If someone came to your homepage today for the very first time, what would they see?

A post that really shouts “hey- this is ME and what I blog about!” or a post that whimpers because you wrote it in ten minutes? Oh yeah, you forgot to spell check it too.

With each post that you write, consider the person who set foot into your bloggy world for the very first time. If that post was ALL they had time to read, would it be enough for them to come back?

Sure we all write posts that make the answer “no.” Like I mentioned, there’s a quickie post that you wrote just to write something. There’s also the product giveaway post (unless you’re a review site), the “I’m taking a vacation” post, the major announcement post, the “housekeeping” post. These type of posts are necessary. But when they are front and center as your latest post, that’s the first impression your new reader gets of you.

How do you make sure it’s enough to keep them coming back?

Interlinking.

Interlinking simply means that you link to other posts within your post. For example, I could tell you that my most popular Momcomm post ever is about comment vomit. I originally published it on Adventuroo, where it racked up 124 comments. The post is still up but the content is now just an excerpt that leads here. Here on Momcomm, it’s gotten 90 comments.

The benefit of interlinking when you have a new reader on your site? Well, if your latest post was an announcement of your giveaway winner, that’s pretty blah to a new reader, don’t ya think?

That’s not to say you shouldn’t do posts like that. It’s just that you should find some way to give them your good stuff (without looking too obvious).

In Problogger’s e-book 31 Days to Build a Better Blog (affiliate link), he explains that interlinking makes your blog “sticky,” leading to a reader who’s more likely to go away satisfied.

Well, get the glue baby and stickify your blog post!

How to Interlink within a Not-Quite-Me Post

The short answer is “it depends.” It depends what your post is about, what your blog is about and what other posts are in your arsenal of awesome, rock-your-socks blogging. Nevertheless, here are a few suggestions:

• Link to a related post (ex. a funny vacation post if you just wrote about going on vacation)
• Link to a couple of your favorite posts
• Link to your readers’ favorite posts
• Link to the post that generated the most controversy
• Link to a post from last week that got a lot of comments (or one that was good but could use more love)
• Link to an archive page of a key category (on Momcomm, I might link to my blog critiques)
• Link to your meme (if you have one) and invite readers to join next week

A note about guest posts: If it’s a guest post, you probably won’t be able to interlink anything unless your guest happened to do so in their post. However, you don’t want a new visitor reading someone else’s words and thinking it’s you all the way until the end of the post! Instead, be very clear at the beginning of your post that it’s a guest post. Add a short intro to your guest, put “guest post” in your title, SOMETHING. If you can seamlessly link to a previous post in your guest post intro, by all means go ahead. Just don’t force it.

Interlinking and SEO

When you interlink, don’t just link with the ubiquitous “click here.” It does nothing for search engine optimization (SEO). Instead, use a relevant keyword or phrase from the post or blog like I just did above. Sometimes it’s tough to work into a sentence, but make it a habit to do this with the majority of your links.

Now go make that blog of yours sticky for your fab new readers!