link. Win-win, isn't it? Yes - it gives you a lot more exposure!
    • Mark says:
      Agreed. Linking out hasn't hurt my link juice. I think it is a great way to reward your readers who add valuable UGC. Thanks Nasrul! Mark
  10. Elena says:
    I always like when bloggers interact with their readers. Even though I sometimes don’t know much about a certain blogger, seeing how that blogger takes the time to actually read and respond to almost every comment gives me a pretty clear impression that the blogger is very responsive and cares about his audience. And I’ve seen some bloggers that were receiving tens of comments on their posts and yet they were responding to all of them. That is what dedication means.
    • Mark says:
      Elena, Bloggers who take the time to respond to comments has always impressed me as being classy and professional. I follow some high profile bloggers and they all respond to their comments. I respond to as many as I can and I expect the same. Mark :)
  11. Tushar says:
    these are great tips. offering free service is something i want to do since long time back but could not think of anything suitable. i need to work on that
    • Mark says:
      You can always offer a free ebook to tempt potential signups. That one always works! Mark :)
  12. James says:
    Offering a free service sounds like a good idea.!
    • Mark says:
      @James Personally, I think it is essential to the potential and inevitable upsell. Sure it attracts "tire kickers", but a percentage of the "tire kickers" turn into "buyers" or "subscribers and that's what we want. Mark
  13. Brian says:
    Agree for your syndicate-point, it helps when you want pop out specific topics in surface, mostly I use social media to syndicate my post. Regards
    • Mark says:
      @Brian, Its worked for me. I learned that if you simply build it, they won't necessarily come. You have to advertise and that is a great way to do it. :) Mark
  14. Shamelle says:
    Yap, SEO alone will not get you out of the box :-) My take is that.. If your goal is to present fresh new ideas, or old ideas in a way that people have not heard before, then you must have as your goal, first, to learn all the rules and become an expert at following them. Your long hours of practice will enable you to find your own spirit within your field, and it’s likely to be out of the box.
    • Mark says:
      Definitely Shamelle. Focusing too much on SEO will only harm your creativity if you let it. I say focus on SEO basics while maintaining a high level of creativity. Mark
  15. Ricardus says:
    The Free service or perhaps free tutorial will definitely make your blog go to the next level.
    • Mark says:
      I think so. Giving people a sample of your services is a great way to get your foot in the door. Mark
  16. Mark says:
    Local Peeps! I love it! You're a cool commenter, Morgan! I'm glad we met. :) For sure. Success these days entails taking advantage of every avenue available. Now get to work girl friend! ;) Mark
  17. Mark says:
    Agreed. We're definitely on the same page, Jamie. SEO is great, but it should be supplemental to quality/value. Thanks for commenting, friend... :) Mark
  18. Morgan says:
    You're absolutely right that SEO by itself is simply not enough. Same goes for just having a Twitter or just having a Facebook. You gotta take it to the next level by doing the things you mentioned above AND by marketing off your website. Take it outside, take it to a syndicate, take it to your local peeps; just get the word out! Fantastic stuff!
  19. Jamie Northrup says:
    I agree Mark, SEO can only take you so far, but what you do with your visitors or offer them will keep them around and convert them. Free products or services are always great, but make sure it's of value, too many free products out there are useless and that just make you lose credibility.