Is Your Blog on Life Support?

Medical dramas have long been a television staple, and the current television landscape includes the popular example, "Grey's Anatomy."

Even if you aren't familiar with the show, chances are you have a least a rudimentary knowledge of the cast. I mean, good grief - with characters like Patrick Dempsey's "McDreamy," and Eric Dane's "McSteamy" - how can you lose? (sigh...) Now, where was I?

There are many factors that play into the ultimate success or failure of a television show, and many of these same elements can be crucial to the success of your blog.

If your blog is currently on life support, I encourage you to check out this prescription for improving its health. See if you can't put some of these ideas into practice. You'll be pleasantly surprised how quickly you can improve your blog's pulse rate.

Time Slot:

You aren't likely to see a season cliffhanger air on a major holiday or a weekend. Why? Because there won't be an audience to watch it. The same holds true for your blog. If you want to attract readers, you should schedule your updates at times that are most likely to be noticed by readers. Wednesdays are statistically better than Mondays. Folks are still working, of course, but the hectic pace of Monday has lessened a bit, and you'll get a much better response.

Eye Candy:

You could just as easily call this the "Baywatch Effect." Do you think if they'd had the original cast from "Revenge of the Nerds" sporting Speedos® that folks would have tuned in?

Um...not so much.

But, shoot a couple moments of Pamela Anderson running in super slow-mo on the beach, and you've got yourself a ratings winner...at least on the Spike Network.

How does this transfer to your blog? Glad you asked.

I'm not saying you need to invest a fortune into a blog theme. These days, there is a wealth of free themes available - and they are yours for the cost of a well-deserved link back to the designer. In addition to this, you should consider the use of colorful photos or graphics to compliment your posts. You can do this by using free photos that are available through Creative Commons, or check out some of the affordable stock photo sites such as iStockPhoto, Dreamstime, or BigStock Photo.

A Healthy Dose of Drama:

If you've heard me say it once, you've heard me say it a thousand times - any press is good press - and blogs are certainly no exception. That drama can take many shapes and forms - it can be stoking the fires of a hot topic in the news; outrageous publicity stunts; contests or giveaways - the list is limited only by your own imagination. The takeaway here is that you should have a healthy dose of drama if you want to hold readers' attention.

The Crossover Episode:

Lots of popular television shows spin off new series by capitalizing on the popularity they have built. You can use the spinoff principle in your blog promotion, in a couple of ways. First, you can leverage traffic on an existing blog to help bring readers to a new web property. Offering free reports, contests, guest posts, and the like will help attract attention to your new venture, and give you a much-needed boost. Second, you can use the power of social media sites like Twitter to promote your blog posts. Using plug-ins, or third-party services such as Tweet Later, you can keep your Twitter followers up-to-date on your blog posts, without any additional effort.

The Cliffhanger:

Who will live, who just bought the farm? These details are always left hanging in the balance. If you give everything away at once, there is no incentive for folks to tune in later. Similarly, if you bombard your readers with too much information, you risk information overload. You also have given them no reason to want to learn more.

Some bloggers post daily, while others may post only once or twice a week. Some bloggers are very active, and post multiple updates daily. If you fall into this last category, be sure and disclose that information near your opt-in box. Better to alert subscribers of this ahead of time, than run the risk of losing them because you are just putting out more content than they are able to digest. Of course, using services like Feedburner will present your updates in a single email, and that makes them much easier for readers to manage.

Give it Time:

Patience is a virtue that most networks don't seem to have - as evidenced by all of the shows that they have seemingly arbitrarily canceled. Rome wasn't built in a day, and your blog following won't be, either.

There is no shortcut or magic pill. Your best course of action is to create quality content, post regularly, and promote your blog. Repeat after me: patience, posting, and promotion - that is the blog success trifecta.

Whether you are blogging about modern medicine or miniature dogs - you'll find an audience if you position yourself properly. The toughest part is getting them to tune in to that pilot episode.

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