Outreach 2.0 …

by Bill Seaver

7 Strategies to Successful Blogging

Been hearing more and more about blogs lately? Chances are your answer is ‘yes,’ and for good reason. Blogs are now being birthed at a rate of nearly 3 million a month—about 100,000 a day. And according to Technorati.com, more than 60 million blogs existed as of October 1, 2006. Beyond the sheer numerical growth, blogs have started to become an integral part of the cultural discussion in our country, with no signs of blogs decreasing in popularity.  

Considering all this hype, you may be wondering if you should jump into the “blogosphere.” My advice is yes. Anyone seeking to spread a message (and that’s what Christians do, right?) can find an entirely new avenue for communicating through his or her blog, and the global reach of blogs is astounding.

So, if you’re ready to get started on your own blog, explore these seven strategies that helped me as I entered the world of blogging.

1. Choose the right tool.

Among the numerous available blogging tools, many are free. Wordpress.com and Blogger.com are two of the more popular free tools, and Typepad.com, although not free, is used by some of the world’s top bloggers. Make sure the tool you use has three key components: RSS, permanent links (URL pointing to a specific blogging entry even after the entry has passed from the front page into the blog archives) and comments. All of the tools above have these features. 

2. Speak from the heart.

For many people, blogs serve as online journals. If you’re interested in blogging, you may already feel like you’ve got a message to communicate, or a topic to address. Whatever the case may be, speak genuinely and from your own personal experience.

3. Be consistent.

In the blogosphere, there’s nothing worse than an outdated blog—one that hasn’t been updated within 10 days. A PR firm I know expressed concern about the viability of blogging, but when I checked their corporate blog, it had been over two months since their last post. No wonder the firm doesn’t think blogging works! Blogs are hungry animals that need to be fed regularly. If a pet looks malnourished, the animal isn’t to blame: the owner is.

4. Show yourself. 

I’ve been surprised at the number of visits I’ve received through posting a picture of myself on my public blogger profile. If you look at the profile listing for most blog tools, you’ll find the majority does not have pictures of blog authors. But putting a picture on my profile made me stand out among other profiles and sent several new visitors to my blog. Whether they were interested in the content or not, this was an easy way to get new viewers. 

5. Ping yourself.

Each time you create a new post, let the world know. Don’t sit and wait for people to come across your blog. Pinging yourself is a means of letting blog search engines (and some other search engines) know you’re out there—it’s kind of like putting a red flag up on your mailbox when you have outgoing mail. Some blog tools have the pinging function built in, but you can also go to PingOMatic.com and ping yourself.

Each time you post to your blog, choose all the blog listings you want to ping (which should be most or all of them). It takes about 30 seconds to set up the first time and five seconds a ping thereafter ... hardly a price to pay for something so valuable.

6. Claim yourself.

Technorati is the leading blog search engine, and you want to be found within it. Register—“claim”—your blog on Technorati, and in time, your claim and regular pinging will begin to work for you. Your blog will immediately pop up when people do searches for your name, or for people, places or things you talk about.

7. Check your stats.

Getting comments from people on your blog is the primary (and preferred) way to not only be assured that your blog is being read, but to also obtain valuable feedback. Unfortunately, most people don’t leave comments, so you also need to check your stats. Some blog tools such as Typepad.com and Wordpress.com have built-in stat tools where you can easily see how many people have visited your blog that day, and who referred them to your blog. Other options for checking your stats: MyBlogLog.com and Google Analytics.  

Bill Seaver is the Vice President of White Post Media where he consults churches and ministries in the development and implementation of new media (web 2.0) strategies.  He's also an avid blogger on his personal blog, MicroExplosion.com.  For questions or article ideas contact Bill at fourthbill@gmail.com.

-Outreachmagazine.com, "Web Exclusives," March/April 2007

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