New to blogging and the network but I've no idea why some posts work & other's don't

[Jaybird37]

I'm trying to promote a Secret Postcard Sale in aid of charity, and I don't really know why some of the posts get more views than others.

I'm also not sure whether the mix of reasons why you should support the cause and reasons why you might love the sale is right.

Advice gratefully accepted

juliaoffinchley.wordpress.com/

Thanks

Julia

Your SEO could be improved, to help people find your blog.

You need to be promoting 2 angles on social media, to raise awareness of your sale and auction: charity (Age UK) and bargain collectable artwork.

You are offering some amazing opportunities here, which will hopefully raise lots of money for your chosen charity and give people the opportunity to win (because the Secret Postcard Sale is effectively an art lottery as you may or may not buy a collectable piece) some highly collectable artwork. It merits considerably more interest than you are currently receiving! You're auctioning a Philip Treacy hat! :o

Social Media

Get on Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus and promote your 'selling collectable artwork for charity' sale and auction. Tweet and share links to your blog posts (and Ebay auction, when it goes live). Add hashtags to make your tweets/status updates more visible. If you don't have a Twitter account, sign up for one. I think plenty of people will be interested in retweeting about the Treacy hat - add one of your photos to the tweet, a relevant hashtag, a link to the post/auction and a "please #RT".

Keywords & Meta Data

Add some more targeted keywords to your blog articles e.g. "cheap collectable artwork", "charity auction", or whatever you think is most applicable. Try to mention it 2-3 times per post. Remember, the first couple of lines of each blog article are the most important as the first line of your most recent post is the thing glaring at you 'above the fold'. At the moment, the first thing I see above the fold is "a wonderful C4 documentary", which tells me nothing about your great artwork sale and charitable aims.

Tweak your website meta data to be more relevant to search engines. I'm sorry but

Is about as useful as a chocolate teapot. No one is going to be searching for "personal blog about whatever". When was the last time YOU typed that into Google? ;)

Networking

Buddy up with some relevant blogs or websites - perhaps art related - and ask if they'll link to your posts/auction. It's for charity, after all, so people are more likely to be willing to help out.

HTH and GL with your fund-raising! :) xx

PS: If you do get on Twitter, I'm @fcknits and will be happy to retweet for you, anytime - just tag me there and I'll see it in my 'mentions'.

Thank you.

That is really helpful.

I know the title of the blog is naff. I was not sure what I was going to blog when I set it up, but I am keeping it purely to the art sale at the moment.

With best wishes

Julia

You're welcome, Julia. :)

You don't have to change your blog title. But really do think about your meta data, please - particularly your blog description and keywords.

Fiona x

something to add to
Keywords & Meta Data

1. Using bold for keywords adds to keywords value.
2. Using keywords in titles, subtitles, sub-subtitles - adds to the value as well.
3. If wordpress.com allows to make individual description for each page - make it. Because it's what, more likely, is going to be shown in SERP and attract people.

Using bold for keywords won't actually change what the SE spiders see. ;)

You can stick keywords in anywhere that naturally includes text - feel free to stuff them into your page title, meta tags, image alt attributes, etc. But don't overuse them, as you will be penalised for that.

Each web page should be unique, absolutely. That includes meta tags, if possible. You will be penalised if your site is perceived as containing duplicate content. x