The comment count on Blog Tyrant currently sits at 19,975. With any luck this post will tip it over to the 20,000 mark, something I never imagined possible.
This seems like a nice milestone to write some reflections on how we got here, and what it has meant to me personally.
I’m really not sharing this number to brag, but to take some time to share some tips and thoughts that will hopefully help some other bloggers out there. And also to say a heartfelt “thank you“.
Let’s jump in and take a look at how you can get more blog comments, and how you can make the process more rewarding and beneficial for everyone involved.
Here at Blog Tyrant we place a lot of emphasis on getting email subscribers and building a mailing list that is engaged, happy and active.
We also like to share practical and tested strategies for bloggers to try out themselves, and sometimes that means sharing the things that don’t work so well.
Today we’ve got one such example.
A few weeks ago we changed the lead magnet from an eBook to a free training video and the results were way worse than expected.
Let’s take a look at what went wrong.
Some important figures say that we should stop guest blogging.
It all goes back to an announcement from Google’s Matt Cutts about how the links that you acquire through guest blogging will no longer be all that useful and could, in some cases, actually do some harm to your blog’s SEO practices.
Since then we’ve seen guest blogging change to the point where a lot of new bloggers feel like it’s too risky to do any guest posts at all.
I myself have opted out of things like “expert roundups” where a bunch of quotes are collected to make a big post about a certain topic, each person with a link back to her or his site (I’ll talk about that more below).
Let’s take a look at whether or not guest posting is still a valuable strategy, and how bloggers should approach it without getting stung.
Blogging is just so 2005. Why bother…?
Every now and then someone stumbles upon Blog Tyrant and leaves some feedback a little bit like that. What is perhaps interesting is that I don’t entirely disagree with them.
And that got me really thinking about what blogging is and whether or not it has passed it’s use-by date as a concept in the age of video, podcasting and perhaps even virtual reality.
Don’t worry, this is not another Blogging is Dead post but rather a bit of an examination of what blogging should do in today’s modern world, and how we should think about our industry.
Let’s take a look.
I’ve always been a little skeptical of Facebook ads and boosts.
Partly this is because I’ve never been very good at running them, and partly because I’ve never felt like the traffic on Facebook was as “buy ready” as Google’s.
So what happened when a boosted post of Blog Tyrant’s received over 500 shares?
Well, the results were quite mixed and, as you’ll see below, there are quite a few lessons and ideas that I wanted to write about here because I’m sure someone out there is going to be able to do something useful with the information.
I’m not sharing the number to brag, but just to show you the kind of results that can be achieved (or not achieved!) with a simple paid promotion.
Shall we?
Almost every entrepreneur uses email throughout the day, but not that many know how to mitigate risks, make it more efficient, and take it to professional levels.
Whether you are negotiating a new deal, making fresh contacts, or trying to build a mailing list to sell your products, there are a few tips you should know to maximize your chances of success.
And as someone who receives a lot of emails from individuals and mailing lists, it’s clear there are a lot of people out there who aren’t using email as cleanly as possible.
Here are a few things I’ve learned over the years on how to send, manage and work with email. I hope they help you and, as always, please leave a comment below if you think the list is missing anything important.
Even the best content runs into trouble when the blog it’s on is so ugly that readers leave before giving it a chance.
The good news is that there are lots of ways we can spruce up our blogs in order to make them more appealing, effective and engaging by taking advantage of plugins, tools and some little tricks of the trade.
It’s amazing what a few cosmetic changes can do for your blog’s performance and your readers’ satisfaction.
Oh, and make sure you read to the end if you’re feeling really brave!
Your menu is still one of the primary ways that traffic navigates around your site. Deciding what to put in it, however, may be a little more complicated than first thought.
In the old days, a website would have four main links: About, Blog, Contact, and a Home button. But as technology improves and changes, it’s now possible to do a lot more with the humble menu.
Today I’m going to show you a few things I’ve been testing in my own menus as well as some interesting examples from around the web. Hopefully they help you build a menu that’s a little bit more effective.
If you want to build a successful blog you might just need to hire a freelancer.
In fact, if you look at almost any blog or website that is making six-figures or more they all have one thing in common: a team of awesome people helping them out.
Hiring a full time staff member, however, can be a bit daunting and, as such, many people opt for freelancers to help outsource tasks like editing, writing, maintenance, and more.
Last Update 3rd October, 2017
One beautiful thing about a WordPress blog is the never-ending ability to add plugins that completely change the way your blog looks and functions. It’s absolutely essential for successful blogging.
(Please hit that Pin button if you enjoy this post! We really appreciate it.)
A lot of these plugins would cost thousands (or even tens of thousands) if you wanted to pay someone to build those features in to your blog individually.
For example, before e-commerce plugins came about, you’d need a team of developers constantly working on your online store. These days you can do it with a few clicks.
Here are some of the best WordPress plugins that you can install to make your blog instantly more professional. It’s not the biggest list in the world, but we’ve only selected the very best.
Disclosure – There are two affiliate links in this post. I’ll let you know which ones they are below. I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you purchase through that link. I use both plugins myself and would have included them with or without an affiliate program option. Thank you for the support, but feel free not to use my links if it bothers you.
