When To Announce Your Blog

So you finally have your own blog. When will you tell your friends about it?

You know the feeling. It's the rush you get when you realize you've finally broken free of your dependence on free blogging systems like Blogger, WordPress, Xanga, or LiveJournal.

You finally have your own domain name (i.e., ManuelViloria.com), and you have a WordPress blog installed, complete with your tweakable theme. Hopefully, it has a distinct look-and-feel that sets it apart from other WordPress-powered blogs.

And you're excited to let your friends and neighbors know. But when they do visit your site, they feel underwhelmed.

The reason: Lack of Content.

So here's a tip: Before you promote your blog or web site, publish around fifteen 400-word articles on your site. That's about one sheet of letter-sized paper, Times New Roman 12, single-spaced, one blank line between paragraphs. These articles should be useful from the point of view of your target visitors.

Is this too much? Okay, scale it down to 300-words per article.

Think of 15 problems your visitors face, or 15 questions they are seeking answers to. Then answer each one via a blog post. One post per question.

How long will it take you? It's up to you. How long will it take you to write 15 useful posts? Try not to drag it beyond two months.

Once those articles are up, tell your friends about your site. Then watch the magic begin. :-)

[ First posted on 10/18/2007 by Manuel Viloria ]