[jwplayer config=normalplayer file=writing-and-blogging-for-traffic.mov]

The point of blogging is to get more traffic from search engines, because every post you make has a chance to rank in the top 10 for different keyword phrases. If you don’t want to get search engine traffic and just want to have a product pitch website, you don’t have to blog. Its also sometimes a good idea to put your blog on a separate domain as your product website, because if you have a free blog it will lower your sales conversion rates.

Post to your site frequently also helps you get return visitors, because if you never post new content to your site, what incentive do people have to come back? Your posts need to be unique, quality, and you need to post every day or every other day at least.

Write like you are talking naturally, like you are sitting on a couch with one person talking to them.

“Ogilvy is famous for his advice on this: the purpose of your headline is to get people to read your first line. The purpose of your opening line is to get people to read the next one. So invest time and energy into your titles (and opening lines).” Think that way for every line you write, ask yourself, does this sentence make my readers want to read the next sentence?
– http://www.problogger.net/archives/2011/02/02/10-david-ogilvy-quotes-that-could-revolutionize-your-blogging/

What to write about http://www.problogger.net/archives/2011/02/04/29-ways-to-keep-me-coming-back-to-your-blog-again-and-again/

There are two good ways to blog for traffic, either really short posts like SethGodin.typepad.com or really long posts like Aaron Wall at SEOBook.com. With short posts you can post more frequently and get more pages ranking quickly. Long posts tend to do better for getting search traffic because they have low bounce rates and so many possible search phrases within the text to possibly rank for. Notice all the links to other websites Aaron gives in his posts, he does this so some of those sites will notice them and link back to him, which is a great way to build backlinks, and since he has so many link out he doesn’t leak much traffic since people get overwhelmed and don’t click the links.

To write a really long post like this http://www.seobook.com/the-power-of-social-media takes many hours. They don’t just happen. “I saved links over a while (maybe a few weeks or so) and then I spent a couple hours writing one day and a couple hours the next, trying to fit the links where they belong in the story, move bits around, and then put headings where they belong.”

You need to watch the most popular bloggers in your niche, and other niches. Consume their content and write like them.

-Content is Advertising http://www.copyblogger.com/content-is-advertising/

You should set your blog up on another URL for SEO benefits, different from your Product domain name so you blog’s free content doesn’t hurt your sales conversion rate.

Read http://www.seobook.com/bloggers

Get Dragon Naturally Speaking if you don’t type fast.

-Day in the life of a blogger http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/212/entrepreneur-day-in-the-life-yaro-starak/

-Before making posts http://www.copyblogger.com/10-blogging-questions/

Use other peoples Headlines for your posts. I watched an interview with Sonia Simone “if you just changed one word in all of copyblogger.com‘s post titles, and wrote a unique post for each one, you could probably make a good living”. Get ideas for posts by reading other good posts and popular posts.

-You should post consistently. All successful bloggers post multiple times per day, or a couple times a week with high quality posts. You need to post as much as you can, every post will bring you more traffic and rank for more keyword phrases. If you post one 200 work post every other day for a year, you will have a site with ~150 pages of unique content targeting 150 different search phrases, that’s significant.

-Your posts should inform, entertain, and inspire.

-Give out lots of link love by linking to articles you read from the blogs you subscribe to, people will link back to you. Email them after you link to them and tell them, ask for a link in their next post in return.

-Don’t add too many widgets to your blog, clean like zenhabits.net, copybloggers.com and google is the best way to go.

-Review a product or company – if your review is positive email the company and ask to be featured in their press section or testimonials.

-Its important to have some knowledge of good writing techniques before you start building you business, as you’ll need them for writing your blog posts and landing pages, trying to get links, and trying to convince people to buy your products. Quality Content is King. People only link to posts that are well written and that have good content. If you want to do link baits, you need to know what people want to read about and be able to write well.

– Read this http://www.copyblogger.com/the-1-secret-to-writing-great-copy/

– Read http://briankim.net/blog/2006/09/how-to-get-105934-unique-visitors-to-your-new-blog-along-with-2-million-page-views-in-45-days
 
“In my opinion, there are four factors associated with quality content. 1. You must be knowledgeable about it. 2. You must be passionate about it. 3. You must have a desire to tell people about it. 4. Your content must add value to people’s lives. That’s it. You don’t need a degree in English from a prestigious university. You don’t need to be a column writer for the New York Times. You don’t need a Pulitzer prize.You just need quality content”

-The two most important words in writing- “you” and “because” http://www.copyblogger.com/the-two-most-important-words-in-blogging
Keep your sentences short and simple, don’t confuse people.

-Rules of writing http://www.copyblogger.com/persuasive-writing/

Below is a great saying from the Founder of IttyBiz.com

1) Treat people like they’re f***ing human beings. If you wouldn’t say it to your mother, it probably shouldn’t go on your sales page.
2) Write your copy like you’re writing a letter or having a conversation. Well, like you’re writing a letter or having a conversation when you’re not hungover and behind on your mortgage. A nice, direct conversation. Be yourself on a good day.
3) Write to one person. There are only two people in the conversation. You and the dude reading it. Never refer to your reader as part of a group. You are creating a mini relationship. You are WOOING. You are COURTING. The person you are courting does not like to feel that they’re part of some crowd.
You don’t go up to a girl in a bar and say, “Many girls just like you feel that…” Two people. You. The reader. That is all.
4)  Give a s**t. Understand that people spend the majority of their days SCARED S**TLESS. They’re afraid you’re having them on. They’re afraid they’ll never make it. They’re afraid they’re doing it all wrong. They’re afraid of being a failure. They are afraid that the drudgery they’re living through every day will never end. Make them feel better and they’ll be tripping over their cat to get out their wallet.”