Reading Roundup: 5 Articles to Make You a Better Blogger

With the official start of summer this week, it feels like the blogosphere and social networks have eased up a bit as folks take off for some time in the sun.

But, if you’re one of the few and faithful still at your desk, I can assure you there is still plenty of excellent content being pumped out for your reading pleasure.

Here’s a round up of some excellent blogging and content marketing advice that caught my attention this week:

• How to Keep Your Blog Readers Coming Back for More
   – I can always count on Stanford Smith at Pushing Social to deliver the goods. If you’re having trouble gaining traction with your blog, Stan offers up seven tips to help you build a loyal following of readers. And, if you’re just starting out with your blog, check out Stan’s follow-up post – How to Write Your First 10 Small Business Blog Posts. Good stuff.
• 11 Ways to Bore the Boots Off of Your Readers
   – If you’re blog isn’t getting read and shared, chances are good that you might be boring folks to death. This excellent post from Henneke Duistermaat
   at Copyblogger looks at some common blogging mistakes that repel readers and what you can do to fix it.
• Responding (Or Not) to Blog Comments
   –
   One of the biggest debates in the blogosphere is whether you should respond to every comment on your blog, some comments or not at all. You are allowing comments, right? Gini Dietrich opens up the debate at Spin Sucks. Take time to read through the discussion there about how different people approach it. (Hint – there’s no right answer!).
• How Do You Manage Negative Blog Comments?
   – Negative comments are perplexing for bloggers. Should you delete them? Respond? Ignore? Jayme Soulati offers up 10 tips to help you determine how to handle it.
• How to Create a Total Online Presence When You Don’t Have the Time
    – How’s that for a headline? John Jantsch over at Duct Tape Marketing sums up one of the biggest challenges for small businesses when it comes to social media and content marketing – lack of time. He spells out a simple framework to follow to help you get started. Although this goes beyond blogging, it is really worth a read. Be sure to check it out.

What were your favorite articles and blog posts from this week? Feel free to share (and yes, shameless self promotion is totally allowed)!