Yesterday I covered four great lessons we can learn about blogging from watching the movie "Julie and Julia." I promised you a total of 11. So what can you do to make your blog memorable, besides being passionate about your subject, having a goal, being reliable and finding your niche? Keep reading.
Just in case you haven't seen the movie, "Julie and Julia" told two true stories, the first one about how Julia Child became a chef and wrote her classic cookbook, and the second one about Julie Powell, who one day undertook the task of cooking her way through the entire book in just a year, and blogging about it. She went from nothing to having publishers (and Hollywood) knocking on her door.
Following all these tips might not make you rich and famous, but it should help you improve your blog, increase your readership, and maybe even grow your bottom line. But let me pick up from where I left off.
Track your visitors
Julie's first comment was from her mother, but we all got excited right along with her when one day she exulted that she'd received 65 comments, and none of them from people she knew. She eventually became the proud owner of one of Salon's most popular blogs.
By tracking your visitors, you can see whether you're on the right track. Is your readership increasing or decreasing? How popular was a particular entry? Should you write more on the same subject? Tracking your visitors gives you valuable feedback; it can help you figure out what changes you need to make.
Be proactive in responding to comments
We don't see this in the movie, but who can doubt that Julie not only read every comment to her blog, but jumped in and responded? Blogging is essentially interactive; readers want to know that authors read their comments, and often ask questions to which they expect to see a response.
In a sense, they're entitled to one. Think about it. If someone put the effort into reading a blog entry, thought about it, and posted a perceptive comment or asked a good question, that's work of a sort, and deserves a reward in kind.
Interaction encourages interaction. If you respond to comments, you'll get more comments. More people will visit, read, and comment on your blog when they know you're actively involved. Just look at Matt Cutts's blog to see this in action.
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