Tips for Bloggers 2—Backlinks and other Tactics

©2009 by Donna Cunningham, MSW

I have to admit it’s kinda nervy for me to be giving out tips when I’m fairly new to the blogosphere myself—posting only since December 22^nd, 2008.  In my defense, I’ve been avidly pursuing the learning curve, because I love this blog and want to make the most of it that I possibly can.  I’ve avidly sought out advice from long-term bloggers and subscribed to sites by the really big professional bloggers. I’d like to share some of what I’d learned with my fellow astrology bloggers here.  Where I learned the most was from my daily emails from ProBlogger, especially his series Give me 31 Days and I’ll Give You a Dramatically Better Blog… Guaranteed now in workbook form at: http://www.problogger.net/31dbbb-workbook/.  

 

I also regularly follow posts by  SitePro News, copywriter nick usborne’s blog and VAssistant Services. To straighten out some glitches and make my blog work optimally, I consulted VAssistant Services’ coach and web-designer Suzanne Bird-Harris, who proved indispensable and whose user-friendly posts contain valuable nuts and bolts tips.

 One of the valuable techniques I learned from ProBlogger’s Darren Rowse was that it’s a good practice to create back links to earlier posts that shed light on the current topic.  It works–it creates a flurry of interest in older posts that would otherwise get buried under page after page of newer pieces.

Need graphic proof that this practice is effective? The line graphs in the blog stats that plot daily and monthly progress tell me at a glance how I’m doing.  By following hints from some of the Big Bloggers you’ll meet later in this post, my stats were gradually climbing in the months before I learned to do backlinks. But look at this screen shot of what happened to my stats suddenly after I started retrofitting my posts to include links like these:

Here’s a simple way to backlink.  I created a document that has a list of posts, complete with links, for each topic that I frequently write about, which makes it simple to cut and paste the titles into all the pieces on the same subject.  For instance, at the end of a piece about Saturn published on August 21^st, (Quotes about Saturn’s Issues—Wise Counsel from our Elders), I included a list of posts about Saturn and Capricorn from the previous 8 months:

• Saturn’s Delays and Why We Should Embrace Them
• Taming Transiting Saturn–Guest Blogger Elizabeth Spring
• Venus-Saturn Aspects—Waiting for Love
• Why Saturn has as much to do with Luck as Jupiter
• Some Life Patterns of People with Uranus-Saturn Aspects in the Birth Chart 
• Pluto in Capricorn: A Laugh and a Half,

In the week that followed, several articles on that list got a respectable number of new visitors for a tidy total of 97 new page clicks.  Do that with enough of your posts and it adds up.  (I’ll keep adding my newest posts about Saturn to the list.)

Not every topic is a winner, however.  Paying attention to the list of your top posts of all times in the blog stat pages can help you narrow down the topics your readers really to know more about. For instance, after noticing how many readers gravitated to the few pieces about the Moon on this blog,  I’m planning a Lunar Week  with several features about daily, progressed, and natal Moon signs at the next New Moon. And, you betcha, the pieces for that week will all have backlinks!

 In another post (Readers’ Favorites–Skywriter’s Top Posts of all Time), I talked about what we can learn from the blogstat page that can help us respond to our readers needs and increase the number of visitors to our blogs. It included links to the top 20 highest ranking posts of the eight months I’d been blogging. (If you’d like to read some of them to analyze why readers liked them, look for the blue-ribbon graphic shown here, and also go to the category “Readers’ Favorite Posts.”)

 The day that retrospective was published, my stats went through the roof because so many readers clicked on links to promising sounding posts they’d previously missed. (Work on your titles, folks! It’s really important in intriguing visitors enough that they continue reading. You’ll see a couple of links to good articles about titles by the Big Bloggers later.)

Here are the numbers of new visitors the five topmost articles received in the month after that list was published:  

• Eclipses and Their Effects        342
• The Moon Signs and their Emotional Habits         231
• Pluto and the transiting Antiscia–not Over ‘til It’s Over    201
• Using the Daily Moon Sign to your Advantage        148
• PLUTO IN CAPRICORN: A Laugh and a Half,             142

Another example of retrofitting that I enjoy is a feature on ElsaElsa.com where she regularly reprises a bit of what appeared on her blog a year ago that day.  Maybe when I’ve been blogging a whole year, I’ll occasionally do something like that. 

 As you see, creating backlinks can really boost your stats.  Readers don’t seem to be able to resist clicking on links of articles that add to what they’ve learned.  I’m no blogging expert, but by now I’m no newbie either, and it is always my joy in life to share what I’ve learned with others.  Here are some more posts on Skywriter with tips for bloggers:

MORE TIPS FOR BLOGGERS ON THIS SITE:

• Free Advertising—How to Create Email Signatures
• The Best Marketing Tool for your Astrology Blog–An Effective “About Me” Page
• Can U Blog? What to Look for in the Birth Chart 
• How to Add Impact to Your Site with Pictures
• Tips for Bloggers 1—Retooling your Astrology Posts to Keep them Fresh
• Tips for Bloggers 3–A Promising Anthology on Blogging
• Testimonials that Work: Promote Yourself with Integrity, Credibility—and Class!
  Writing Tips–10 Dos and Don’ts for Astrology Blogs

Some Helpful articles by the Big Bloggers:  Typically their sites hold hundreds of posts, so if there’s some area of blogging you need to know more about, use their on-site search engines.  Also check their lists of recent posts. If you like what you read when you visit them, sign up for a subscription.

• 15 Ways to Rework Your Next Blog Post Title by Darren Rowse of Problogger
• “Important Tips For Effective Article Writing Every Author Should Know”
• http://ezinearticles.com/?Important-Tips-For-Effective-Article-Writing-Every-Author-Should-Know&id=1437620
• “How To Make Your Article Title Sell,” Christopher Knight
• http://www.articlewritingtips.com/make-your-article-title-sell.htm
• “Blah-Blah Text Keep, Cut, or Kill,” Jakob Nielsen
• http://www.invesp.com/blog-rank/success/skywriter-wordpress  “Important Tips For Effective Article Writing Every Author Should Know”
• http://ezinearticles.com/?Important-Tips-For-Effective-Article-Writing-Every-Author-Should-Know&id=1437620
• “How To Make Your Article Title Sell,” Christopher Knight
• http://www.articlewritingtips.com/make-your-article-title-sell.htm

 If you’re a blogger and have found some techniques that help bring readers to your blog, please share them with us in the comment section.  We can all grow so much faster if we share what works for us.

 

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