101 Blog Tips I learned in 2006

if you are not, start blogging today
write about something that you love
if you are serious about blogging buy your own domain
make sure your domain name is equal to your blog name
use a short and easy to remember name
use Wordpress
use Wordpress plugins
blog with consistency
write at least 5 posts a week
proofread
proofread one more time
interact with other bloggers
leave meaningful comments
leave funny comments
leave the first comment
backup your blog
get rid of the sidebar calendar
choose your niche wisely, not too big and not too small
participate in online forums
put a link on your signature
use blog carnivals
content is king
customize your blog template
use trackbacks
simplicity is the way to go
leverage social bookmarks
consider joining a blog network
write “Top 10″ lists
use tags
use pings
write “How to” articles
make your posts scannable
list your blog on directories
ask questions to your readers
use Feedburner
use sense of humor
be generous
encourage readers to subscribe
have some spare posts for emergencies
encourage readers to digg your posts
put an RSS subscription icon on every single page
use “series” of posts
return comments
return links
use readable fonts
gather .edu and .gov backlinks
break long posts in more parts
experiment with different revenue sources
write “pillar articles“
use Google Analytics
study those numbers
use email interviews
be yourself
avoid duplicate content
use an RSS reader
read as many blogs as possible
focus on timeless content
have an “About” page
have a picture of yourself on the “About” page
crate your own “Advertise Here” page
use meta tags wisely
learn the basics of SEO
use pictures whenever possible
create value for your readers
place ads wisely
be patient
consider getting a co-blogger
submit your articles to directories
share what has worked for you
share what has not worked for you
read Problogger.net
do not clutter your sidebar with icons
get rid of looooong blogrolls
experiment with Google Adsense
experiment with Text-Link-Ads
link to other blogs as often as possible
make it easy for visitors to contact you
use titles effectively
offer email subscriptions
always answer to questions
always answer to comments
use Technorati
enable subscription to comments
offer useful tools or resources
write with a personal touch
become an expert in your niche
do not rely on “linking posts”
always give your opinion
use simple colors
participate in blogging projects
get to know other bloggers personally
list your best articles
have a voice
organize your categories
talk directly to your readers
make your URL structure efficient
put functional links on your footer
mention your sources or references
do monthly roundups
consider adding podcasts
create a “101 list”

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Daniel Scocco on December 20, 2006 | Filed Under Blogging Basics

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225 Responses to “101 Blog Tips I learned in 2006”

Yehuda Berlinger on December 21st, 2006 6:25 am

Well articulated. Some questions:

17, 73 - Why?

Couldn’t 2 and 18 be somewhat of a problem, taken together?

and 57 - What was that about proofreading

Yehuda
jd on December 21st, 2006 7:04 am

wow! thanks!

#102. Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS)

and 101 tips is keeping it simple! Well done (seriously)

I’m printing this one out now and putting it on my wall by the PC.
Madhur Kapoor on December 21st, 2006 7:08 am

wow ..thats a long list and most of them are true …but i dont think i can create a lost that long ..I also participated in Darren’s writing project .
http://www.whoismadhur.com/200.....taught-me/
Drop by if you have a chance …and you got a great blog ..m subscribing to it ..
Ashish Mohta on December 21st, 2006 7:09 am

Great Tips.I will folow some of them for sure.

I also got entry in darrens project.
http://technospot.net/blogs/in.....insideout/

And i am feeding your blog.There wont be another chance to meet so many bloggers

Merry Christmas
Daniel on December 21st, 2006 7:45 am

Yehuda, just corrected item 57, now you know why I mentioned proofread twice!

jd, I agree with KISS, a good add to the list.

Ashish, thanks, I definitely feed your blog also.
Simonne on December 21st, 2006 7:49 am

Hi Daniel,

I found your post useful. I’ll add here two more lines: use social networking sites and participate in blog carnivals. While social networking can drive a hell of a traffic to your site (see an example here: http://www.alltipsandtricks.co.....your-blog/), blog carnivals help you build up links to your blog for free.
Tim on December 21st, 2006 7:51 am

These tips are great.

103. Use Spam Karma
104. Make sure that links are nofollowed

I joined the project too, with 3 console-haikus.
Daniel on December 21st, 2006 8:15 am

simonne I agree, tips #21 and #26

Tim, spam karma and nofollowed links are good tips, I will add them to the list
Yoav on December 21st, 2006 8:20 am

Brilliant!

I wrote about a very similar subject. Maybe after reading my post you can make a 106 blogging tips article.

-Yoav
Tim Nash on December 21st, 2006 8:44 am

a great list I would add Be different and of course you don’t have to be a writer to be a blogger!
shameless plug for my entry in the group project
Daniel on December 21st, 2006 9:10 am

Yoav, where can I find your post?

Tim Nash, nice post, I just placed a link to it.
Brad Shorr on December 21st, 2006 10:44 am

Excellent! Talk about getting to the point. You’re 101/101 on accuracy, too.
Glen on December 21st, 2006 12:06 pm

Great tips most of them I for sure use on a regular basis
George on December 21st, 2006 12:22 pm

Excellent list. I don’t know if I would ever have the patience to come up with 101 list, nice work.

If you are interested, my entry in Darren’s project is here.

All the best,
George
tigerfish on December 21st, 2006 2:06 pm

Have already made a mistake on 6.
Is there somehow I can do a easy migration of old posts/comments to wordpress ?

This is my prediction(or wish)!

May the Force be with you, the Blo-gedi way
Daniel on December 21st, 2006 2:40 pm

glen, thanks for that

george, I already linked your entry to the writing project, nice job

tigerfish, what blogging platform are you currently using? I am sure there is plenty of information out there about “migrating to wordpress”, if you have problems drop me an email
VJ on December 21st, 2006 3:56 pm

Nice list - I like how short each entry was. If I made a list, one would be so long - about 5 lines by the time I stated exactly what I wanted to say, that the list would be actually boring instead of intriguing… kind of like this post! lol - nice list, I’ll check out your blog since someone said it rocked… VJ in Thailand
tigerfish on December 21st, 2006 5:23 pm

I’m using Blogger.com. But I want to migrate all my old posts/comments to Wordpress, is it possible ?
Ellen on December 21st, 2006 8:22 pm

Great list! I wish I saw #4 months ago but I got caught up in having an all encompassing site. My project for early 2007 is to make my domain name my blog name. I agree whole-heartily with using Wordpress. And, I am learning so much about blogs and blogging from Darren’s project. You can check out my post at http://infomaniaworld.com/modu.....chives/276.
George on December 22nd, 2006 6:31 am

Daniel,

I am glad you liked my entry, thanks for the link.

George
Ashish Mohta on December 23rd, 2006 6:06 pm

@tigefish

If you can make a rss of your blog through feedburner , then i guess u have to upload that .In wordpress there is one feature called as upload , you should be able to find out rss in that.

Ashish
Tyler on December 25th, 2006 9:49 am

There are some things that I didnt consider. Thanks for the 101 things you’ve learnt!
Brian on December 27th, 2006 11:07 am

Great list, thanks! =)
Carey on December 27th, 2006 2:17 pm

Awesome list, thank you!
Gdog on December 31st, 2006 3:15 am

Excellent - did you sit down and write these all in one setting or did you build a list over time? Nice list anyway…
Daniel on December 31st, 2006 3:52 am

Gdog, I wrote all the tips in one sitting, hence why there are not even capital letters on each entry! Thanks for the comment
Leigh Ann on January 1st, 2007 2:53 pm

Wow….great advice thanks so much!!
martinus on January 5th, 2007 4:59 am

Thank you, this is a great list. I am slowly working through it and improving my blog.
Colin Brooks on January 17th, 2007 3:37 pm

Very nice list but damn! You make it sound like a lot of work!
George on January 17th, 2007 5:48 pm

Colin,

It is a lot of work.
TJ Ian on January 26th, 2007 12:18 pm

I came across your site through the 2007 Bloggies list… you just got my vote.
sujan patel on January 26th, 2007 3:57 pm

Fantastic list.
Rene Kriest on January 31st, 2007 8:43 pm

Nice list!

The funny thing is that this list could also have done by me. Except of three points I totally agree with you.

Go on with you good job!
aviva on February 6th, 2007 5:36 pm

use wordpressæ˜¯æˆ‘2007å¹´åˆå¦ä¼šçš„ã€‚
sujan patel on February 7th, 2007 9:29 pm

I especially like the last one. 101 list do great on social bookmarking websites.
Jacob Share on March 6th, 2007 12:43 pm

Great list. Phew! I’m happy that I’m already doing alot of these things on my site, but I still learnt some great tips. Thanks
Yumcha on March 7th, 2007 12:33 am

Fabulous list! Just found your site through mybloglog.com. I’ll be back for another dose!
StoryOnVideo.com on March 7th, 2007 12:50 am

ops forget to ask one another things..if possible can anyone here help me in SEO tips for make my blog can rank well in search engine? Thank You.
Daniel on March 7th, 2007 9:18 am

StoryOnVideo, just use Google, there is plenty of good are free information around the Web.
Chad on March 13th, 2007 1:20 pm

I have created a mini list of blog tips including some SEO tips and quick traffic generation tricks - let me know your thoughts.

Thanks!
Vasyamjx on March 16th, 2007 11:09 pm

A test, sorry.
Nirmal on March 28th, 2007 8:02 pm

Wow….These are really useful tips…..enjoyed reading it…:-)
posters on April 10th, 2007 4:26 pm

nice article
Ranjani on April 14th, 2007 6:39 am

Thanks a lot for sharing these tips with us.They were very interesting!
Dennis Bjørn Petersen on April 18th, 2007 3:23 am

Thank you very much for sharing. Good tips indeed.
cyberst0rm on April 21st, 2007 8:26 am

Thanks for that bro.

cyberst0rm’s tech blog
http://cyberst0rm.blogspot.com
babouk on May 1st, 2007 4:22 am

Hi

Thanks for your tips !!!
Few of them I already realised

But my Blog is relatively new - means
I’m still a baby in the blog sphere

Its very helpful for me

I will put a link on my blog
bhupen on May 6th, 2007 8:22 am

ok.ok. But too many rules, could you not have it made it to 5 or 10. I agree on duplicate contents, know your readers and speak looking at their eyes! Hope you provide a thorough guide for the newcomers, just plain list would not work.
Daniel on May 6th, 2007 8:34 am

bhupen, browse around the blog and you will find most of the tips explained.

Also, if you have any particular question just drop me an email and I will try to cover it.
Dave on May 18th, 2007 3:03 pm

??
yongfa365 on May 23rd, 2007 7:03 am

good,I like your web ,

I have a question :your web url is
101-blog-tips-i-learned-in-2006
please how you do it?
auto? or write it yourself?
Sam Jackson on May 23rd, 2007 7:26 am

Your adsense suggestion links to analytics… just an FYI
Daniel Scocco on May 25th, 2007 5:16 am

yongfa, seach the blog for “optimal URL structure” and you will find it.

Sam, thanks, corrected that.
MyCoupons on May 27th, 2007 4:39 am

Nice list of blogging tips, I’m still learning, tks
SavingDiva on May 30th, 2007 4:44 am

Great and thorough list!
neria on June 7th, 2007 9:58 am

Great information man thanks
gökhan on June 13th, 2007 8:15 am

Buda benim blogum herkesi beklerim ç.ok güzel:

http://geccetr.blogspot.com
Myo Kyaw Htun on June 16th, 2007 9:12 pm

Daniel,

Great information I’ve ever seen. Now I’m reading posts in archives from DailyBlogTips.

Keep it up

Best wishes,

Myo Kyaw Htun
gökhan on June 17th, 2007 10:55 am

WORLD BEST BLOG:

http://geccetr.blogspot.com

LANGUAGE:TURKISH
Budi S on June 17th, 2007 9:18 pm

Nice blogging article …
Pixel-Pixie on June 18th, 2007 8:30 am

Thanks for all these excellent tips - I’m adding a link to you from my own website as a tribute to all your great advice!
auto cars on June 23rd, 2007 4:07 am

great post.
i have taken some tips from here.
Abhishek Kumar on June 27th, 2007 3:37 am

Nice compilation.. One more site I think, you should add there with problogger is http://www.johnchow.com John Chow is writing superb articles on blogging and raising money through blogs. Also you have not learned how to make money online.
ruud on July 6th, 2007 6:08 am

Thanks for all tips.
Brittany on July 6th, 2007 6:44 pm

This is the most helpful list! I have read through it a couple times now and keep having those “aha” moments where I realize that such simple tips really do make a difference. Thanks!
egforum on July 7th, 2007 6:24 pm

thanks ….
Gaje Master on July 10th, 2007 10:26 am

I had to come back and read this. I like the way it realy unfolds. These are all true and I am still in the process of learning. Maybe by next year, I can build my own list of things that I learned.
dungta on July 12th, 2007 12:23 am

it’s very nice , thanks your post
lp on August 1st, 2007 12:14 pm

I am a potential future blogger….I just bookmarked your blog. There looks to be several good suggestions on the list.
blogger tips on August 3rd, 2007 7:46 pm

102. visit http://imp.winartho.com for more tips
Natasha on August 5th, 2007 12:05 pm

Sorry, why 5 posts a week?
mara on August 15th, 2007 5:14 pm

Great list thanks!
schizo on August 26th, 2007 1:37 am

how can i improve the traffic in my site? can somebody help me…huhuh
Arstan on August 26th, 2007 4:18 am

Thanks for the break down! Really informative!
Tkiii on September 18th, 2007 12:28 am

Its good post thank you.
blogr on October 15th, 2007 8:19 am

thank you. i have learned some thing new

- blogrtools
http://blogrtools.blogspot.com
Shannon on October 15th, 2007 10:08 am

Wow!! Great job! This must have taken you a long time to do. Thank you for all of the information, it was very helpful!
www.scottfusco.net on October 17th, 2007 8:23 pm

Can’t thank you enough for this post. Just when you think you are almost done, you learn that there is just about 1 million extra things you could be doing.

I guess that’s the nature of the beast though when you have to wear so many hats as a blogger. I “stumbled” on this site today and think that this is probably the most useful blogging site I’ve ever found. Thanks so much!

Scott Fusco
Weblife Website Design on October 24th, 2007 11:43 am

So, implementing these tips on my website design site should increase traffic to the site?

I don’t know why I haven’t created a blog on my website yet, but I definitely will, and I’ll be sure to go over your tips when I do. My focus is on graphics design, so these tips on the blogging aspect sure do help.
Young on November 17th, 2007 9:57 am

Thank you for your great idea!

This post was translated to Chinese, so your idea will be shared with more people.Here is the address:

http://www.essentialblog.cn/101-tips/

Of course, I did the translation.^_^
Bush on November 27th, 2007 9:39 pm

Thanks so very much for taking your time to create this very useful and informative site. I have learned a lot from your site. Thanks!!o
Website Promotion - Frederrick on November 30th, 2007 2:07 am

Social book marking, ping and feeds are my favorites. But the list given is quite comprehensive and learned quite a few new things. Thanks.
sveta on November 30th, 2007 9:21 am

I browse and saw you website and I found it very interesting.Thank you for the good work, greetings
sveta on December 1st, 2007 5:15 am

Hi, everybody
Aneesh on December 3rd, 2007 4:59 am

I use blogger as it is the only free one that i can customize.. will soon try wordpress after i get a hosting..
jakes on December 3rd, 2007 6:07 am

ya..me too started a new blog…waiting for some goood tips to increase my traffic…..saw nice tips…..really helping
Britney on December 14th, 2007 6:06 pm

Great Site - really useful information!
Syd on December 20th, 2007 3:48 am

Nice blog post. Let each of us follow at least 10 of the above tips everyday.
John Simpson on January 3rd, 2008 9:17 pm

Don’t forget to thank people for their comments. It may lead to a backlink on their site down the road.
video training library on March 6th, 2008 11:23 pm

Great list.
Thanks alot for sharing.
giftcardblogger on March 11th, 2008 3:48 am

I am a new blogger and this is very helpful. I have read this over and over again and each time, I try to pick one thing that I will work on from the list. Once I master that, i move to the next. Thanks!
Farrhad on April 27th, 2008 7:25 am

Nice list! Keep it up!
Masalaboard on April 28th, 2008 2:56 pm

I use blogger as it is the only free one that i can customize.. will soon try wordpress after i get a hosting..
Xboard on April 29th, 2008 11:48 am

Wow!! Great job! This must have taken you a long time to do. Thank you for all of the information, it was very helpful!
AdSense VS Chitika on May 1st, 2008 11:07 pm

Tip #2 is a must!
faathir on May 3rd, 2008 6:10 pm

wow!!! but i’m using blogger..should I change to wordpress?
78HG on May 5th, 2008 1:36 pm

“write at least 5 posts a week”

I feel it is hard to do every week!
webhosting on May 9th, 2008 7:26 am

@78HG

Mostly advice to write one every day, visitors will return and you have a higer ranking in google and alexia.
Dan on May 20th, 2008 12:20 am

download movies
faizan on May 21st, 2008 6:02 pm

use pingomatic.com or autopinger.com !
meta key word play vital role but content is king!
Riccardo on May 27th, 2008 9:53 pm

thanks to you I’ll start today man!!!
SEO Genius on June 3rd, 2008 12:40 pm

Another great article, some obvious tips there but also some not so obvious ones
Rahul Pande on June 9th, 2008 9:45 am

hi Daniel,
This is really cool post..
I like most of this & will try to follow all this tips.
have a look to my blog

http://www.rahulpande.blogspot.com
nedyasafira on June 11th, 2008 3:06 pm

thanks,nice tips nedyasafira
nedyasafira on June 11th, 2008 3:07 pm

nice article, now funded
webhosting guide on June 12th, 2008 3:56 pm

disagree with point 6.

wordpress isn’t the best for every blog. I use nucleus (not sow happy about it) but i had no choice.
Susn on June 20th, 2008 11:02 pm

Thanks for sharing these ideas. : )
I always proofread my posts in order to catch my many typos and mistakes before (hopefully) someone else does. There really is so much to learn about blogging, and I’ve only scratched the surface so far in my month and a half of blogging.
Vishal on June 28th, 2008 2:52 pm

Agreed with your thoughts.
But the first tip confused me.

if you are not ……….., start blogging today

seemed to be a fill in the blank.