5 Pillars of an Effective Blog

16 Nov 2009

castle blogging The Art of Castle Building

Building a strong blog is like building a castle. In order to build those ramparts and towers, you’ve got to build a strong foundation first. Of course, it sounds a lot easier than it really is.

Some of the obvious mistakes occur when a blogger tries to move too quickly and winds up collapsing the castle. This happens if you start selling before you’ve established pillar content. It also happens if you spend a lot of time on promotion and marketing before you’ve prepared your domain for guests.

To help you battle through that, and to build the best damn blog on the planet, I want to lay out a 5 step plan for laying down that foundation. Once you’ve got that set, you can move on to the fun stuff.

1. Domain Name – I know it sounds simple, but the domain name makes a difference. Is your domain easy to remember? Is it confusing? Does it use odd spellings or numbers that people will forget?

Although SEO can overcome a lot of these issues, the problem with a new blog is that you don’t have any SEO established. That’s why you need to find a .com (sorry, but .net, .info, and .biz just don’t cut it) and pick a name that rolls off the tongue, is memorable, and corresponds with your topic.

2. Design and Branding – I lump these two together because they go hand in hand. If your design sucks, then you’ll have a tough time building a solid brand. If your branding sucks, then your great design won’t matter because people won’t find a reason to come back.

Design

Design is the look of your website…the colors, banners, images, etc. Usability is also a design function. If your website is tough to use and navigate, then you have design issues. Although many people will try to convince you that you don’t need a good design when you get started, I disagree.

Although you don’t necessarily have to buy a custom theme, you should at least spend some money on a high quality theme, such as something from Elegant Themes or Woo Themes. I also like the simplicity of themes like the Headway Theme and Frugal Theme. Both of those are easy to customize and look great too.

Branding

Branding is the message that your blog sends to your readers. It starts with your blog title and tagline, moves into your use of images and colors, and is finished off with the message in your content. From top to bottom, your branding has to be consistent. This is why people like Reese Spykerman are in such high demand, because she can take an idea and brand the hell out of it…in the process making you look like a million bucks.

3. Pillar Content – It’s called pillar content because it’s the best of what you have to say and is the type of message that you can build your blog upon. For instance, this post is pillar content, because it is brick and mortar information that is relevant both now and in the future.

Pillar content educates your readers and helps them get from a beginner level to an advanced level. For example, if your niche was travel, your pillar content might be related to great destinations, best ways to travel, and beginner tips and tactics. If your niche is sports, your pillar content might be posts like how to get started, top 10 workouts, and best ways to get in shape. You get the point. Pillar content is basic, but thorough and highly informative.

You need to start with at least 10-20 of these posts within your first several months. Start with 5, and then add them once per month after that. These will not only help you attract readers, but they will keep them interested in future content.

4. Subscriptions – If you can’t get people to subscribe to your RSS feed or email newsletter, then you will be fighting uphill for most of your blogging life. For every stone you lay, there will be 2 that get torn down.

Building a base of readers is almost impossible without some sort of capture mechanism. This means you need to make your RSS feed easy to find and your email form even easier.

Create Premium Content

The best motivation you can give for signing up is special access free content, such as a free E-Book or weekly newsletter that regular readers won’t see. That way, they’ll have incentive to sign up. When you deliver this content, you are building authority and trust, which is the 2nd step to expanding your reach.

Focus on building those numbers and don’t be afraid to ask. Yeah, the first 500 might be difficult, but from there, it gets much easier.

5. Search Engine Optimization – SEO is a mystery to most people. It’s not sexy, and it isn’t quick. However, good SEO can make or break a blog’s rise to fame. Good SEO is like using good mortar…on the surface it doesn’t really make a difference, but years later, you can see the value in spending the time to get it right.

Good SEO means that you need to optimize your blog for Google via plugins (SEO Plugin), keywords, and proper titles. Although I know SEO well enough to implement it on my own blog, I recommend that you learn from those more experienced than I. Check out Stompernet or Remarkablogger for some good tips to get you started.

A Fortress of Blogging Awesomeness

What we have here are 5 incredibly important pillars that can make the difference between a six figure blog and one that doesn’t make a dime. Spend time getting these things right before you start guest posting, getting traffic from social networks, or selling products.

You’ll know when you’ve done it right when you have a steady increase in traffic, subscribers, and comments. Once you’ve built that foundation, then you can start working on some of the finer nuances of blogging.

In the meantime, go through and evaluate your blog based on these pillars. If you find a weak spot, patch it up before it causes your entire blog to collapse.

Have a question? Ask it in the comments below.

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