1. Focus: Pick a well-defined area of focus, an area in which you have an abiding interest and an area where you at least have the desire to become an expert, if you are not already. Don’t stray into politics on your caterer’s blog, or talk about your kids on your legal blog. Focus.
2. Consistency: Writing frequently is better than infrequently, but whatever frequency seems doable after some experimentation, stick with it. If you have a restaurant review every Thursday, people will start to look for that. If you post a legal case study near the first of every month, it will become an institution for readers. People like and admire consistent behavior, and it seems the side effect of a well-ordered and professional mind.
3. Look Outward: There’s a lot of stuff out there on nearly every topic. As you are on your own personal journey of discovery, collect the signposts and recommendations you discover, and share them. If you are designer and you discover great designs, post them. If you are a chef and discover great writing about food, link to it. Don’t thiink that everything has to come from within, and that you are the only creative force in the world.
4. Look Within: What you think and feel matters.Getting across why you, personally, care deeply about some topic — wine, patent law, deck gardens, or DJing — is the single most important way to connect with people on a personal level. We are, in some important way, what we care about.
5. Conversation: And once you connect with people, they will want to connect with you. They will want to comment on your posts, so make that possible. They will ask you questions, or challange your assumptions and conclusions. Get into the mix and respond. It’s a conversation. Sure, you start by having the conversation with yourself, or with your partners that may be blogging with you, but over time it will open up, and hundreds or thousands of people may be interacting with you through your blog. That’s the definition of success, in this world.

e.g. “7 reasons why list posts will always work“

Any headline that lists a number of reasons, secrets, types, or ways will work because, once again, it makes a very specific promise of what’s in store for the reader. A nice quantifiable return on attention invested goes a long way toward prompting action, and as long as you deliver with quality content, you’ll have a satisfied reader.

Plus, these type of posts and articles are perfect for building your authority and demonstrating a mastery of your area of expertise. If you’re business blogging, that’s key.

Tip #1. When enthusiasm wanes, hire it out
At first, Pinny’s staff was excited about doing the blogs, but after awhile, interest waned. Rather than risk having fewer posts, and posts that were less than stellar, Pinny hired a freelancer to write and manage all of the blogs.

Tip #2. Useful content
The blogs are not sales tools for Ice.com, and they never offer overt sales pitches. Rather, they are fashion blogs that talk about jewelry. If a particular piece of jewelry is mentioned, it is hotlinked to the product page on Ice.com, but the company is not mentioned. However, Ice.com does have a link in a list of links on each blog.

Tip #3. Tagging
Blogs are a good way to get listed organically on search engines. Pinny makes sure that all pertinent words for each post are tagged, which helps the search engines pick up the individual postings and list them in organic results.

Tip #4. When appropriate, conduct PR
By announcing your blog to the appropriate press, it may be possible to generate coverage, which helps spread the word and drive traffic to the blog. Ice.com, because they were one of the first companies to use a blog as a marketing strategy, researched the people who wrote about technology for top publications and sent a short email announcing the blog.

They managed to get coverage in the New York Times, Business Week, and the Washington Post, among other places.

Tip #5. Post often
To keep interest high, Pinny makes sure his blogger posts at least two to three new entries per week, per blog.

Finally, says Pinny, seek out other blogs and ask for mutual links. “That’s a win-win situation for everybody,” he says.

Thanks to WOMBAT for this article

Remember to

• target blogs that may have the type of audience you’d want to read yours
• be generous – give lots of links if you want lots links
• leaving comments on other blogs is a good way to get their attention

Also remember that the collective weight of many links from smaller, targetted blogs will far outweigh a few links from bigger general blogs.

The links down the sidebar of the blog are just as useful as the posts themselves, so have a peek at them from time to time.