Summary: This week we decided to dedicate the entire show to helping you bootstrap your blog! Just because something is free doesn’t mean people are going to want it, so we delve into some of the top tactics and tools for drawing in those readers, and get to the bottom of what really matters. The big issues: How to boost subscribers to your blog How to increase the number of comments on your posts How to turn your blog into a real community Who do we recognise as subscribers? There is a huge array of subscribers, from those that use RSS feeds, to newsletter subscribers, commenters, regular site visitors, and not least those who ‘like’ your Facebook fan page or follow your brand profile. Two vital ways of pulling return visitors to your site: RSS and email In terms of cultivating subscribers and followers to your content, what are the key steps you need to go through? We talk about how your blog post could act like as forum for great discussions by making the most of threaded comments. Facebook plugins: The pros and cons of using plugins such as Disqus, Intense Debate & Facebook Comments. We analyse the SEO issues they come with and debate their value in terms of providing leverage for your blog. So, what are the high profile bloggers doing? We debate the increasingly popular Lightbox popups, and plugins such as Popup Domination. Do they add value? To grow your reach and subscribers you should be commenting elsewhere too. We talk through how, where and why you should be doing so. Create evergreen content with great comments! We get to the bottom of how to master producing content like this and reap all the benefits. If you are not so hot with creating great content, there are some useful tools you can use to pull in the subscribers Once you have built momentum and amassed a handful of subscribers, what are the next steps and how can you make money? WordPress 3.1 is around the corner, but what should you be looking out for? Check out all the updates on codex.wordpress.org/Version_3.1 We want to hear your ideas on what topics you would like us to talk about, and which guests you would love to hear from! Leave a comment with your suggestions below. Useful links: Great blog post by Rand Fishkin on seomoz.org - Recommendations For Blog Commenting As A Marketing strategy Yoast.com – Joost de Valk’s WordPress SEO post The Cathedral and the Bazaar – an interesting read if you have some time to kill This is a true example of evergreen content. A top notch post written by Avinash Kaushik – Blog Metrics, 6 Recommendations For Measuring Your Success. Check out W3 Total Cache by Frederick Townes
