Blog Orientation: Make Your Blog New-Reader Friendly

Is your blog new-reader friendly? If you’re promoting your blog, you’ll attract a constant stream of new readers. You need to make these newcomers comfortable.

Welcome your newbies. Get them up to speed on the subject of your blog, and help them to become regular readers.

Here are five ways to help your newbies:

1. Add orientation posts to your About page

Your About page is your primary tool to orient newcomers. In addition to introducing yourself, and describing your blog’s mission, add some links to your About page to must-read posts.

This helps your newbies to get up to speed on current topics.

2. Create a “Best Of” page

Create a “Best Of” page, which links to the most popular posts on the blog. In addition to the links, write a short description of each post, giving newbies a reason to read them.

3. Create “beginners” posts regularly

You’ll help your new readers most by realizing that they exist. Create a post directed at new readers at least once a week if you blog every day. If you only blog once a week, create a beginners’ post once a month.

If you’re an expert in your blog’s topic, it’s difficult to remember what being a beginner was like. So ask your readers to leave comments on posts: ask them what they want to know.

4. Retro-blogging – “One year ago today”

Many popular blogs create regular retro posts – “One Year Ago”, “Two Years Ago”, and so on. This helps to orient new readers, and it also gives your archives some publicity.

5. Create occasional “gems from our archives” posts

A blog’s chronological format means that over time your best material gets buried. So as well as retro blogging, link to important material in your archives as you make new posts, and create special “gems” posts too.

Take the time to orient new readers. It will help you to keep them as subscribers.

Written by angela from Blogging For Dollars
Posted on February 6th, 2008 and filed under Blogging
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