Blogger Party

I'm going to start off by apologizing because I'm going to tell you to do one thing...and then do the complete opposite by writing this blog. But it's for a good cause... I hope. ;-)

The good thing about blogging is that ANYONE can do it. The bad thing about blogging is... ANYONE can do it. ;-)

Because of this we have all kinds of different blogs: pathetically boring blogs, fun & interesting blogs and even blogs for bloggers. And for the record, I've written blogs in each of these categories - so don't start thinking that I'm talking about someone else...;-)

So, which blogs do you think get the most readers (BP members and non-BP members)?

If you guessed fun & interesting blogs... you're probably right. Now ask yourself -- Are you writing fun & interesting blogs?

Not sure? Here's a quick test -- Are you satisifed with the number of reads yours blogs are getting? If you're not, then chances are you're not writing about the kinds of stuff that people want to read.

I was exchanging emails with a fellow blogger friend and we started talking about what kind of topics we could write that would attract more readers. So I started thinking... what do I do to attract more readers?

Well, for starters, I write about things that people are already searching for.

I have a site meter on one of my other blogs... and I absolutely LOVE it because it lets me see exactly how that person ended up at my blog. The majority of the hits come from search engines... and when they do I can see EXACTLY what they were searching for.

I kept seeing a lot of the same search words/phrases show up... so I kept writing more blogs on that topic...and I kept getting more and more reads... sometimes I would even tailor new blogs to fit a need for a search.

For example, I would get a few hits to my blog from people searching for "Grey's Anatomy MySpace layouts". I didn't have any Grey's Anatomy MySpace layouts on my blog, but my blog showed up on the search engine anyway because I had a blog about MySpace layouts and in my profile I'd mentioned that I was a Grey's Anatomy fan.

So I put 2 + 2 together... and did my own search for Grey's Anatomy MySpace layouts... found a couple... wrote a blog around them, posting the links... and now it's one of most read blogs on my site.

I could've completely ignored the fact that peoeple were looking for THAT information... heck, I'd done my own search for that exact thing a couple months ago... but then I would've lost many potential new readers.

Sometimes as bloggers, we forget that the rest of the world doesn't think the same way that bloggers do. Most people don't care about Adsense, affiliate links, the latest feud on Blogger Party (shocking, I know), etc.

So what kind of information ARE they looking for?

Well, I could list a bunch of topics here... but that would defeat the purpose... the best way to answer that question is with another question...

What kind of information did you search for on the internet BEFORE you started blogging?

and

If you were surfing the net just for fun, what kind of stuff would you search for?

See, it doesn't work to blog about crap that you know nothing about. I would never write a blog about Social Security, mortgages, car repair, flyfishing, etc... because I have NO interest (or knowledge) in those things...

But I love reality shows, MySpace, the internet, etc... so I write about that... turns out lots of people are into the same things I am, go figure.

So if you want to add some new life (and new readers) to your blog...stop thinking like a blogger! Start thinking like a normal person instead... and soon you'll have a whole slew of topics ready to be written about.... and new readers too!

Give it a try.... take 10-15 minutes and give yourself permission to stop checking your emails, Blogger Party, Google Adsense and the dozen other blogging accounts you check throughout the day.

Take that time to just search the net for fun... and see what kind of things you come across. When inspiration strikes, start writing and who knows... it could be the next popular blog. ;-)

Good luck!