What do I mean by how you blog?

One of the most common mistakes made by the novice blogger is to fill their blog with 60 - 80% recycled content. Sure, it's fine to quote other sources and give your opinion. But just re-blogging other posts, or cutting and pasting reprint articles does not a great blogger make.

And maybe you don't want to be a Great blogger. Perhaps you don't have the time.

But you do want to be at least a good blogger, or you are killing your blog’s incredible potential to be a search engine magnet, as well as boost your traffic and sales from both first time and return visitors.

Your content doesn't have to be picture perfect, and you don't have to make article-length posts to your blog.

But what you do need is:

• Blog Posts that Engage Your Audience * Blog Material that is either Original in Topic, or Original in Approach * More Original Content than Re-Hashed * Unique Viewpoints, Sources or Perspectives to add to content that you quote.

Does when you post to your blog make a difference?

Yes. You're going to find that some days of the week get you a better response, maybe because more people are online. Or perhaps if you're an entrepreneur, informing other micro-business owners, you might find that certain times of day work best for you.

Paying attention to trends that work best for your site for the time of day, week, and even year, can bring a measurable boost to your readership. Some people, myself included, even find that blogging when more people are likely to be on their site brings a boost in sales.

There isn't much hard data as to why that is, but when you think about an offline analogy, it makes sense. I don’t know about you, but if I'm browsing a store in a mall, it greatly increases the chances that I'll leave without buying if no one is around.

Does that mean you have to be around and blogging all the time? Not necessarily. But if you see a dip in traffic or sales when you haven't posted in a while, a few short posts may help reverse the trend.

There’s also a certain pace of blogging that can help you secure your search engine positions once you obtain them - but that’s another article.