To find out what your blogis about, search engines like Google and MSN Search use programs called Web crawlers or spiders. These programs analyze millions of Web pages including blogs, then decide which sites and pages are most relevant for various search terms.

Every search engine has its own formula for ranking Web sites which are kept secret!

Don’t get too caught up with trying to write for search engines, write for people but tag your post correctly.

Also, use links properly - search engines factor in the links from other sites to your site, including the number of links to your site which influences your popularity. They analyse the text in those links, and the quality of the sites that link to yours.

Tag and Social Bookmarking

Tags and social bookmarking services are similar. Social bookmarking refers to users recommending which topics are most popular with them. This is done through votes and by tags.

Public bookmarking sites show the world what you think is important information, and asks others to “vote” for your recommendations as you vote on theirs, and the winners rise to the top.

Tags are like mini-categories for blog content, tagged by the blog owner or visitor. Together in combination with social bookmarking, you can search through tags for the most popular posts within a specific category based upon traffic, voting, or other recommendations.

Tags and social bookmarking help your readers to talk to each other, and to share favorite posts and articles.

Blog Syndication

Blog syndication is the use of your blog’s feed to deliver your blog’s content to other blogs, feed readers and aggregators. It’s a way of bringing the content directly to the reader. FeedBurner and FeedBlitz, among others, offer email subscriptions of your blog’s feeds, delivering feeds directly to your email inbox. This is especially useful for those who are unfamiliar with feeds.

Why do you need a feed?

A feed automatically delivers your blog post to your readers. Feeds therefore extend your reach. They allow the reader to read your blog content at their leisure, on their terms. The choice of feed reader controls how they view your feed, in a way, giving them control over your blog content. Readers cam click to go to your page in a moment, to read more, find more information, or to comment.

There are two ways a visitor can subscribe to your blog. They can subscribe through the feed via their feed reader, or have the feed emailed to them.

Feeds can also be limited to a specific category of posts, giving your readers a chance to monitor specific topics you blog about, or set for specific authors. To increase feed subscriptions, make your RSS icon visible on your blog. Place it near the top of each page, at the bottom of each post in the post meta data section, and even in the footer.

Your blog readers may not be familiar with feed technology, introduce them to it. It’s a great time-saving method for monitoring the news, weather, and your blog.

5 GOLDEN TIPS TO GREAT POSTS

Use magnetic headlines

Be personal

Post regularly

Respond to comments

Use links in every post

3 WAYS TO KILL YOUR BLOG

Spelling mistakes

Catchy titles unrelated to content

Rudeness or dishonesty

START CONVERSATIONS

You need to interact with your audience for them to return again and again to your blog. They interact with you through comments and there are a few simple ways to attract comments. The easiest way is just ask people to comment! Eg.

“Do you agree?”

“What do you think?”

“Would you do that?”

“Do you know more?”

Give your post depth

To give your post depth you need to do research and get other opinions.

1. Ask Your Readers – Just ask your blog readers for their opinions. Posts that are simply questions are great ways of getting comments on your blog but their real potential is to learn what your readers think.

2. Research Your Topic - One of the most obvious ways to get a quote for a post you’re writing is to Google the topic and see what others have written on it previously. It makes  good sense to research your topics before you post.

3. Target Specific Bloggers/Readers - the last method is where you ask a question of specific people. Send an email out to 4-5 people, experts in their niche to ask them for a quote or to do a ‘one question interview’. Then include these short quotes in your post - giving it more depth and also can add some expertise to your post.