New media
How to build an audience for your blog, videoblog or podcast
By J.D. Lasica
Ourmedia
Here are a few tips for
building an audience on the Web:
1) Offer editorial content of value.
While your musings about life, the universe and everything may be
fascinating, it's more likely you'll attract readers by focusing on a subject
you're both passionate and knowledgeable about. Find a niche and fill it.
2) Interact.
Don't expect
bloggers to link to your entries or post comments if you don't do the same.
Engage in a genuine conversation, especially with those who write or vlog about
the same topics.
3) Post often.
Weblogs,
Inc. founder Jason Calacanis recommends blogging at least one item every day.
Building an audience takes time and hard work. Don't expect overnight success
— take the long view and your audience will grow gradually. Most blog services
offer stats that show both visitors, and blog search engines like Technorati
show in-bound links.
4) Turn browsers into subscribers.
Offer an RSS feed. We recommend using Feedburner. It not
only indexes your RSS feed and pings blog search services like Technorati
but also includes mediaRSS information, which is relayed to portals like Yahoo!
5) Submit!
If you produce a video
podcast or audio podcast, make sure you submit its url to iTunes, which draws a
sizable audience. If you produced a well-made video under 5
minutes, you may want to submit it to YouTube and other free video hosting
sites to draw additional attention.
6) Tag like crazy.
Add tags (keywords) to
your videos in Technorati
and Mefeedia. Anyone who searches on the term on
sites like iTunes, Technorati, Mefeedia or FireAnt (an RSS reader) may then
find it. If your blog service does not
have Technorati tagging enabled, you can do it manually by entering this coding
at the bottom of your post (substituting carats for brackets and your tag for "term"):
7) Don't spam.
Keep
commercial content to a minimum.
Also see:
• Halley Suitt on building your blog chops (QuickTime .mov | QuickTime 7 .m4v video)
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