1. Increase Posting Frequency
If you only post once a week, bump that up to 3 times. If you post everyday, try to post twice a day at least three times per week. Every additional blog post provides new content for existing readers to view and new entry points for search engines to help new visitors find your blog. Follow the link to learn all about blog posting frequency.
2. Respond to More Comments
Comments are what makes blogs interactive, social and different from static websites. If you only occasionally respond to comments left on your blog posts, try to respond to at least half of the comments you get. If you already respond to most of the comments left on your blog, try to respond to every comment left on your blog. You can follow the links to read more about blog comments and blog conversations and communities through comments.
3. Clean Up Your Blogroll
A blogroll is a great way to connect with other bloggers, but it's useless (and possibly annoying) to your readers if the links aren't helpful or don't work. Take some time to periodically test the links in your blogroll throughout the year to ensure they deliver value to your readers and actually work. You can follow the link to learn more about blogrolls.
4. Clean Up Your Sidebar
If your sidebar is cluttered with too many ads, useless links, and images and information that isn't useful to your readers, you need to delete the unhelpful excess. Take some time throughout the year to check the contents of your sidebar ensuring it's fully optimized to provide value to your readers as well as the results you want. You can follow the link to learn about 15 popular sidebar items.
5. Learn Something New
If you want to grow your blog's audience, a great way to do that is to introduce something new to your blog. For example, if you haven't learned how to create a podcast or vlog before, learn how and add it to your blog. You can follow the links to learn how to create a vlog and how to create a podcast.
6. Try Something New
If you don't have time to learn something new, you can still try something new on your blog. Blog contests, guest bloggers, polls, and blog carnivals are just a few suggestions of new things you can try on your blog at anytime. Follow the links to learn more about blog contests, guest blogging, polls, and blog carnivals.
7. Try a New Promotion Method
If you want to grow your blog, then you have to take time to promote it. If you haven't been submitting your blog to social bookmarking sites, participating in social networking, using Twitter or another microblogging tool, commenting on other blogs, or participating in forums related to your blog, then you should start! Follow the links to learn more about social bookmarking, social networking, Twitter, increasing blog traffic and free blog promotion.
8. Network More
Networking is one of the keys to blog success. As you meet more bloggers, communicate with other people in the blogosphere, and become better known online, your blog will grow. Take some time to use the social networking and microblogging tools available to you to grow your blog indirectly. To learn more about social networking and microblogging, follow the links for more information about Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Plurk and Jaiku.
9. Enhance Your Blog's Appearance
The visual appearance of your blog can have a big impact on whether or not visitors stay once they find it or return later. Take some time to evaluate your blog's appearance, and add enhancements or revisions to make your blog look better than ever. You can follow the links to learn where to find free Wordpress themes, where to find free Blogger templates, and where to find free photos to use on your blog.
10. Upgrade Your Blog's Functionality
There are a number of ways you can upgrade your blog's functionality. If you're currently using Blogger.com or TypePad, you might want to consider moving to Wordpress. If you're using the free version of Wordpress.com, you can switch to Wordpress.org and gain a significant amount of additional functionality. If you already use Wordpress.org, you can add plug-ins to give your blog a boost. Follow the links to read a blogging software comparison to help you understand the difference between the various blogging platforms available. You can also follow the links to read more about blogging with Wordpress, Blogger.com, Typepad, Wordpress.com vs. Wordpress.org, types of blog hosts and how to choose a blog host.
