Viral Ad Network

Another week, another installment of blogger tips for our VAN publishers. This week’s article “How To Write Compelling Blog Posts” comes from Debra Murphy of Masterful Marketing. Debra gives some great tips that could help publishers struggling to maintain their blogging activity.

Debra suggests some key steps to take, including developing a list of post topics before you start to post; crafting post titles that get attention; writing for scanning, not reading; using a casual and friendly tone; linking out to relevant content; eliminating unnecessary words; and staying on topic.

The full article goes into more detail – it’s definitely worth a read if you feel your blogging activity could do with a boost!

The advertising industry has generally relied on the CPM (cost per mille, or cost per thousand impressions) for many years, originally formulated for traditional media.

Here at VAN, we work on a CPE (cost per engagement) model – which we think is a far fairer and suitable model for use in the online space (because let’s face it, “new” media surely needs “new” methods?)

This article on Social Media Today explains the differences very simply, and offers an example which is useful for advertisers who are unfamiliar with the potential extra value a CPE model creates.

Here at VAN, we take LinkedIn very seriously (our “connections leader board” is testament to that!) However, despite being a very powerful social networking tool, it is often overlooked and under-utilised.

This interesting article on ProBlogger offers some useful tips that could be used by our publishers to help drive traffic to their blog from LinkedIn.

So if you haven’t already, check out LinkedIn, follow a few of the tips, and hopefully your blog traffic will increase!

PS – feel free to add me once you’ve signed up – I need to climb the VAN leaderboard!

At yesterday’s VAN lunch the team discussed (in perhaps too much detail?) the merits of travelling unfeasible amounts of miles for the perfect lunchtime steak (including hiring stretch Hummers with on-board chefs). Maybe it’s just a coincidence, or perhaps it’s fate, but a link for Grillstock 2010 arrived in my inbox this morning.

Dubbed as “The UK’s first full-blown US-style barbecue competition & food show”, it’s taking place down at the harbourside in Bristol this weekend (17th & 18th July). To say I’m excited is an understatement

Just when you think Bristol can’t get any more culturally diverse or eclectic, they throw in the UK’s first chilli eating contest to keep you on your toes!

We love Bristol!

Many of the publishers on our network are bloggers. Some have just one, others many, and several use blogs to coincide with other websites.

No matter how successful your blog, gaining more readers, comments and general interaction with your content is an important aim for most publishers. However, this is often more difficult than it sounds, whether you’re just starting out and trying to gain momentum, or are well established but your growth has ground to a halt.

Chris HELP!, the co-founder of HELP! Copy and Design, offers 5 reasons why your blog isn’t growing (guest article from bloggodown.com). These are applicable to publishers taking their first steps into the world of blogging, as well as those who are well established but their growth has plateaued.

1. You publish irregularly. I’m not saying that you have to publish new content every day. What I’m saying is that you need to pick a posting frequency and stick with it. Your readers need to know when to expect content from you, whether that’s 3 times a day or once a week. Haphazard posting just doesn’t work. It makes it impossible for your blog to gain any momentum, and it makes it difficult for readers to stick with you on a long-term basis.
2. You make it difficult to share your content. Your readers can be your most valuable tool for promoting your blog. If you make it easy for them to share your content through their favorite social media websites, they can tell all their friends and followers about your blog with just the click of a mouse. You need to have social media buttons on your blog that include instant sharing capabilities with Facebook, Twitter, Digg, ReddIt, and other popular sites. This can be very helpful in making your posts go viral.
3. You post “me too” content. There are hundreds of millions of blogs online. And no matter what niche you’re blogging in, you can bet you have some competition. Why should someone read your blog? What do you offer that can’t be found on the other blogs in your niche? These are the questions you need to ask yourself with every post you write. Don’t just rehash what everyone else is saying. “Me too” blogs have very limited growth potential. Be different. Be yourself.
4. You don’t write like you talk. Speaking of being yourself, your personality needs to shine through in your writing. Readers want to feel like they’re connecting with someone when they read your blog…like they know you. The best way to forge a connection with them is to write like you talk. Your blog posts will feel more conversational, and your blog will have a voice that’s completely different from all others in your niche.
5. Your blog isn’t optimized for the search engines. Every post you write should be optimized for maximum search engine visibility. This means using keyword-rich titles, tagging and categorizing your posts appropriately, and using keyword-rich anchor text to link to other content throughout your posts. This can help drive search engine traffic to your blog, allowing you to grow over time.

Hopefully these simple pointers can help some of our publishers improve their blogging behaviour, gain more readers, and therefore increase the traffic to their sites (and in turn, earn more revenue!)

The original article can be found at Blog Godown.