I first began blogging a little less than three years ago and I have certainly come a long way in this field since that first post. At first, it was a passive hobby, something to satisfy my knack at web and graphic design while at the same time being able to express or rather preach what God has been teaching me. Yet now, I love the passion of writing and the excitement of encouraging and challenging other believers.

A very large portion of my audience here at The Baptist Muse, is composed of other like-minded bloggers. Many of you find yourself somewhere along that same journey that I have been taking. Many of you want to improve your abilities to influence others for the cause of Christ through your blog.

I have, in fact, recently been receiving several requests for advice about creating a more successful blog. In this post, I am going to begin an introduction to developing just that, a successful blog. Throughout this post and a few follow-ups, I will discuss ideas for developing your content, tools to hone your writing skills, some basic design rules and guidelines, strategies for increasing readership and much more.

As we continue our efforts in creating a God honoring alternative to the smut that is on the internet, we as Christian webmasters and bloggers find ourselves looking for ways to enhance our sites and grow our visitor base.  In other words, we want to make our sites better and get more people to view our website and be encouraged by our Christ-exalting content. 

The problem with not having many readers or site visitors isn't caused by the fact that we don't want people to read our material.  Usually it is simply caused by a lack of knowledge on the subject of web design and marketing...And that is where this article comes in.  

One of the most effective means of getting people to visit your website or blog is also one of the most simple: the link exchange.  A link exchange is simply an agreement between two websites wherein they mutually agree to display a link to the other site.  In other words, I will link to your site if you will link to mine.  Quite often you will see a section of a site with one of the following titles: link exchange, links that like us, blogrolling, blogs I read, or something like that.

Although this is one of the most simple means to get people to your site, don't be fooled into thinking that all link exchanges are the same.  There are many different factors to consider when initiating a link exchange including the following: type, position, size, and page rank.  

Most bloggers and webmasters find themselves searching hopelessly for a way to attract new readers and visitors to their sites.  Here are a few very simple tips that can be used to accomplish just that.

1.  Use a fresh design - If your website is messy, sloppy, disorganized, the colors are hard on the eye or don't match then your site will go down the drain.  Use a clean layout that is easy for your visitors to navigate.

2.  Write creative content - Some people have said that you need to write a post every day.  This simply isn't true.  It is better for your site to write one well-written, creative article per week than to load your blog or website with short, meaningless posts.

3.   Guest blog - If you have the opportunity to promote your writing style at another popular blog, take it!  This is a great chance for you to expose a new audience to your writing and to get some people to come visit your site.

4.  Respond to comments and emails - People love to visit a blog where the author is interactive and responsive.  Make it your goal to respond positively to every comment that people leave at your site.