Blogs, like most every other type of Internet web site, gain value, grow, and even thrive when they are heavily viewed.
The more traffic a blog receives, the greater the chances for continued relevance and possible revenue generation.
Of course, money and income don't drive most blogs.
Typically bloggers are content with having their own soapbox to publish their opinions and feelings to the world (or at least those who care to visit.)
Bloggers are also finding that most search engines seem to like blogs. Why?
Blogs are based on frequent updating of relevant and key word rich content.
They are niche specific, often include contextual links, and are open to further content in the form of suggestions or comments that are published along with each post.
Here is a strategy for bloggers to try that will increase traffic to the blog because it displays information being sought by search engine users.
First, visit WordTracker, the Overture search term suggestion tool, Good Keywords, or other web sites or software that generates lists of words based on the searches done on them recently in your blog's same niche.
Make a list of the specific search terms found, the more specific the better.
Terms like "golf" or "weddings" are too broad in most cases. Look for multi-word phrases that are specific but still get at least 100 or so searches.
Others have called these "long tail keyword phrases."
For each term or phrase, think of questions that searchers may have that relate to the niche.
You can draw on your own experience by recalling some of the questions your blog audience has asked you.
Now put those same brief questions in quotes and use them as a series of blog post titles, one per posting.
The content of the post becomes your expert opinion and researched answer to the question posed in the title.
This process is no different than fielding a question given by a reader in the comments of your blog.
This idea, of course, is to anticipate the specific questions that web users are posing to the search engines and query sites (like Ask Jeeves, Answers.com, etc.)
You might even include a short summary description of the answer (the blog content) in the "description" area of your meta tags for the installment.
Now publish the blog post everywhere possible. Include it in the RSS distribution channels of your blog so it is picked up by relevant sources.
Over time, there will be a good chance that the search engines will pick up your question and answer blog post page and serve it up high on the results of any searches that ask the same question.
This method should drive additional web traffic to your blog and help your site become more relevant in your chosen niche and in the eyes of the search enginges.
Let me know how this strategy works for you!
