7 Strategic Blog Improvement Questions for 2009

December 9th, 2008 by Easton Ellsworth

2008 is almost over. 2009 is about to begin.

Have you considered your blog improvement plan for next year?

Here are 7 strategy-related questions you should ask yourself.

1. What will I accomplish with my blog in 2009?

Set a few goals for the next 12 months. I recommend having at least one clear, measurable goal for your blog’s overall performance, plus at least one goal each for the following areas:

1. Blog content improvement
2. Blog design improvement
3. Blog community improvement
4. Blog traffic improvement
5. Blog RSS feed / Atom feed / email subscribers improvement
6. Blog search engine optimization (SEO) improvement
7. Blog social media optimization (SMO) improvement
8. Blog monetization improvement
9. Blog value / return on investment (ROI) improvement

Which means you’ll have at least 9 area-specific goals plus at least one overall blog goal for next year.

Think big. Effort is more important than accomplishment.

2. How will I make my blog more valuable in 2009?

If you do nothing else, please answer this question.

The value of your blog is the excuse for its existence.

What does it generate in revenue, relationships and enjoyment for you and for your audience? How can you justify your involvement with it?

In other words, what’s your blog’s return on investment (ROI)?

And … how will you increase your ROI for your blog in ‘09?

3. How will I increase the authority of my blog in 2009?

This is a classic Chris Garrett question.

Authority is closely tied to what people think of your blog – particularly how much they trust it as an accurate, important source of information, discussion and/or entertainment.

Evaluate your blog’s level of authority in its niche. Then imagine what it can become by the end of 2009.

Finally, set one or more goals to increase your blog’s authority over the next year.

4. How will I make my content more addictive in 2009?

There are a zillion ways to phrase this question. We all know that the content of your blog is crucial to its success.

But I chose the word addictive because attention spans are growing ever shorter. The blog visitors of 2009 will have a hundred times as many sources clamoring for their attention as the blog visitors of, say, 2005 (when I took my first blogging steps).

So what are you going to do to hook people next year and keep them coming back to your blog? How are you gonna make ‘em need your blog like a drug?

5. How will I make my blog design more charming in 2009?

Your blog’s design may be much more important than you think. How will you alter it so as to charm the crowds of 2009?

It’s no longer enough to slap up a basic template. In order to help your content stand out, your design needs to stand out. And in order for your design to stand out, it needs to be unique.

It’s about the flourishes. Every baseball stadium has stands, an infield with dirt and four bases in a square, two foul poles and overpriced hot dogs.

But let yours be the one with the ivy.

6. How will I make my blog community funner in 2009?

People usually join communities because of what they feel, not because of what they know. Your blog may offer lots of interesting information, but it also needs to give the visitor a reason to think that coming back again and again to participate in your conversations will be enjoyable.

Where’s the fun in your blog? How does it tickle people? How will you make it seem boring to miss out on its articles, comments, announcements and events?

7. How will I melt my blog more fluidly into my business’s big picture in 2009?

Here’s the thing. You’ve got a website. You’ve got a blog. You’ve got a Twitter account. You’ve got Facebook. You’ve got MySpace. You’ve got YouTube. You’ve got FriendFeed. You’ve got a bunch of online threads wrapped up in a ball.

You’ve probably also got offline stuff. Business cards. Conference itineraries. Office hours. Hands to shake. Backs to scratch. Maybe even mouths to feed. Another ball.

And each ball, if you’re not careful, comes to resemble a mess of multicolored rubber bands, each wanting to break off and stretch you away from the center.

The thing you’ve got to figure out for 2009 is how to melt all that stuff together. How to make it so that when you work on your blog, you’re helping the rest of your business, and vice versa.

I wish you a wonderful 2009.

Hire Easton Ellsworth for 2009

Hire me as your blog improvement consultant for 2009. I’ll help you answer all the questions above for your business blog or professional blog. See my blogging resume and over 40 testimonials of my work.

Coming Soon at Visionary Blogging

My next article will talk about how to improve your blog community for 2009. Stay tuned.

Photo by magnusdigity

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