I keep getting asked “how do I get more traffic?” Or, “how do I get TechCrunch to notice my blog?”
Quick: go to Technorati and do the brrreeeport search. Now, which headline and opening text grabs you? Makes you wanna click? Hint: we’re all being slammed with hundreds of sites every day. The more interesting you can make your headline, the better. Think about what your headline will look like in the search engines and use every one as an opportunity to grab a little bit of traffic.
Now, look at the 98 brrreeeport results on Technorati. All are on the same topic, right? But some headlines stand out from the noise. Which ones grab your eye? The one that says simply “brrreeeport report?” Or the one that says “brrreeeport beats Mohammad cartoon?” Conflict is a story telling device. Use it in headlines!
Also, notice that Technorati has a way to “claim” a blog and if you do that you’ll get a little picture next to every one of your posts. Posts that have pictures win!
One other fun thing? Brrreeeport is a “top search” on the Technorati home page right now.
Need another tip on how to join the A list?
Here’s another one: be different. What do I mean by that?
Well, Dan Wieringa asked me for some help with his blog. It’s a decently written blog, but it isn’t getting much traffic.
First notice how his blog looks very similar to tons of other blogs? That’s hurting him.
One of TechCrunch’s popularity secrets is that he uses lots of graphics and screen shots. Makes his blog more pleasing to the eye. Sorta the way Technorati looks better than Google’s blog search.
Another thing? Dan’s title tag is boring. You need some personality! Look at Darren Barefoot’s title tag. Lots of personality and gives me some sense of who Darren is. Oh, and his blog’s design sticks out too. Different. Clean. Personal. Who wouldn’t fall in love with that smile? Yeah, WordPress.com makes it hard to change the template right now (Matt Mullenweg promises that’s changing soon, but in the meantime you can get ready by doing the other things — come up with a better title tag, write better headlines, work on finding interesting content that’ll help you stick out of the crowd on search engines and memetrackers.
Another way? Steph Booth taught me this one: tag often. Tag frequently. Tag better. In WordPress.com your categories are also tags. Don’t worry about using too many tags. The more tags you use, the more likely someone will find you in a search engine.
Another tip? Make friends with other bloggers. You know, if 15 z-listers link to you, are you a z-lister, or did you just move up to the m-list? Hint: it doesn’t take that many links to be seen as an “authority” on Technorati. Well, unless you’re Om Malik and then Technorati just thinks you don’t have any authority. Yikes. But, anyway, usually you will get noticed if a few blogs link to you and it’s not hard. Got a good post today? Why don’t you email a few people (one at a time, not in a group) and say “hey, I think you’d enjoy my post today on xxxxxx.” Don’t beg for a link, just show some passion about what you’ve written or posted.
Or, heck, do what I’m doing this week — just say screw it all and go skiing. See ya from the slopes tomorrow!
While I’m slushing at Keystone, Colorado as part of the Bloggy Mountain High trip (yes, my way was paid for, so this link is a sponsored link) why don’t you stick in your own URL and toot your own horn and join the A-List! Or, at minimum, post a good tip for getting noticed!
Thanks for the tips, I really appreciate the help. I’m going to start implementing these. Maybe you should become a site consultant.
[...] This has very little to do with being an internet cartoonist really, except that we are always trying to make people notice what we are doing and therefore search engines and how they work are of great interest. [...]
Having a title with personality is both a good and bad thing. It’s a good thing because it attracts readers. It’s a bad thing because it may not tell you what the entry is about and it won’t help in terms of search engines.
Honestly, there’s no one magic formula that will make a blog an A-lister. A lot of it is luck and good writing. The rest… pray and make best friends with A-listers, which isn’t easy to do because they think everyone is using them.
Having a title with personality is both a good and bad thing. It’s a good thing because it attracts readers. It’s a bad thing because it may not tell you what the entry is about and it won’t help in terms of search engines.
Honestly, there’s no one magic formula that will make a blog an A-lister. A lot of it is luck and good writing. The rest… pray and make best friends with A-listers, which isn’t easy to do because they think everyone is using them.
Hey Robert, I’ve been blogging virtually every day for 6 months. I have a Google PR of 4 and I get around 300 Unique visitors a day. I used to post a lot of original short stories and long commentaries but I’ve found people seem to go more for the short hits that I mostly find trawling the Web or reading mainstream media. Nobody wants to read anything longer than 500 words and we all seem to be obsessed with celebrity and SEX. So I chuck a fair bit of that in too. If I want traffic it’s easy – I just go to some right-wing nutcake’s site and leave derogatory comments. They can’t help themselves, they and their coterie attack back. But it’s not really the audience I want. Increasingly I find there’s a great sameness to all the blogs out there. Some stick out – like cocainecorner.com but they’re rare. But really, I think you just gotta post what you’re into and to hell with the rest. I’d rather have 300 interested regular visitors than 3000 morons looking for cheap thrills. I did post Brrreeeport though. What’s my blog about? A 55 year old Australian bloke married to a 29 year old froggie sheila living in Paris with their 19 month old son and yearning for the surf and beer of his native Sydney and commenting on what a fucked-up world we live in (thanks in part to you guys). Cheers mate.
Hey Robert, I’ve been blogging virtually every day for 6 months. I have a Google PR of 4 and I get around 300 Unique visitors a day. I used to post a lot of original short stories and long commentaries but I’ve found people seem to go more for the short hits that I mostly find trawling the Web or reading mainstream media. Nobody wants to read anything longer than 500 words and we all seem to be obsessed with celebrity and SEX. So I chuck a fair bit of that in too. If I want traffic it’s easy – I just go to some right-wing nutcake’s site and leave derogatory comments. They can’t help themselves, they and their coterie attack back. But it’s not really the audience I want. Increasingly I find there’s a great sameness to all the blogs out there. Some stick out – like cocainecorner.com but they’re rare. But really, I think you just gotta post what you’re into and to hell with the rest. I’d rather have 300 interested regular visitors than 3000 morons looking for cheap thrills. I did post Brrreeeport though. What’s my blog about? A 55 year old Australian bloke married to a 29 year old froggie sheila living in Paris with their 19 month old son and yearning for the surf and beer of his native Sydney and commenting on what a fucked-up world we live in (thanks in part to you guys). Cheers mate.
[...] Continuing on in my series, I’ve taken a few suggestions from Robert Scoble and tried to expand on them to make a full-featured how-to on blog improvement. I’ll continue polling other leading bloggers and posting how-to’s based on their suggestions, but today we’ll look at Scoble’s tagging suggestion: Another way? Steph Booth taught me this one: tag often. Tag frequently. Tag better. In WordPress.com your categories are also tags. Don’t worry about using too many tags. The more tags you use, the more likely someone will find you in a search engine. [...]
There is no one magic formula that will make a blog an A-lister, but integrating offline PR with online linking is the way to go to beomce an A-lister.
There is no one magic formula that will make a blog an A-lister, but integrating offline PR with online linking is the way to go to beomce an A-lister.
[...] A while back Scoble wrote some tips for getting our blog into the A-list. [...]
[...] I keep getting asked “how do I get more traffic?” Or, “how do I get TechCrunch to notice my blog?” Quick: go to Technorati and do the brrreeeport search. Now, which headline and opening text grabs you? Makes you wanna click? Hint: we’re all being slammed with hundreds of sites every day. The more interesting you can make your headline, the better. Think about what your headline will look like in the search engines and use every one as an opportunity to grab a little bit of traffic. Now, look at the 98 brrreeeport results on Technorati. All are on the same topic, right? But some headlines stand out from the noise. Which ones grab your eye? The one that says simply “brrreeeport report?” Or the one that says “brrreeeport beats Mohammad cartoon?” Conflict is a story telling device. Use it in headlines! Also, notice that Technorati has a way to “claim” a blog and if you do that you’ll get a little picture next to every one of your posts. Posts that have pictures win! Read More [...]
[...] I was inspired in part by a recent article by A-Lister Robert Scoble who discussed just that – getting on the A-List. [...]
Lately it seems that everybody is an expert when it comes to getting on the blog A-list. Robert Scoble for example tells us that we should all go over to Technorati and do the brrreeeport search and make friends. That’s great advice Robert, but I guess being a Microsoft employee/blogger had nothing to do with your new found “success” did it. (Rhetorial question).
Lately it seems that everybody is an expert when it comes to getting on the blog A-list. Robert Scoble for example tells us that we should all go over to Technorati and do the brrreeeport search and make friends. That’s great advice Robert, but I guess being a Microsoft employee/blogger had nothing to do with your new found “success” did it. (Rhetorial question).
Why Are A-List Bloggers Old?
There, I said it. I don’t mean that they’re actually that old, I don’t think many are over 50 and most probably don’t even crack the 40 mark, but the question stands, where are the young
M-listers and Down-linkers
Interesting discussion going on about M-listers – the middle crowd, somewhat known bloggers but not quite A-listers – crosslinking to each other, eventually elevating some to A-list level. “In time the M-lister who is most prolific on this subj…
[...] I have had about 60 odd posts on here and I have 90+ categories already. I apparently took Scoble’s advice of using as many categories as possible rather enthusiastically. [...]
[...] You also have Scoble, Boyd and even Hugh (in his usual, inimitable way, natch. Here too.) weighing in to the debate. [...]
[...] In response to Dave Winer reporting that he will stop blogging,Scott Karp writes here that the blog has become a medium for a brand independent from the individual behind it. While this might be true if you happen to be an A-lister, I don’t think it’s true in general (and as blogging becomes more and more mainstream — see the MySpace and LJ crowds), and I don’t think it will become true in general, either. [...]
[...] Wait a minute, you may be asking. Didn’t Robert Scoble do something similar with that brrreeeport thing? [...]
[...] Scobleizer – Microsoft Geek Blogger » Tips for joining the A list February 14, 2006 Tips for joining the A list [...]
getting more traffic to your blog
Got a question from Bruce Reyes-Chow about how to increase blog readership, and thought I’d share with the public too. That’s the beauty of blogging, it’s easy to share information with the public instantly, and search engines help pe…
[...] Tips for joining the A list de Robert Scoble. [...]
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[...] Circa 2006: Already an A-lister, but not yet blinded by power, Scoble advises us on how we can join the A-list. Is it through hard work an perseverance, as Steve Rubel would [...]
[...] there were tips given on how to become an A-List blogger or get noticed by one, it was Earl Mardle who actually said it best with this statement in an [...]
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Cool, I think I am either c or d list at this point, do you know of any math or forumlatic ways of determining blog ranks or scoring beyond sites like bloginfluence?
Cool, I think I am either c or d list at this point, do you know of any math or forumlatic ways of determining blog ranks or scoring beyond sites like bloginfluence?
[...] recommendations. One of my favorite bloggers is Robert Scoble and he wrote this post titled ‘Tips for joining the A list‘ way back in February 2006. He makes some excellent recommendations and upon further [...]
[...] Scoble also mentions the use of catchy headlines in his post titled Tips for joining the A-List, along with tagging and networking. Darren Rowse suggests short, frequent posts and networking with [...]
[...] Tips for joining the A list [...]
I will be honest and say that I am new to the blogging, but I hope that I am getting closer to the A list. I doubt it as of right now, but someday. Great posts, and good information.
Rick Marnon, Howell
http://www.oaklandlivingston.com/howell.html
I will be honest and say that I am new to the blogging, but I hope that I am getting closer to the A list. I doubt it as of right now, but someday. Great posts, and good information.
Rick Marnon, Howell
http://www.oaklandlivingston.com/howell.html
[...] “A” in “A-list” does not stand for Awesome, or A+ as in school work. It stands for Authority. Whether or not [...]