Trying to build my blog

[apopkin]

My blog is based on my business. But I haven't tried blogging before, so if you have advice for me that would be great!
What are the first 3 things you would do to get it started and have a following. That is after you've set it all up, got the domain, theme and that type of stuff done.

[khakigirl]

1. Start writing - aim for a post every other day. If you feel up to writing more, stash them in your drafts for later.
2. Tweet your posts and/or post to your Facebook wall
3. Comment on other blogs in your niche and use your blog URL in the comment form (don't add it into the comment box, there's a specific box for the URL).

Other things you can do:

1. Make sure you have sharing buttons on your blog posts
2. Do guest posts on blogs in your niche
3. Join Technorati, Bloggers.com and other blogger networking sites
4. Always tag your posts and images
5. Add images whenever possible but do NOT violate copyright laws
6. Name your images using keywords

[earlyknowledgeforkids]

You can get free sharing buttons here: addthis.com. A registration box will come up but if you cancel it and get the code. Sharing buttons are very effective because you make it easy for other people to share your content.

[geargirl113]

My top three things if I was just setting up a blog would be this:

Number One: Keyword research

I like to have a long list of keywords to use and to know which ones are going to work for my blog. I do not want to have to do keyword research when I write posts, so I keep a word document with my research saved in advance.

Number Two: Write Content

The most important thing that you can do is to write engaging content and plenty of it. You can write and schedule posts well in advance. Doing this can make sure that you are updating your blog on a regular basis.

Number Three: Promote

Once you have a good amount of content on your blog, you need to start promoting it. The way that you are going to do this can vary greatly. You can go the social networking route with Twitter and Facebook. Building backlinks is key if you want to get some search engine traffic. There are many ways to promote your blog and this is something that you will need to do if you want to be successful.

Thanks for all of the good information every. Even though I did not start this post I am also starting my own blog. Realizing it is a lot of hard work and time needed to write and promote it.

[Blogelina]

1. Make sure you have at least 5-10 posts published before you really start promoting your blog. Give new visitors something to see when they come - something that will make them want to subscribe and stick around.

2. Make sure you have several ways for readers to get updates on your blog - RSS, Facebook, Twitter, email subscription.

3. Consider creating a freebie to give away to people when they sign up for your blog mailing list (make sure you have a mailing list - I use Aweber and love it). Then, when they're on your list, you can keep them updated on your business promotions and such.

[shmerns]

Wow, such great information on blogging here, I learned a couple of things that I'll be trying.

The first thing you should always do after creating a blog post is to ping it.

Lori P.

[ddavis1908]

Good stuff working on my blog now

[thewriteoption]

To help promote your blog, I would also suggest guest posting on other related blogs. You will be surprised how much it helps.

[daveyv9]

The best way to do this is to rent one from Empower Network. For $25 a month, they give you an easily usable and customizable, optimized blog that has a built-in tool that will help you rank higher in Google searches, (so your prospects will find you in the first page of Google).

You can sign up here:

empowernetworksource.blogspot.com