How To Make My Blog Stand Out From The Crowd?
Yesterday I was having a great conversation with Marshall Kirkpatrick (Vice President of Content Development at RWW, not sure what that means) about how to get your blog noticed in the current environment. The discussion started with me posing the basic question “how can I get my blog noticed because we seem to be producing very good content but not getting the rewards”?
It was first mentioned that Problogger is the best source for this information on the web, however I have been reading his site for many years now and most of the content seems to be getting a little reproduced. Additionally, Problogger talks a lot about social media and how to use it to your advantage, but these days everyone has been reading those articles for year and most bloggers use StumbleUpon, Digg, Mixx, Buzz and other very proficiently. If most bloggers are using these tools to their advantage then you still have the same issues, how to stand out from the crowd?
I know that here in Europe a blog that has been on the rise lately is TheNextWeb, but I know these guys have been writing that blog for several years now and they also have one of the best technology conference on the mainland of Europe. Therefore if I want to improve my readership it is a little difficult to just start a conference, or is it worth adding some add-ons to the site such as job board, marketplace or others?
Content is also a major player in this issues, cause most good bloggers say that content is king. However, I think that content is king when you are either a small blog or a large blog, but definitely in the middle content isnt king and it is all about promotion and push.
This is main problem with web 2.0, noise! Currently, there is just simply so much noise in most niche’s, so why instead of writing individual sites and keeping a little revenue, maybe the plan should be to join forces with other blogs and create a larger blog and take a smaller slice of a much larger pie.
I propose this question to you, “how can I get my site to stand out from the rest, especially considering we produce amazing content that is much better than the majority of our competitors”?
9 Comments
Be an active member of your community. Prove elsewhere that you are a great source for information, and they will find your site and start following. Spamming your site won’t help. Be useful.
AND, maybe let the public decide weather or not your content is “amazing” and “much better then the majority of competitors”
Looking at top posts, i see “How to update Ipod Touch firmware” and “7 firefox add-ons to browse anonymously”
I quote:
“Following on from the Firefox 3 RC1 post the other day, I thought I would write another article about Firefox Add-ons. Here is a list put together showing 7 Firefox add-ons to browse the web anonymously.”
Sorry, that doesn’t seem ‘amazing’ to me. At least you put a naked women in the article, though.
thenextweb guys started only last year with the blog, their conference is in its 4th edition.
@Nick Thanks for the comments. So when we do a post like Firefox addons you dont think this is ‘amazing’, then why is it not considered ‘amazing’ when I see sites like Arstechnica steal other peoples content? When you have big readership people just dont question, they seem to be more like sheep.
@steven Interesting. My personal experience, is that I can only handle so many posts about software, extensions, etc. Its hard not to steal others content, or at least look that way, when you have millions of bloggers writing about the same news. But you are right, once you are popular, you have alot more breathing room.
Don’t push your site too hard, but engage your readers, and engage other readers on other sites. Every time you see another site post something, and think “people should get this news from my site” you should comment on the article, give your thoughts, and they will find your site from your linked username.
I’ll add you to my feed reader… we’ll see how it goes.
Also.. maybe target ads better. If I directly type in your address, maybe I should be rewarded with less ads then a google user? Maybe less ads on homepage, but leave them on articles?
There are a million+one “tech reviews & analysis” blogs – what’s your distinct niche or style and attitude?
>Niche could mean you slice out some smaller subset of “tech” and work on becoming the best blog specific to that – mobile, browsers, streaming media, whatever. This could also mean a unique audience – consumers, sys admins, CxO’s, etc. You’ll find a smaller but generally more focused and engaged community and (hopefully) readership resident in certain niches. Do your homework well and try to carve out a spot that isn’t too crowded yet has some growth potential.
>Style and attitude – are you using humor, snark, video interviews, hacks, etc in your posts? Is your blog memorable due to its personality? If not, it may just fade into the masses.
The point is, you have to be remarkable, useful, unique, and memorable in order to stand out and reap the rewards. Pick a niche or a style, and focus on being the de facto leader within it.
I agree with you on how hard it is to get your blogging noticed. We have been experiencing a similar thing. Our traffic and readership is certainly increasing month over month, but it would be great for companies to realize that we can become the dominant force one day too. You cannot stay on top forever. Your thoughts about smaller blogs becoming a part of 1 big blog is a pretty good idea for a roll up. Problem is….how can each share fairly?
Craig
http://www.scommerce.com
With regards to advertising, Im currently not really liking our sidebar in general and probably the theme for that matter. This im hoping to completely address in the coming months.
@Craig I agree that the larger sites cant stay on top forever, but it does depend on them also innovating what they do. With regards to put a larger blog together I dont really think it would be that hard and im sure someone can find a formula that shares between each bloggers evenly.
Hello!
Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
PS: Sorry for my bad english, I’v just started to learn this language
See you!
Your, Raiul Baztepo
Another great way to make your blog stand out is to have a design that is unique and perfectly fits your niche. Try BlogThemeBlitz for this
http://www.tradebit.com/filedetail.php/9347008-blogthemeblitz-easily-create-wordpress-niche-blogthemes
Mike