2006-10-19

The first 7 days of blogging

Written by Neil Patel on October 17, 2006 全英文 Thousands of blogs are being created every week and many of them are making critical mistakes within the first week of starting. If you are thinking about starting a blog here are some things that you should think about and do within the first 7 days of starting your blog.

Day 1: Don't launch until the blog is properly setup
Many people launch a blog that is not fully setup; the design may not be complete or the RSS feed may not work. Before you launch your blog make sure that your design is complete, RSS feed is working, you are setup to ping the blog search engines and your blog is optimized for the search engines. Day 1 is the most crucial day because without launching with all these things in line it can hurt the future success of your blog.

Day 2: Pick a topic and stick with it
It is your blog so you can write on what topic(s) you want to write on, but whatever topic(s) you choose, you want to stick with them. If you blog about gadgets don't switch the concentration of your blog later on. Your readers are most likely interested in gadgets and if you start wondering off and start blogging about random things such as furniture they will lose interest and stop reading your blog.

Day 3: Be consistent
The frequency you blog at is up to you. If you want to blog monthly that is fine. If you want to blog weekly or even daily, that is also fine. But whatever frequency you blog at make sure you stick to it. Don't blog daily and then skip a whole month; by blogging on a consistent basis your readers will know when to expect new blog posts and they will be there, ready to read them.

Day 4: Don't leave your readers stranded
Within the first few days of blogging it is really important to interact with all of your readers. If someone emails you asking a question or suggesting something make sure you respond to them. If someone posts a comment on your blog make sure you respond back with a comment, an email or even both.

Day 5: Get to the point
You can post a whole book and it might be the greatest thing you ever wrote, but that does not mean people will read it. If you write concise and detailed posts the chances are more people will read them versus really long drawn out posts.

Day 6: Spice it up
Add some flare to your blog. Keep your readers on their toes by doing something unique, funny or even something out of the ordinary. Whatever unique thing you do, it can really help keep your readers coming back for more.

Day 7: Don't expect the world
It is very unlikely for your blog to become popular within the first week. It can take months if not years to create a popular blog. Just because things might not have gone the way you wanted in the first week, don't give up. Keep on writing and your blog will grow in popularity.

Whatever type of blog you have started, whether it is a personal blog, company blog or even a blog you started to make extra income, don't forget to communicate with your readers and other bloggers and also have fun while you are doing it!

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