A recent article I found on SEOMOZ reviewed some key aspects that every blogger should consider in order to make their blogs more effective.  I will highlight a few of the recommendations. Bloggers should ensure that they make every effort to avoid making these errors that will decrease the effectiveness of your blog:

1. Crafting cute, clever or confusing headlines (or really bad ones) - Remember that this is the key aspect of generating interest in your blog.  Make sure you make the headline interesting to attract attention. In my electronic marketing course, I teach the use of AIDA.  A=Attention (the headline is essential to gaining attention), I=Interest (the description appearing on the search engine results will generate interest), D=Desire (create a desire for further information by supporting your blog with links to other sources), and A=Action (provide an opportunity for readers to follow-up on your blog with an RSS Feed or Twitter Posts).
2. Never linking to old posts. . . Previous posts provide support and further details for your current post.
3. Never linking to other bloggers . . . Again, providing links to other bloggers and articles generate interest and encourage dialogue between your readers and other bloggers.
4. Forgetting to fill out your page title and description fields . . . again, the page title and description are critical for SEO.  Search engines use this information when indexing your page and the use of the title and description provides valuable attention for potential readers on the search engine results.
5. Plagiarizing other bloggers . . . Whereas, you may feel it is a quick way to boost your blogging frequency, make sure you are ethical and provide valuable insight for your readers.  If in the case of a blog (such as, this particular post) reflects on material previously posted on another blog, quote the previous blog and provide a hyperlink to the original post.  More importantly, ADD further information and insight. As noted on item 1, provide a greater information to ensure that your readers want to read your blog rather than just link to another person's blog.
6. Writing big blocks of copy . . . use short paragraphs with sub-headings.  I know I am guilty of this error.  When I first started blogging while on sabbatical in China, I used my blog as a travel journal.  Writing in a journal is not the same as blogging.  I have learned over time that most people do not want to read pages and pages of copy.  Keep it short and interesting.

It seems that this is a perfect place to end this post . . . If you are interested in learning more, check out the original blog at http://www.seomoz.org/blog/12-things-that-will-kill-your-blog-post-every-time 

 

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