In case you don’t remember, I wrote a post not too long ago about why the masses enjoy lists so much. That was obviously a sarcastic article, but the basic principle that people like lists is true. Lists are concise, they keep the writer on point which in turn helps readers follow along much more easily, and they can be skimmed and dissected. If you doubt the power of lists even for a second, you should head over to the king of lists’ blog and check out how effective they are. Darren is a great blogger, and he embraces the list more than anyone I know.
You should also keep in mind that there are emerging more and more list aggregators that serve the sole purpose of linking to list posts (example). Usually these automated sites are worthless for authority links, but every blog backlink builds your Technorati and PR which is a good thing to advertisers.
I’m starting to see this used more and more lately. It’s a great way to relate your topic to something typically unrelated to your topic thus capturing the curiousity of a more diverse group of people. This is also a way to make your topic seem more interesting by relating it to something more interesting, or at least interesting to a broader audience.
This can be seen at Kumiko’s blog where she talks about the 6 Lessons Britney Spears Can Teach You About Blogging. This is a perfect example of this strategy at work. Britney Spears has been in the news time and time again for being an all around dumbass, so to claim that she has something to teach us about blogging captures pretty much anyone’s interest. I admit, I read it all.
When you’re running low on things to blog about but you know you should get that daily update out why not compose a link-farm post? If you’re an active blogger then you should be an active blog-reader as well, so when you come across enough interesting articles from others in the blogosphere dedicate a post to them. I do this just about every week with my top links posts. Not only does this give you some extra content without actually having to sit down and write anything (aside from maybe a summary) but you’re sharing the love with other bloggers. After all, being friendly is the little known link-building strategy.
Blogging is personal, so you should go out of your way to relate what you write about to your own experiences and include your own advice. If people didn’t want your opinion they wouldn’t read your blog, they’d watch the rehearsed, critic-friendly, non-offensive evening news. Being able to relate to an actual person rather reading a news feed from some media conglomerate is what separates blogging from traditional media. Use that to your advantage.
Always try to include as many links to previous articles in every post you can. It’s not enough to get users to your blog for one page view, you want them to stick around and read as many pages as they can handle. The best way to do this is to include a critical mass of interlinks in each and every post you do. It may make publishing time a bit longer, but it will definately pay off in the long run.
Another good idea is to include a related post plugin in your blog which recognizes the most relevant articles published and lists them after each post. This isn’t as effective as interlinking within your actual posts, but every bit counts.
These methods aren’t anything new, but I thought some people would enjoy seeing them all in one spot. They’re 5 of (what I’ve seen to be) the most effective blogging strategies in use by some of the top bloggers.