Growing and nourishing blog traffic.

Yesterday I identified three key factors to be borne in mind when considered the content of your blog:

• Know your likely and your target readership
• Know what image of yourself you want to project
• Know your subject and tailor it to suite your targeted readership.

Once you have decided on the subject you want to blog about, even if it is a specialist subject, try to broaden the coverage to make it interesting to Europeans and Americans alike. Present yourself in an appropriate persona for the subject covered.

Now as promised the most important factor to consider - the hook.

Your blog must have a hook, to encourage readers to make repeat visits. It doesn’t matter how good the blog might be, it will not grow a readership without a hook.

It’s like trying to fill a bucket, with a hole in, with water using a cup. Even if it’s a gold cup it will not fill the bucket.

Once someone has visited your blog, you have to, not only get them to bookmark your blog, but give them something that will make them want to pay return visits. How can this be done?

When you are reading a novel, and you are about to get to the end of a chapter, you might decide to finish the chapter then put down the book and do something else. A good author writes into the last paragraph a hook which makes you want to keep on reading the next chapter.

If your blog is about your family, you must make the reader interested in each member and care about them. Don’t build a wall at the end of the blog. Leave a half open door, tantalisingly showing what might happen next, encourage the reader to return. All the better if you can start a dialogue using the comment facilities. If a reader makes an interesting point, then try to use that, (giving due credit to the reader), in your next entry.

If you are blogging on a specialist subject, provide relevant, accurate and up-to-date information. Make your blog a reference resource for your readers.

David McMahon has devised a novel hook for his blog, with his Aussiejourno’s Weekly Blog Awards, it encourages bloggers to visit the blog to see if their blog is ranked in the top 50.

The above and yesterday’s blog entry was provided in the hope it will assist dedicated bloggers increase traffic to their blog. But remember most bloggers blog to satisfy their creative urge. Enjoy the blogging process and let the number of hits be of secondary importance.

At this point I could gently slip in a hook, and say there is one guaranteed way of ensuring having a high hit rate to your blog. But I’m sure as a serious blogger you wouldn’t be interested in adopting the tactic.

Good luck with your blog - enjoy.

Click here to see YesBut’s Image of the day.