It was a packed house on Feb. 15, for CSME’s Pimp Your Blog mixer at Bar Italia in Toronto. Leading attendees through the ins and outs of how to make your blog successful were guest speakers Jennifer Villamere, community manager for Transcontinental; Gary Campbell, executive producer, digital, at St. Joseph Media; and Matthew Blackett, publisher and creative director of Spacing. Here’s a few of their top tips:
- Offer something unique. What can you do that no one else is doing?
- Be clever, but more importantly, be clear. For search engine optimization and to get more readers, a hed needs to explain what the post is about. It should match words that people will search for and it should be something that they will click on.
- Set a schedule. Posting regular features at set times will build audience, allow you to sell ads against specific content, and make it easier for you to generate content. Watch your numbers to see when most people are reading your blog, and post then. Most common times tend to be first thing in the morning, right after lunch, and on Thursdays.
- Post more content more often. It’s a numbers game: the more content you have, the more visitors you’ll attract, and those visitors will come back more often.
- Engage your audience by asking questions and replying to their comments. Build a relationship with them by being present.
- Don’t top-post an entry that has a lot of traction. If your numbers are high and you’re getting a lot of comments on a post, don’t cut off reader engagement prematurely by writing another post that will bump it down.
- Pay attention to your stats. Know when your readers come to your blog and what content they’re reading.
Thank you to our speakers and everyone who came out to the event! (click on the image above to enlarge)
