basic practices

There are some basic practices that you should make yourself familiar with this semester and I am going to help you do that. Now, if you are as unfamiliar with blogging as I was when I started, most if not all of these terms will be new to you. But that's OK. They're not complicated and you will catch on quickly.

First, make yourself familiar with linking. Linking is what I have been doing throughout all of these posts. When you get information from someone, refer to someone's blog, quote someone, or even just mention the name of someone or somewhere, it is important to link to their website or blog. This will build credibility. It will also help increase traffic.

Second, it is good to practice commenting. Whether you are commenting on someone else's blog or just reading comments that people have left for you, commenting is an essential part of blogging. This allows readers to tell you what they think and feel and vice-versa and will also increase your traffic. You can comment on someone's blog to tell them what they are doing right or wrong. It's also a good idea to end your post with a question and ask readers to comment. This will make them feel like part of the conversation and will keep them coming back.

Third, its a good idea to make yourself familiar with labels or tags. Take a look at the bottom of this post. See my labels? Practicing this is essential for increasing traffic. Let us say someone wanted to find a blog post about linking. If they searched for "linking" in Google Blogsearch, this post would pop up. That will increase my traffic, build credibility, and attract more readers.

Lastly, its a good idea to practice short, concise writing when blogging. Some of these posts are lengthy due to the amount of information included in them. Like I mentioned before, posts should be no less than 100 words and no more than 500. That is so readers can still get the gist of what you are saying without feeling overwhelmed by information. If you find you have more to say, then just make a second post. This will also increase your number of posts which will benefit you for the sake of this class.

If you keep these tips in mind and practice them, I guarantee you will increase traffic, build credibility, and increase your number of readers. It worked for me!