Community, communication, consideration.
The three founding principals of marketing your blog to an audience, whether general, or specific. People want to get be a part of the next thing, so give them a chance.
1. Community
Whether you start up your own community, or join others, via means of MyBlogLog, MySpace, LinkedIn, Xing and others, this is a guaranteed and proven way to get visitors, to get hits, impressions, and often quality traffic, because you know that these people haven’t just clicked on a random link or search engine listing, but have seen you or your website’s profile, and followed it through to your homepage/landing page. The best ways to get the profiles themselves noticed? See below…
2. Communication
I don’t mean ’spam’ by this either. Get involved in genuine discussions, with other people of similar interests, start up a civilized, profitable, knowledgeable discussion, then when you’re finished, ask if they’d take a look at your blog or website. You’d be surprised how many loyal readers have come to my own blog in this way. Simply leave comments in communities, on social networks, on other blogs, etc.
Still not quite your way of dealing with people?
3. Considering
All the time, you have to consider the reader. Who are you writing for? The reader. Who will be navigating your blog? The reader. Who should you devote your time, energy and attention to? The reader. Consideration is important, and you can show this in many ways. Either by having a clutter-free, easy-to-follow design, or you could alternatively try getting the readers involved, by asking questions in blog posts, or website statements, and opening up comments. If people comment, strike up a conversation with them, and keep them coming back. Answer their queries and requests with solid, reliable, dependable answers, and take note of the feedback they leave by using it, and putting it into action. If someone states that your text is hard to read, change the colour to stop it clashing so much with the background, or simply make it slightly larger.
There are lots of ways you can show consideration to your audience, and it shows just how loyal you are to your readers through this. If someone spots an inaccuracy in a blog post and tells you, don’t be lazy. Go change it! They’ll keep coming back, they’ll tell their friends, and in turn this C will do word-of-mouth marketing wonders.
The Element of Surprise
You’ve looked at both SEO, content and the ‘C’s now, but my last tip is probably what has brought me the large majority of my visitors, both loyal and one-off traffic hoppers. Differentiate yourself, do something different. Be daring, be random! Try something wild, or something completely unheard of, whether it’s outrageous, or greatly beneficial to the reader. Sometimes, even beneficial to the writer! (http://www.techzi.net/donations/) Mad things work out great sometimes, other times, they really can lower your reputation, so it’s time to take calculated risks here.
My advice? Follow your instincts. Be an entrepreneur. Take that risk. Make it happen. Throw a competition (http://www.techzi.net/competition/), for all the good it will do. Stand out and be different. Darren will sure know what I mean by that…
lisa templer on 21 Jan 12Mothers' Diet To Blame For Sons' Low Sperm Count? The spotlight has fallen on the growth hormones fed to cattle as a possible explanation for low sperm counts in some men. The research, appearing in Human Reproduction, suggests that a mother's high beef consumption (seven or more beef meals per week) while pregnant could be linked to poor sperm quality in her son. Interestingly, beef consumption by the men themselves was not found to be linked to the quality of their semen. Conducted by researchers from the University of Rochester, study author Shanna H. Swan said this was the first study to examine beef intake and semen quality. Central to the study was the relationship between semen quality and long-term risks from growth hormones and other chemicals in beef. The synthetic growth hormone diethylstilbestrol (DES) was banned in 1979 but other anabolic hormones are still routinely used to raise cattle. The study found that among the men whose mothers were the highest beef eaters, almost 18 percent had sperm counts classified as "sub-fertile". By comparison, sperm concentrations were 24 percent higher for men whose mothers ate less beef. It seems that high beef consumption during pregnancy may alter sperm production in the male fetus in utero. Swan explained that although sperm production occurs in stages throughout a man's life, the most important stage of development for semen quality actually occurs in the womb. While there appears to be a significant link between the lowest sperm counts and mothers who were the highest beef consumers, Swan could not pinpoint hormones as the culprit, saying it could be pesticides or other environmental contaminants behind the effect. "What we're really doing here is raising an issue," said Swan. "The average sperm concentration of the men in our study went down as their mothers' beef intake went up. But this needs to be followed up carefully before we can draw any conclusions." Swan suggests that to gauge the role hormone
