Everyone who owns a blog wants it to be more popular. From the design team of the New York Times to the small retailer trying to expand its online presence, popularity is the key to success. Reading about all the traffic these popular sites are getting can sometimes be depressing and can make you doubt if you will ever reach high search engine rankings. I’m here to show you a few tips on how you can improve your online popularity.

1. Invest In A Good Design

A good design will make your blog look more professional and will help you build trust with your readers. Many bloggers feel that the design is not important, and content is all that matters. I believe both to be equally important, especially if you want others to link to your site so you can build up your search ranking.

2. Learn About Usability

Having the best blog design in the world is useless if your visitors can not use it. Sit behind someone who is not your friend or acquaintance and watch them browse your site and explore its features. If they have issues navigating your blog it means you should improve your usability.

3. Create A Useful Blog

I know this may sound simple, but having a blog is not just a way to make money or tell people about your company. If you really want to be popular make sure your blog is going to help the readers who get there. For example, the blog you’re reading right now has many uses, such as the ability to help you find people on the internet. If each visitor who has found your blog useful links to your site or tells one of their friends, your traffic should increase within months.

4. Stay Updated

Make sure you keep your blog updated, no one will want to visit your site if you have a bunch of broken links, outdated news, and the last time you wrote a post was 2 months ago.

5. Be The Subject

Just because you’re a retailer does not mean you can ignore the latest news on your subject. Having a blog could take your business a bit further but you should at least have a news section to publish good information and respond to popular stories.

6. Manage Your Reputation

Responding to your readers’ comments is key in establishing your blog as one that cares about its readers. You can use reviews to greatly improve your blog.

7. Learn About Marketing

This may sound very simple for some people, but learning how to market yourself in forums, social media, and other blogs is not as easy as it sounds. Take an online course or do some research on how to market yourself online. This is essential for growing your internet presence.

8. Be Controversial

Having a boring blog is not always the best way to become popular. Sometimes you need to dismiss 95% of the world just to get the attention of the other 5%. After all, having 5% of the population that loves your site is not a bad goal to have.

9. Be Interesting

Sometimes a blog can break the rules and still be successful. The main feature that these sites have is that they are interesting. Lots of content on the web is boring and repetitive. Having an interesting blog with great content, such as this post, is perhaps the best way to get noticed.

10. Learn About Google

Have you ever asked why some sites rank higher in Google while some are lost on the fourth page of results? This is because the owners of those sites understand how Google works. Spend a few days reading the webmaster help center and make sure your blog follows all the SEO rules. You might be surprised at just how much of a difference it can make. If you don’t want to do this yourself, you could always find people on the internet who can do it for you, but expect to pay a hefty price for their services.

About the Author:

Brian Manon is a marketing consultant and blogger whose articles aim to help people with digital marketing, blogging, and entrepreneurship. Feel free to follow Brian on Twitter or at BrianManon.com

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