A blog is something that can only benefit you and not hurt you, most of the time that is. Once you establish a presence online via blog you then create more potential followers for you and your business that you didn’t previously have. You see there is much to gain when you create a blog, so read through this article and see how blogging can help you.

Make use of a mind map. Organizing your blog into a mind-map, using the categories, posts, promotion and all of your income sources can be a great method of organization. It creates a way for you to see where your blog is lacking and what you can do to make it more successful.

Use the correct spam filter for comments. If you require registration to comment, a CAPTCHA on the registration page is usually sufficient to keep spammers away. If you allow anonymous comments, an \”advanced CAPTCHA,\” that is, one that asks the user for “the number of hours in a day” or something similar is usually enough. Avoid services like Akismet, as these produce lots of false positives.

Everything you do can end up being the subject of a blog. Take notes when you are away from the computer, if you stumble across an idea that may translate into a post. You want to always keep your eyes open for subject ideas. Writing is the easy part, it’s coming up with the initial concept that usually leads to writer’s block.

Do not post a blog and move on. You need to interact with people who leave comments on your blog. When your readers know that they can have a conversation with you via your blog, you are more likely to keep them as active readers who follow what you are doing. If you post without commenting, eventually your readers will move on to greener pastures.

Structure your posts so the reader can simply scan them to catch the gist. Those who read blogs are, as a rule, an impatient bunch. They flip back and forth between pages practically at the speed of light. If you want to get your message across, give them something that will catch their attention with just a quick scan.

Don’t write endless paragraphs of content. You should always research the material for your blog. If you just write on wrong things, your blog probably won’t be very successful. Keep in mind at all times that the way to be successful is through content.

Be sure to keep it simple. Blogging isn’t the same as philosophy. Even if you wish to explain any complicated concepts, try your best to keep them as simple as possible. Your blog competes with many other information sources, so it needs to be as easy to understand as possible.

Take time to read over your blog. This step tends to be ignored quite often. You have to be the first reader. Whenever you have some free time, try reading some of your older posts. It can really help you see what you can do to improve with your posts in the future.

Keep a close watch on your blogging competition and always try to one-up what they are up to. These blogs are your direct competitors. Like any business, knowing your competition is the best way to beat them. Keep in mind that they will probably looking at your blog for the same reasons.

Try to use a greeting just before your content. Prior to your content, use a sentence that welcomes your users,. This is completely based upon their referrer. It also gives them particular incentives. There are some handy ones out there that you can find, you can write your own, or search for a plugin.

Make sure that you are using twitter to get your blog some attention. Be sure that you have a real presence on Twitter, and do not use this to replace any RSS feeds. Use Twitterfeed to put your new posts into Twitter. This will help you get more exposure.

Now that you have read through this article, you should now have a much better idea about what you want to do when it comes to blogging, in order to become successful at building an online presence. So get started sooner than later, because when you do, you give yourself the opportunity to have followers sooner than later, as well.”