Wanna know how to build a better blog?

Go watch successful bloggers and see what they do, not what they say. Then do that in a way that works for you. #blogchat – @Copyblogger

Seriously, if you want to find answers to what works, what doesn’t, how you can improve and do better…one of the best ways to learn and improve is to see what others are doing and implement those strategies in your own unique way. So today, we’re going to…

Analyze a Successful Blog In Your Niche

Here’s what your gonna do today (and maybe some more this weekend). Pick a blog (or two) and look at your blogs side by side. Of course this works great if you have dual-monitors which I do (neener, neener; yes, I’m five!). Once you’ve picked a blog, you’re going to give it a once over review. Look at things like:

• The Design: What colors are they using? What do their Call To Actions look like? What does their layout look like (one column, two column, three column)?
• The Content: What things are they writing about? What posts seem to resonate well with their audience? What kind of things are they NOT writing about? (Maybe, you can cover some of these topics?) How often are they posting? Look at the structure of their posts…do they use video and photo content? How long are their posts?
• Reader Engagement: Are they connecting with their readers (either through comments, social mentions & shares, etc.)? Do they respond to comments? Do they hi-light recent comments in their sidebar?
• Look at their Traffic & SEO: This one’s simple, just run the site by WebsiteGrader. It’s a free tool provided by the folks at Hubspot that runs an analysis of the keywords used on a blog, page rank, site traffic, number of indexed pages, etc.  (Caution: Don’t get too caught up on this. Stats can have a way of sucking you in an driving you crazy. Run your site stats, check your competitors, then leave it alone for a month and see if you’re made some improvement. If haven’t, then you’re doing something wrong and/or you can be doing something better).

So, all that said, let’s take a look at an example blog critique. BlogTyrant.com (hey @BlogTyrant, hope you don’t mind I reviewed your site)

Note of Caution:

Don’t get obsessed visiting and analyzing other blogs. Doing this a few times and finding ways to make improvements on your own site is great. Sometimes however, people get too caught up and end up spending too much time on competitors site, copying their work and less time focusing on their own blog (their own content, etc.). Instead, find ways to do what they do…better! In your own style and your own voice.

Today’s Action Step:

Pick a blog (or two) in your niche and do a quick review. Look at things like Design, Content (post frequency), Engagement and run their site through the Website Grader. Then, report back on what ideas you’ve come across that you can implement on your own site! What seems to work, what doesn’t?

This one’s a fun exercise so I look forward to hearing your thoughts and suggestions… 🙂