Tag: blogging

Bloggers are usually concerned about the number of visitors coming to their blog. Best tricks for Increase Time Spent by Visitors on Blog. They consider it to be the single most parameter they need to be concerned about. But they are wrong. I agree that ‘visitor count’/traffic is an important parameter. But, equally important is the time spent by the visitor on a blog. This parameter underlines the level of ‘user engagement’ a blog enjoys.

Some blogs boast of good user engagement, while some others have little luck when talking about it. This reflects on the amount of time spent by the visitors on a blog. Webmasters may use Alexa.com or Google Analytics to check the amount of time spent by visitors on their blog.

Why is increasing the time spent by users important? For blogs, the more time a visitor spends, the more are the chances of monetization. Advertisers too prefer such blogs.

Increase Time Spent by Visitors on Blog

Let us talk about ways to improve user engagement. How do we go about ‘forcing’ visitors to stay on our blog? There are systematic methods to get this job done. And many of these methods have already been discussed in the post ‘How to Reduce Bounce Rate’. But still, I’ll just run through those method here.

Steps to increase user engagement and time spent by visitors on a blog

1 Have a decent collection of well written articles

This is the prime requirement. For a visitor to spend time on your blog, he must be provided with valuable content. A visitor would hardly be interested in loitering around a blog that has nothing to offer.

Make it a point that your blog has a decent collection (at least more than 10) of high quality articles. If your blog satisfies this condition, follow the below methods :

# Use Related posts plugin

As I said before, improving user engagement has many things in common with reducing bounce rate. Using related posts plugins is one of them.

Also Read- How to reduce high bounce rate

Using them will make sure that the visitor is shown more related posts as soon as he finishes one. Naturally, he/she will tend to click on them and read more articles. This makes them stay on your blog for longer duration.

A ‘semantic’ related posts plugin will do the trick. I recommend and use ‘Related posts by Zemanta’. But for related posts to work like a charm, you must check out and implement the next suggestion.

# Use eye-catching titles

Related posts plugins just show the related posts to the visitor. It is up to the visitor to read it. To ‘force’ your visitor into reading the post, this technique must be used.

Writing catchy titles grab attention easily. It makes visitors curious. The result is that CTR (Click Through Rate) of related plugins increase! A great way to create catchy titles is by making the title a bit controversial in nature.

# Clever internal linking

Cleverly use internal linking throughout the article. Do it wherever necessary. It is good for SEO and will improve user engagement.

# Command respect and trust through your article

Try to win the hearts of your visitor. If you manage to create a good impression through your article, chances are the visitor will stay for more.

This ultimately depends on the quality of the article. Write well researched, honest articles. Go for a ‘conversational’ style of writing, rather than ‘dictating’. Back your articles with facts and figures. This will help you win visitor’s trust and build good reputation.

2 Improve loading speed of blog

Patience is a valuable virtue. Unfortunately, many of us lack it. Rather than lamenting about it, why not speed up your blog?

Also read- How to increase the loading speed of a blog

Visitors are willing to spend more time on blogs that load fast.

3 Make sure that your blog design is compatible with mobile devices

This is the age of mobile devices. More and more users are using tablets and smartphones to access blogs.

They use browsers like UC Browser, Opera Mini, Android’s Browser etc. Make sure that your blog’s theme is responsive. How can you expect a visitor to stay on a blog if it doesn’t even load properly?

4 Encourage them to comment

Making the process of commenting simple is a stepping stone towards increasing user engagement. Use a commenting platform, which is easy to use.

Encourage users to comment. At the end of an article, you may ask them to share their views and opinions. Better yet, ask them to post their queries in comment. While you do so, remember to answer those questions without fail!

5 Use Smart social sharing options for ‘share-maniacs’

Many visitors are hyper-active on social sites. They find ‘sharing’ sexy and cool. They make it a point to share useful stuff with their friends. Ultimately, such visitors are beneficial for webmasters!

Keeping in mind such visitors, make it a point to use social sharing buttons on each post. Let them share and explore your blog more!

Those who say that blogging is like cakewalk are actually lying. To be honest, How to manage job and blog together, same question is for me also. for a blog to grow, the blogger needs to put in hours of hard-work. Blogging is not just about putting together a list of articles and publishing them. There is more to it. Researching, Typing, Proofreading, Promoting, Networking etc are just parts of the big picture- Blogging! In short, the entire process is time-consuming!

How to manage job and blog together

Now, I’m not saying that blogging is rocket science! But it takes some effort, and more than that, time, to succeed in blogging. There are people, who make a living out of it! We call them pro-bloggers. They are free to devote 24 hours towards maintaining and enhancing their blogs.

But wait, you have a day job, haven’t you? Or you could be a student, who needs to attend classes every day. I know many part-time bloggers, who always complain about lack of time. They have day jobs/ schools/ colleges to attend. They blame the mediocrity of their blog on this very lack of time.

I’ve been through this scenario. I must say I’m still a student, but still manage to juggle my blogging activities and my student life! This is possible only due to some time management tips, scheduling and some other preparations. I’m just about to reveal my techniques to you all.

How to schedule your blogging activities

Since I’m a student, day times are devoted to attending classes (usually boring). I take on my blogging responsibilities during night/early in the morning. Here are some tips that’ll help you make a schedule :

Keep a Note Book and Pencil Handy

You might be thinking what a pencil and note-book has to do with blogging schedule. Wait, it is not for making a schedule! For blogging, you need articles related to your niche. Articles don’t appear magically out of thin air.

Quality articles are produced after various stages like typing, proofreading etc. But the first step involved in creating an article is finding the right topic to write about. Yes, you can write an article only if you have a topic/idea to write about, in your mind!

Such ideas can strike your mind literally anytime. It could be when- you are attending classes/at job/in bathroom etc. When ideas strike, take out the book and pencil and note them down, however silly they might be. I use the ‘Papyrus’ app on my mobile to scribble down topics and ideas that come to my mind. Always be ready to note down ideas related to topic. Work on only those topics, which you think can write well about.

1. Limit the frequency of updating your blog. Choose 2-3 specific days of a week for publishing new posts

It is necessary to update a blog regularly. But there is no written rule to do it daily. For the busy ones, I recommend to choose 2-3 days a week, for publishing new posts. Limit the frequency of updating your blog. Our aim is to slow down this process for the benefit of the blog!

Let us take an example. If I choose Monday, Thursday and Saturday as the days for publishing new articles, I’ve got ample amount of time to work on those articles.

On Tuesday, after arriving from work/college, you may take out your note-book and work on the article for couple of hours. This work can be done early in the morning too.

Thus you have Tuesday and Wednesday to research on the topic, develop an article and proof read it! On Thursday, as per our schedule publish it.

By following such a schedule, the frequency of new posts getting published will decrease. But it will definitely increase the quality of the content. In the long run, it is quality, not quantity, that matters!

2. Automate the task of Social sharing and bookmarking

With a clever schedule like the one I mentioned above, creating quality content is no more a problem. The problem that remains is- sharing and promoting content.

Promoting and sharing the blog posts on Social networking sites is very important. These sites create a ‘ripple effect’. When one visitor likes/shares a post, 10 others will take notice of it. This ‘ripple’ effect can drive in valuable traffic.

But sharing blog posts on all such sites is time consuming. But why bother when this process can be automated? WordPress bloggers can use Jetpack to auto-publish the posts on Social networking sites. Also check out this list of automatic and semi-automatic social sharing and bookmarking tools:

Jetpack by WordPress can be used to share blog posts on social sites automatically.

Hootsuite

SocialOomph.com for automatic Tweets, Facebook status updates

Try out socialmarker.com for easily submitting blog content to popular bookmarking sites

3. Creative and Productive ways to use remaining time

If you follow the scheduling tips and automated social sharing tips, I bet you’ll save a decent amount of time. Here is a list of very productive activities you must do utilizing this ‘saved’ time. Note that these activities also play a major role in making blogging a successful venture.

# Read useful blogs related to your niche and comment

This activity brings with it many advantages. First of all, you gain lots of useful information by reading such blogs. By commenting, your blog will get more exposure than before. The most important advantage is that commenting can be used for ‘networking’ with fellow bloggers! Through commenting, beneficial relations can be built.

# Re-share your old posts on social networking sites

Now that you have some time to spare, why not re-share your old, evergreen posts on social networking sites? It is a brilliant idea to re-share old posts on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

# Make your presence felt on groups and forums

If you still have time to spare, try spending it wisely on various Facebook and G+ groups related to your blog’s niche. Be an active member, share content, ask questions and solve problems. Besides the groups on Social networking sites, become member of forums that are related to your niche.

That’s it guys. These are the basics of scheduling and time management you should address. I’m not saying to go for the exact same routine. Make changes and improve. Don’t let your busy schedule ruin your blog. If you have suggestions, feel free to make use of the comment section.