photo credit: Marco Bellucci
Via my blog, I want to solve visitor’s problems and the easiest way to do that is to ask them what their problems are.
So I recently asked my clients and customer list this question:
If you could only have one ‘blogging’ question answered what would it be?
I was inundated with replies/questions ranging from ‘How do I get visitors to comment’ to ‘How do I earn money from affiliate banners?’
Over the next few weeks I intend to go through the questions raised and answer them as best as possible.
If you would like to answer the same question (If you could only have one ‘blogging’ question answered what would it be?), please add your comment below or contact me via my contact page.
Andrew is a website builder and helps small businesses with their on-line presence…so they can grow their customer list and increase sales. That’s it! That’s what we do each and every day.
The one thing to do over and over that will create more than enough traffic for your blog to make a living. I am guessing the answer is writing a great article. But I tend to believe the real answer is to get a certain number of quality links.
Steve
One thing?
What’s the point of getting quality links when you would have no content?
Andrew
Well it is obvious that they go hand and hand. You need both. Quality backlinks as well as quality and unique content. If you can create unique content then you will also naturally gain backlinks.
My question would be, “How much does Alexa Ranking affect your Google Rankings?”
If you have an Alexa rank of 8 million and can bring it to less than a million will you rise in SERPS?
Gary
Thanks for your question…I shall add to the list and reply via a blog post.
Andrew
Andrew,
What is the sweet spot of number of pillar articles, comments and keywords? I get bogged down on one and forget the other two in the process.
How does one balance it?
Sherri
Sherri
Do you mean comments on your blog posts or how many comments you should be making on others?
Thanks,
Andrew
Andrew,
I also read your article about the future of backlinks, and that answers my question about keywords. Just use them naturally in the content and they will be fine, so extra work on keywords.
I guess my question is how to do a better job of encouraging comments on my own posts, and that comes around to good content and a call to action or asking a question to stimulate comments.
Commenting on other blogs, Yaro said to spend about 30 min. to an hour a day looking for similar blogs and forums, reading posts and adding to the conversation. I know I need to get closer to the one hour mark or slightly over.
Thanks for stimulating me to read more to answer my own question.
So here’s another: do SEO optimized themes and plugins, like Platinum SEO, work, or are they out now that Google changed?
Sherri,
Personally, 30 minutes focused commenting is enough for me. That’s easily 10 comments a day.
And commenting is often reciprocal.
That’s for the extra question. I shall add to the list.
Andrew
I have come to realize that there is no one size fits all for blogging, it is all about knowing who your reader or customer is. I sell pdfs and I would love to know how to protect them so they are not visible via search engines.
Nicole
I agree with you and running your blog as an on-line business is very demanding and diverse.
Nice question. I shll add to the list.
Thanks,
Andrew
Corinne
That’s 2 questions!
Oh…as it is you…I will allow 2!
Good ones…thanks.
Andrew
The main aim of blogging is to answer the problems of the readers and offer tips and advice. Well done for your effort to do a right thing of allowing your valued readers to express their problems or questions.
Hi Andrew,
What a great idea for a post to discover your readers’ questions. I would like to use this technique/heading on my blog also, with a link back to you of course. I write about confidence problems, not blogging.
Is that OK with you?
I will write the post only if you give your permission.
My one question to you would be, ‘What are the 3 most important design features
to include on a blog?’
Many thanks.
Linda,
of course…go ahead and use the technique.
Great question, as well…I shall add to my list.
Thanks,
Andrew
Great post. You did a great job. It is good and a great idea to ask your readers a question regarding with blogging and it really helps a lot. By the way thanks a lot that you provide such great information.
Nicholle
So what question are you going to ask your readers?
Andrew
If I could only have one question about blogging, it would be,…”How do I develop an effective and sustainable action plan to generate relevant long term traffic?”
Google is so hit and miss that it makes it difficult to really grasp what works and what doesn’t work. Many bloggers just throw a bunch of sh*& on the wall and see what sticks. I’d like to know a clear and concise way in which to generate traffic for the long term.
Liz,
You may wish to read my latest post…someone else asked a similar question. The link is below.
Andrew
Thanks, I’ll check it out!
Hi Andrew,
Asking your readers something is definitely one way to engage in a conversation with your readers. Now, if there was one question I would like to ask about blogging, it would have to be the niche to avoid due to the over flooding of competition.
Felicia
That’s a great question. Not really thought about that. I shall add to the list of questions to be answered.
Thanks,
Andrew
It’s an interesting question about the Alexa stats. Over the last 5 or 6 years I’ve used Alexa as a rough guide to see how busy certain sites are. The last 18 months has shown some really unusual results. For example of had one of my sites globally ranked at around 98,000, yet another site of mine ranked at around 500,000 but had more than three times the traffic going to it. As a general rule I think that Alexa gives a good indication of how popular a site is, but you can’t take it as guaranteed. For more accuracy are much better tools available.