Many of the people who read this blog are bloggers themselves. Some of them are running blogs that are much more successful than mine, but many of them are struggling to get off the ground. This is not unusual. In fact, less than 1 blog in 1,000 earns more than $20 a month.

If you want some guidance on how to create a successful blog, I highly recommend the free ebook Blog Profits Blueprint by Yaro Starak. If you haven’t heard of Yaro before, he’s an Australian entrepreneur and internet marketer who has gone from being a complete unknown on the internet to making over $15,000 per month as a result of his blog, all while working as little as two hours per day.

I read Yaro’s blog regularly, and there’s no denying that he knows his stuff. I admire his high level of practical knowledge as well as his refreshing transparency and integrity. He’s really hard core on the marketing side, and since what I love is content creation and not so much the marketing, some of his stuff is a bit beyond my level of understanding and interest. But his ebook is very accessible to people who are not internet marketing experts.

By the way, if you’re looking into starting a blog but you’re confused by the technical complexity of getting set up, Yaro has put together some wonderful instructional videos with his friend Gideon Shalwick at BecomeABlogger.com. These videos will be too basic for established bloggers, but they’re terrific for beginners.

Anyway, back to Yaro’s ebook. It covers his personal story, how blogs make money, choosing a topic, attracting attention, what kind of content to write, how to market, different kinds of traffic channels, networking, monetization methods, and so on. It’s by far the best ebook on blogging that I know of. Well, OK, I’m still partial to my own ebook The Zen of Blogging, but the Blog Profits Blueprint is far more practical!

Downloading Yaro’s ebook requires opting in to his newsletter. He runs his newsletter using AWeber, so you know you can safely unsubscribe if you don’t like it, but I’m still on his newsletter after reading his ebook months ago. If you want to get a better idea of what Yaro is about before downloading his ebook, I’ll give you some details here.

What follows is an article that Yaro wrote and gave me permission to repost (though I’ve made some cosmetic edits – sorry, can’t help myself!). If you like what he has to say, then you’ll probably like the Blog Profits Blueprint. I’ve included my own comments in his article, so you can see my take on things. Apologies for the 4,000-word post, but since not all of my readers are looking for blogging information, I thought it was best to put a lot of stuff in one post that can simply be skipped by those not interested.

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(The following is by Yaro Starak, with my comments interjected. The “me vs. Yaro” in the title is in good humor, as I do respect and often agree with Yaro’s opinions. But also I’m going to challenge some of his thoughts.)

In every blogger’s life comes a special day – the day they first launch a new blog. Now unless you went out and purchased someone else’s blog, chances are your blog launched with only one very loyal reader – you. Maybe a few days later you received a few hits when you told your sister, father, girlfriend and best friend about your new blog, but that’s about as far as you went when it comes to finding readers.

Here are the top 10 techniques new bloggers can use to find readers. These are tips specifically for new bloggers, those people who have next to no audience at the moment and want to get the ball rolling.

It helps if you work on this list from top to bottom as each technique builds on the previous step to help you create momentum. Eventually, once you establish enough momentum, you gain what is called “traction,” which is a large enough audience base (about 500 readers a day is good) that you no longer have to work too hard on finding new readers. Instead your current loyal readers do the work for you through word of mouth.

[Hunter's comments: This may be less true than we'd like it to be. Skellie said the same thing in The Butterfly Growth Model, that once you get to 500 subscribers, your readers will do most of the promotional work for you. Later, she said she found that it wasn't working as well as she'd hoped, and she wasn't getting many new readers without doing her own promotion. I think there's certainly some truth to the butterfly growth model, but it may work better for some blogs than for others.]

Top 10 Tips

10. Write at least five major “pillar” articles. A pillar article is a tutorial style article aimed to teach your audience something. Generally they are longer than 500 words and have lots of very practical tips or advice. This article you are currently reading could be considered a pillar article since it is very practical and a good “how-to” lesson. This style of article has long term appeal, stays current (it isn’t news or time dependent) and offers real value and insight. The more pillars you have on your blog, the better.

[Hunter's comments: While Yaro is the one who coined the term "pillar article," it has a slightly different meaning for me. I think a pillar article need not be a "how-to" lesson. To me it's any post of exceptional value, original insight, or essential to understanding your blog's core message. It might not have "lots of very practical tips or advice;" for example, it might serve to instill a powerful mindset, and not offer any practical tips at all. My pillar articles tend to be 1,000 - 1,500 words, and my Boot Camp consists of my most important pillar articles (and by the way, I still have quite a few more to add...someday).

I agree with Yaro that pillar articles are essential. Of course I write plenty of lighter posts too, but without pillar articles, it's very hard to stand out in a competitive niche. And while we're on this topic, I don't use the term "article" when referring to my own writings. I call them posts, whether they're 200 words or 2,000. To me, an article is something you could submit to a magazine, something that adheres to strict rules of style and content. I write with my own style, not like a journalist--and I mean no disrespect to journalists! Some people use the terms "post" and "article" to refer to different quality standards in the blogosphere, but I don't. They're all posts to me.]

9. Write one new blog post per day minimum. Not every post has to be a pillar, but you should work on getting those five pillars done at the same time as you keep your blog fresh with a daily news or short article style post. The important thing here is to demonstrate to first time visitors that your blog is updated all the time so they feel that if they come back tomorrow they will likely find something new. This causes them to bookmark your site or subscribe to your blog feed.

You don’t have to produce one post per day all the time, but it is important you do when your blog is brand new. Once you get traction you still need to keep the fresh content coming, but your loyal audience will be more forgiving if you slow down to a few per week instead. The first few months are critical, so the more content you can produce at this time, the better.

[Hunter's comments: With all due respect to Yaro, this is ridiculous. And I know that many successful bloggers will disagree with me, but I think feeling the need to post every day puts undue stress on a blogger, and is a major reason why most blogs suck. At least Yaro says it's not necessary after the first few months, but he's clearly showing his preference for super-frequent posts. If you're a full-time blogger, maybe you can come up with a good post every day. If you're blogging part time, and perhaps not even as your main part time activity, it's very unlikely that you're capable of cranking out that many thoughtful, original, and entertaining posts. That's why we see all these rehashed posts (e.g., "Top 10 Ways To Be Happy," pic of someone jumping, #1 Drink more water, #2 Exercise, #3 Be a vegetarian, etc). Even if a post isn't a pillar, I want every post I read or write to be good.

What if you get hit by a bus and end up in the hospital? Are you going to hop in your wheelchair and rush over to the internet cafe, where you frantically try to scramble some guest posters? Or are you going to take your time to recover, trusting that your readers are smart enough to realize that unsubscribing will not result in them getting more posts from you?

Even if you have time to write a great post every day, your audience doesn't have time to read it. They only have so much time available for reading blogs each day, and yours is not the only one they read. Your loyal readers don't want to miss anything you write, but they also want you to be respectful of their time. Regular content keeps you fresh in their mind, but at some point it becomes annoying. There are a couple of blogs that I'm reluctantly subscribed to even though they post more than once per day, but I just scan the titles and usually mark them all as read. I would read more of their posts, comment more, and link more, if only they posted less often. So where is their return on investment?

I realize the importance of putting significant time into your blogging, but a good chunk of that time can be spent on responding to comments, commenting on other blogs and forums, doing research, writing ebooks, etc. And some of my posts have taken well over 10 hours to write and edit. When writing on your own blog, you don't get paid per post.]

8. Use a proper domain name. If you are serious about blogging, be serious about what you call your blog. In order for people to easily spread the word about your blog, you need an easily rememberable domain name. People often talk about blogs they like when they are speaking to friends in the real world (that’s the offline world, you remember that place, right?) so you need to make it easy for them to spread the word and pass on your URL. Try and get a .com if you can, and focus on small, easy to remember domains rather than worrying about having the correct keywords (of course if you can get great keywords and an easy to remember name, then you’ve done a good job!).

[Hunter's comments: I agree about the .com name. It's generally better than .net or .org, and definitely way better than something like blogspot. If you want to make money from your blog, you need to treat it like a business, and that includes giving it a real name.

I'm not sure how often blog referrals happen offline, but a memorable domain name always helps. His point about keywords is that having them in the domain helps with SEO by giving you better rankings and bolding the keyword in the search results to grab more attention. But as he says, it's more important to have a domain that sounds good to people. If you can do both, that's great.

Some people (like myself) use their own name as their domain. While not appropriate in all cases, it can sometimes be a good choice. For me, I have a very broad "niche," if you want to call it that, and it would be hard to think of a name that fits my blog well. Besides, what if I want to change my topics 10 years from now?]

7. Start commenting on other blogs. Once you have your pillar articles and your daily fresh smaller articles, your blog is ready to be exposed to the world. One of the best ways to find the right type of reader for your blog is to comment on other people’s blogs. You should aim to comment on blogs focused on a similar niche topic to yours, since the readers there will be more likely to be interested in your blog.

Most blog commenting systems allow you to have your name/title linked to your blog when you leave a comment. This is how people find your blog. If you are a prolific commentor and always have something valuable to say, then people will be interested to read more of your work and hence click through to visit your blog.

[Hunter's comments: This is a very easy way to get exposure in the beginning. It takes time, but it's not hard. Try to be one of the first commenters so more people will read your comment. And try to avoid saying "great post!" That phrase has been ruined by all the people who have left comments saying only that, so I try not to use it even as part of a substantial comment. Be a regular commenter on some blogs to build a reputation, but also try to branch out and comment on new blogs to reach new people.]

6. Trackback and link to other blogs in your blog posts. A trackback is sort of like a blog conversation. When you write a new article to your blog and it links or references another blogger’s article, you can do a trackback to their entry. What this does is leave a truncated summary of your blog post on their blog entry – it’s sort of like your blog telling someone else’s blog that you wrote an article mentioning them. Trackbacks often appear like comments.

This is a good technique because like leaving comments, a trackback leaves a link from another blog back to yours for readers to follow, but it also does something very important – it gets the attention of another blogger. The other blogger will likely come and read your post, eager to see what you wrote about them. They may then become a loyal reader of yours, or at least monitor you, and if you are lucky some time down the road, they may do a post linking to your blog, bringing in more new readers.

[Hunter's comments: I don't think this is particularly effective at getting traffic from the other blog. I rarely click on trackback links, definitely less than I click on comment links. However, it's extremely effective at getting the other blogger to notice you. Bloggers always appreciate links because it helps their traffic, especially when you have good things to say about them. I wouldn't do it in expectation of a return link down the road, but that may very well happen. Another benefit is that your readers will appreciate you for pointing them to a good post.]

5. Encourage comments on your own blog. One of the most powerful ways to convince someone to become a loyal reader is to show there are other loyal readers already following your work. If they see people commenting on your blog, then they infer that your content must be good since you have readers, so they should stick around and see what all the fuss is about. To encourage comments you can simply pose a question in a blog post. Be sure to always respond to comments as well so you can keep the conversation going.

[Hunter's comments: Asking a question shows that you welcome input from other people, and it makes it easier for them to figure out what to say. In sales and marketing, this is known as a "call to action." If you tell people what you want them to do, they're much more likely to do it.

Responding to comments makes the commenters feel appreciated, and it can generate a good discussion in your comments section. Sometimes the comments can be more interesting than the post itself! The downside here is that it can be very time consuming. If you get very few comments, you have time to give a thoughtful reply to each one. If you get lots of comments, people will understand that you don't have time to respond to many. I'm at that awkward stage in the middle, where I can reply to each comment but it can sometimes take a lot of time. I'm looking forward to the point where I can say I just have too many comments to reply to each one, so some of the pressure will be lifted and I can reply only when I can easily think of something useful to say.]

4. Submit your latest pillar article to a blog carnival. A blog carnival is a post in a blog that summarizes a collection of articles from many different blogs on a specific topic. The idea is to collect some of the best content on a topic in a given week. Often many other blogs link back to a carnival host and as such the people that have articles featured in the carnival often enjoy a spike in new readers.

To find the right blog carnival for your blog, do a search at blogcarnival.com.

[Hunter's comments: I've submitted posts to blog carnivals a couple of times, but I certainly haven't done it consistently. Since I write about a wide range of topics, it would be annoying to look for the right carnival each time. And I'm not sure how effective they are. If one edition of a carnival features 30 posts, would you read them all? However, you'll definitely get some traffic, as well as a link, so it can be a good idea, especially if you have a tightly focused niche and you know of some carnivals you can submit to each time.

I've seen a number of people recommending carnivals, but so far they haven't interested me enough to really look into them. I think I'll do better with guest posts, which I'm surprised not to see on this list. You can choose the audience you want, steal the spotlight and have all eyes on you, and write slightly outside of your niche if you want.]

3. Submit your blog to blogtopsites.com. To be honest, this tip is not going to bring in a flood of new readers, but it’s so easy to do and only takes five minutes so it’s worth the effort. Go to Blog Top Sites, find the appropriate category for your blog, and submit it. You have to copy and paste a couple of lines of code on your blog so you can rank, and then sit back and watch the traffic come in. You will probably only get 1-10 incoming readers per day with this technique, but over time it can build up as you climb the rankings. It all helps!

[Hunter's comments: I hadn't heard of this site before. As I was reading this tip it didn't sound very worthwhile, and I didn't like how it requires registration and putting code on your blog, as well as picking a category (since I tend not to fit into any). But 1-10 readers per day? That's huge for a new blogger! I'm not sure what kind of traffic this is though. If it's the same quality traffic as you get from StumbleUpon, I don't think it's worth it. Has anyone tried this before? And Yaro, really? This makes your top 10?]

2. Submit your articles to EzineArticles.com. This is another tip that doesn’t bring in hundreds of new visitors immediately (although it can if you keep doing it) but it’s worthwhile because you simply leverage what you already have – your pillar articles. Once a week or so, take one of your pillar articles and submit it to Ezine Articles. Your article then becomes available to other people who can republish your article on their website or in their newsletter.

How you benefit is through what is called your “Resource Box.” You create your own resource box, which is like a signature file where you include one to two sentences and link back to your website (or blog in this case). Anyone who publishes your article has to include your resource box so you get incoming links. If someone with a large newsletter publishes your article, you can get a lot of new readers at once.

[Hunter's comments: I haven't done this yet, but I've heard good things about this method. I've also heard about Article Marketer, which, for a fee, lets you submit your content to many sites at once. I'd be interested in hearing what others have experienced with these services. What's the best way to do it, how much traffic did you get, and did you notice a duplicate content penalty?]

1. Write more pillar articles. Everything you do above will help you to find blog readers, however, all of the techniques I’ve listed only work when you have strong pillars in place. Without them, if you do everything above you may bring in readers, but they won’t stay or bother to come back. Aim for one solid pillar article per week, and by the end of the year you will have a database of over 50 fantastic feature articles that will work hard for you to bring in more and more readers.

[Hunter's comments: Absolutely. I think that the single best thing any blogger can do is focus their attention on writing great content.]

I hope you enjoyed my list of traffic tips. Everything listed above are techniques I’ve put into place myself for my blogs and have worked for me, however it’s certainly not a comprehensive list. There are many more things you can do. Finding readers is all about testing to see what works best for you and your audience, and I have no doubt if you put your mind to it you will find a balance that works for you.

[Hunter's comments: These are some very good tips for new bloggers to consider. Don't take my comments above to mean that I don't respect Yaro's advice. On the contrary, I think he has rightfully earned his reputation as a blogging and internet marketing guru. I just have my own strong opinions about blogging, and I think a little constructive debate is always in order. Like I said before, his Blog Profits Blueprint is easily the best ebook I know of about blogging.]

This article was by Yaro Starak, a professional blogger and one of my most trusted sources for blogging advice. He is the leader of the Blog Mastermind mentoring program designed to teach bloggers how to earn a full time income blogging part time.

To get more information about Blog Mastermind, click this link:

www.BlogMastermind.com

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