Web Publishing Group

Startup Nation recently published an article “Eight Steps to Win at Blogging.” I could find only seven steps, but they’re all very good:

1. Choose a host. Bodnar says outside hosts like TypePad, WordPress and Blogger are easy and cheap, “but you’re limited to storage size and features.” You get what you pay for, he says, when it comes to adding audio, video, links and content other than text.
2. Hire a dedicated blogger. “Find someone who’s interested in it and will oversee it,” Briguglio says.
3. Collect links up the wazoo. Both inbound and outbound links are vital - collect some “link karma” by directing your traffic to relevant sites, and you’ll see it coming around in the form of inbound links to your blog. The more inbound links, the more traffic and visibility you get. Briguglio recently blogged about Hershey’s Kisses and linked to the Hershey site.
4. Set up an RSS feed. Really Simple Syndication is a code-based system that allows Web users to “subscribe” to their favorite sites – including your blog – for up-to-the-minute action and updates. On that note…
5. Update constantly. A blog’s success depends on the regularity of its posts. “We have so much information on our blog that we rank very high on search engines,” Bodnar says. Searches find frequently refreshed, keyword-rich sites first.
6. Read other blogs and comment on the posts. Get involved in the blogsphere to learn what makes a good one. A great way to start: enter “entrepreneur” at Technorati, a search engine now tracking 56 million blogs. You’ll find more than 200,000 examples of how it’s been done.
7. Collect images, links, statistics and other sources to include on your blog. Think of it as your personal online magazine and make it as visually appealing as possible. Spend some time at a heavily stocked magazine rack and mine it for what works – and what doesn’t.

I really like the idea of making your blog your own personal magazine. Put stuff in that you find interesting, and chances are that other will find it interesting, too.

I would add a few items of my own:

1. In addition to reading other blogs, get on mailing lists that discusss areas of interest. The incoming messages will not only serve as fodder for your blog, but if you stick your blog’s URL in your e-mail signature, it will help to garner readers for your blog.
2. Use zookoda.com to set up a mailaing list for your RSS feed. Some people are not geeky enough to get RSS feeds, while others just prefer e-mail.