Time to Step Up Your Blogging

Plenty of marketing bloggers give blogging advice. Few of their posts, though, approach the comprehensive nature of a recent entry from Chris Brogan. Entitled "50 Ways to Take Your Blog to the Next Level," the mini-primer divides its titular goal into five distinct categories, each brimming with ten viable action points.

Here's a roundup of Brogan's central topics:

Make your goal and target audience crystal clear. For instance, "If your blog is to be your business," he says, "treat it like that. Get into stats. Get into building audience. Get into delivering something unique. Don't straddle back and forth on this."

Think in terms of form and function. Here, Brogan's advice ranges from choosing graphics with visual appeal to configuring your layout for search engine optimization.

Make your content top notch. Among other points, he gives tips for writing quality posts, and stresses the importance of periodically reviewing your archive to avoid redundancy.

Promote your blog. Adding your URL to an email signature or at your social network profiles is just one of Brogan's suggestions for drumming up interest. "Steve Rubel … told me that he 'discovered' my blog via Facebook," he says. "I've been a believer ever since."

Build business from your blog. According to Brogan, it's perfectly okay to ask for a sale. "Be direct and honest about this," he says. He then shows you how it's done.

If you want to make your blog an authoritative online destination, Brogan's input is pure Marketing Inspiration.

More Inspiration:
Steve Woodruff: Dirty Leaders are Good! (Sometimes)
Paul Dunay: The Powerful 'Bored at Work' Network
Paul Williams: Unclogging Thinker's Block

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