Many people will find your blog posts through search engines. They'll google their keywords and end up on your blog, reading an article or maybe two. If you've got great longtail keywords it might bring you lots of targeted traffic.
While organic traffic is great, and you want to get as much of it as possible, why not try something that will keep people coming back instead of just hitting your site once and going away? One idea is to write a blog post series. I recommend at least 3 parts to your series, although it's going to depend on what you're blogging about.
One great idea for a serial blog post is sharing a case study. Doing a case study on yourself is a good way to hook people and make them want to read more. They'll sign up for your RSS feed or your opt-in so they get notified when you've updated your blog. They're even more likely to leave you blog comments.
Some ideas for case studies:
* Your new exercise regimen.
* Your weight loss, including goals.
* Your experience trying a new product.
* Your test of trying a new marketing method and your tracked results.
* Something challenging like - getting rid of the TV or your car or your cell phone for a week. Of course, it should be related to what your blog is about.
* Your outsourcing experiment.
* Stating your action plan for producing and promoting a product in 15 days, and your monetary goal.
People love to peek inside other people's lives and they'll come back to hear your positive results. We all love success stories, don't we? And we hope some of that success will rub off on us.
Other ideas for serial blog posts:
* Your all time top secrets to ______ (making good money at home, losing weight fast, etc.) Start with the last one and work your way forward to the best. Give one in each post and readers will look forward to the next.
* A series of posts on what people must know before they _______ (start blogging, get married, get divorced, etc.)
Tips:
Each serial post should be able to stand alone. Not everyone will come to your blog at the right place. If they're coming from a search engine, they might land in the middle of the series. So start each one with a blurb about what you're doing and add a link to the one before and the one after so people can read them in order if they want.
The idea is to keep these posts on the short side so they leave people wanting more. Also, keep them personal or at least in the first person. Inject your personality into the posts so they come alive.
A series of blog posts is a great way to capture readers so they'll want to come back and read more. Turn your one-time traffic into repeat traffic by putting yourself out there with case studies and expert advice in serial style. The next time they come, they might bring their wallet with them.
