Mommy blogger conferences have increased in popularity as more parents have begun blogging as a way to supplement their incomes while staying at home to raise their children.  Most of them offer beginner, intermediate, and advanced workshops to help people maximize the success of their blogs.  You can also expect to find a collection of businesses in attendance that work with bloggers to help them earn money through various advertising or affiliate marketing opportunities.  Walking through the exhibit hall, you may discover new ways to monetize your site and increase your blogging revenue.

Best of all, though, you’ll have the opportunity to interact with other bloggers – some who are just starting out and some who have made big names for themselves online.  You may find some well-known favorites speaking at seminars or participating in panels, but you’ll also discover new favorites by simply networking through the event.  At the same time, you will have the chance to share your own blog (don’t forget your business cards!) and connect for link trades, blog hops, and other opportunities to increase your readership.

Don’t be shy.  Whether you attend with a group of blogger friends or strike out on your own, you’re sure to come away from the event with useful new tips and tools and an even better shot at getting paid to do what you love – blog!

1) Pick a good Domain Name

Having a short, witty domain name is easier for readers to remember. It also helps to buy your own domain name, instead of using something at blogspot.com or wordpress.com. It doesn’t cost much at all, looks much more professional, and is therefore worth the cost. Plus, advertisers tend to prefer domain names. Chances are, further down the line, you’d want your own domain name eventually. Transferring your blog to a new name can be difficult, tedious, and confusing for your readers. Getting one from the beginning avoids all of these issues.

2) Customize Your Layout

Don’t just use a default layout. Tweak the design as much as you can, so that it reflects your personality. Make your own banner for the top (there are plenty of free, easy to use image editing programs and sites). Use colors and fonts that are easy for your visitors to read and pleasing to the eyes. (For example, red text on a bright blue background can hurt the eyes).

3) Write quality content

Writing articles with substance attracts readers and keeps them coming back. Don’t just do giveaways and coupon lists. Pick a niche that is something you enjoy and something you know a lot about. The passion you have will find its way into your writing, make your blog posts enjoyable and appealing to readers.

Advertiser’s like to see blogs with good content and lots of followers. Providing knowledgeable, helpful tips to your readers give them a reason to keep coming back. Writing quality content will help you build a stronger, more loyal reader base. With more consistent traffic, your blog will be more appealing to advertisers and they’ll be more eager to advertise on your blog, helping you earn more just from working at home.

4) Do Your Research

If blogging is going to be your business, take the time to read up on strategies for getting traffic and optimizing your blog. Learn how to use an analytics program so you can measure your traffic. It’s not just about writing great content – you can write tons of great posts and not one of them will be read if you don’t learn how to get traffic to your blog.

If you were running any other business, you would want to stay up to date with anything going on in order to stay competitive. Blogging is no different. Following several blogs about blogging can help you stay current. Attending conferences and meeting with other bloggers is also helpful, and you can learn a lot about how to make your blog more successful.

5) Learn Basic HTML

Understanding how your layout works can get you much more flexibility with design and ultimately enhance your readers’ experience on your blog. While many blogging platforms have easy to use, customizable layout templates, having a basic understanding of code can be beneficial not just in understanding how your layout works, but also in your individual posts (for example, if you want to wrap text around a picture).

6) Keep It Simple

Don’t go overboard with gadgets and crazy, complicated layouts. Many mommy blogs have a ton of gadgets in the side bar. Keep in mind that sometimes gadgets slow down the load time of your blog. Readers don’t like waiting forever and they’ll leave your site if it takes too long to load.  Here are suggestions for how to decrease your load time. Be careful about what you put on your blog and don’t go crazy with gadgets. Also when using gadgets, take care to keep in mind the look of your blog… sometimes gadgets don’t fit in the navigation bar, etc. so make sure that if you are using gadgets, you accommodate your layout to fit them in a pleasing way.

7) Be Outgoing and Network!

Don’t be shy. Find other blogs within your niche and comment on them. Join forums and be active in blogging communities. You need to promote your blog to get traffic.  More traffic means higher income – especially if you use any kind of pay per click or pay per action ads.

Blogging is a fun, rewarding way to make money for a stay at home mom.  Keep these tips in mind when you’re blogging, and they’ll be sure to help you earn more with your blog.

Recently we discussed how to use an RSS Feed to increase your blog’s readers, but that’s not the only thing that you can do with an RSS Feed. One of the main drawbacks discussed about using RSS feeds is that it sometimes means that your readers don’t actually visit your blog. So, if you’re monetizing your blog using ads, those readers aren’t seeing them and aren’t clicking on them.

By monetizing your RSS Feed, you no longer have that problem. You can make money blogging by placing ads in your RSS Feed.

How do you monetize your RSS Feed?

There are several different websites that help bloggers place ads on their feeds, like Adsense for Feeds, Pheedo and Kanoodle for Feeds; these are just a few options – this article here can tell you about several other providers for monetizing your RSS Feed.  These companies place ads that are relevant to your readers either by using contextual ads or by choosing a particular topic or category.

RSS Feed Ad Options

Bloggers have a variety of options regarding what types of ads are used in their feeds.  In addition to choosing between text ads and banner ads, they can also be pay per click or pay per mille type ads.  You can choose what size ads you would like to use and where you would like to place them. Some bloggers place them at the top of the article; you can even wrap the text around them if you want. You could also place them at the bottom.

Benefits of using RSS Feed Ads

By using ads in your RSS Feed, you can still receive profits from readers who don’t necessarily visit your. As discussed in our previous article, sometimes readers subscribed to an RSS Feed just read an article in the feed, and don’t actually visit the site. This especially a problem if you are posting the entire article in the feed, instead of just posting an excerpt. To combat this issue, RSS Feed ads help you make money off those readers who just read the feed. It’s a way to cover all your bases.

There is one downside. Just like when you monetize your blog using ads, some readers might be turned off by seeing the ads, and you risk having people unsubscribe from your feed. If you want to start introducing feed ads, try putting a small 468×80 size ad at the bottom of your feed, where it’s less disruptive to your readers.

So if you want to get paid to blog using ads, but also use an RSS Feed to increase your blog traffic, RSS feed ads are a great solution. You still can earn money for those readers not visiting your site.

How to Use Facebook To Get Blog Traffic

Whenever a Facebook user or Twitter user publishes a status, it goes into what is called the News Feed. Whenever someone logs into one of these sites, he or she sees this News Feed, which is constantly updated with posts about what his or her friends are doing. So if Bob logs in and shares a link to an article that he really liked, everyone sees it.

You can update your status and post a link to your blog’s newest entry. This will publish an article in all of your friends’ news feeds letting them know that you updated your blog. If your blog is new, this can be a great way to get initial followers. It’s still a good idea to do even if you already have visitors, too. Include a picture in the Facebook post if you can (make sure its relevant) and write a good headline to catch your friends’ attention.

Try to think about what hours your friends are most active. You want to publish the post when you think more of your friends will see it and visit your blog.

Get Retweets in Twitter

Facebook isn’t the only way to advertise your blog. You can also update your status in Twitter. The benefit to using Social Media is that it makes it very easy for users to retweet or share something they really like. On Twitter, for example, if they see a post they really like, all they have to do is click “Retweet” and then it shares it with everyone following their feed. So it’s easier to get your links to snowball when you’re using these networks of people.

See if you can get a few of your friends to retweet your post or to share the link to your blog on Facebook as well so that you can reach their network of friends, too.

Share Icons

Somewhere on your blog entry page, you can include little icons called “Share Icons”. You’ve probably seen these on news websites. For example, there might be a Facebook icon that says “Share”. This is an easy way for readers to share something on Facebook, Twitter, or whatever Social Media site they are using. All they have to do is click the link and goes into their news feed. This is an easy way to get your posts to spread and to increase blog traffic. Just put the icons somewhere near the bottom or top of your post where your readers can easily see it.

Create a Fan Page for Your Blog

If you already have a handful of followers, consider adding a fan page to your blog. Like an email newsletter, this is a great way to keep in touch with people. When your readers “Like” your fan page, then you can send them updates and messages whenever you want. Let them know that you added a new post, that you’re doing a give away, etc. This way you can promote your blog by reaching all of your fans.

Additional Tips For Using Social Media

Be careful and don’t update too frequently – basically, don’t get spammy. Keep some space in between your posts so that your friends don’t get bored of seeing you in their feed too much. If you are always posting the same thing, remember that people can choose to hide your posts and you don’t want them to do that!

Remember, if you’re trying to earn money blogging, you need to have traffic. Facebook and other Social Media sites are a gold mine for traffic, so don’t pass up on using them. They can greatly increase your site traffic so start using them today.

What is an RSS Feed?

An RSS Feed is a format that allows users to subscribe to your content and receive updates when you update your website. Visitors can use an RSS Reader to check their feeds, and they’ll see whenever a website is updated, instead of having to go and visit the website every day to check to see if something is new.

Why should you use RSS?

Without an RSS Feed, the only way your readers will know if you’ve updated your content is by visiting your website everyday. This can become tedious and disappointing if your site is updated less frequently and is not set to a specific schedule, and in this scenario readers might stop visiting your blog.

Imagine this scenario: a reader visits your site and loves the content they read. They book mark it, but they don’t remember it a few days later and stop coming back. Now imagine you have an RSS Feed: that reader visits your blog, loves the content, and subscribes to the feed. Now every time you update, they get a notification, so they keep coming back to your site. By using RSS, you are able to reach out to your readers and let them know when to check your site.

How do you get users to subscribe?

You need to know where to put it. Place it near the top of your blog home page, so your readers can see easily spot it. Use a large icon so that it stands out. You want it to be noticeable so that readers looking for it can find it easily. Also making it obvious helps attract readers who weren’t necessarily looking for it, but once they realize the option is there, they’ll subscribe.

You can also post a small “RSS” icon at the bottom of each post. Often after a reader finishes a post, they’re looking for something to do – like share it with a friend, comment, or subscribe so they can get more updates.

How to Use Your Feed

You need to decide how you want to display your content on the feed. You can show the whole post, part of the post, or just a link to the new post. The benefit to showing part of the post is that you are enticing readers to visit your site by offering them a little bit of content, but to read more they have to visit your site. If they’re visiting your site, that means that you’re increasing your chances that they’ll click on your ads.

If you post the whole post, the downside is that you might not see as much traffic to your site as you would otherwise. However, it’s still better to have readers following you in the RSS rather than nothing. If they’re still following you, you can still reach them and having that connection there means there is still an opportunity to get them to come to your site. If you are worried that an RSS feed will mean less people actually visiting your site, read this article explaining the benefits of using a feed and why a feed can help your blog, even if they don’t visit your site.

Feeds are a great way to get more hits and generate website traffic. You can promote your blog in a variety of ways to get those initials hits, but one of the keys to really growing your traffic is to get those loyal readers and those return visitors. An RSS Feed is the perfect way to do this.

If you do decide to add advertisements later, then you need to make some decisions about your monetization strategy so you will be ready once that moment does come. Because you could lose some readers when you start using ads, you don’t want to just slap a large banner ad right at the top of your page all of a sudden. Instead, you should consider a gradual approach.

Here are some suggestions for how to add ads to your blog:

1. Start Small

In the beginning, use smaller, 125×125 ads and place them somewhere in your side bar. They should be noticeable, but not overwhelmingly so. Remember what we talked about in this post about tips for adding ads to your blog, don’t use too many ads. To start with, try just adding one to three ads. Readers expect to see a few ads here and there, but they don’t want to see a site covered in thousands of bright blinking ads. Once you add the ads to your site, make sure you use your web analytics tools to monitor any changes in traffic and the number of clicks you get to your site, to see how successful the ads are.

2. Grow Gradually

Look at the reactions of your readers. Perhaps they emailed you or commented on posts about your ads – or perhaps they didn’t. If you haven’t heard anything, then chances are your readers don’t care. Before you congratulate yourself, though, make sure you check your analytics tool to see how your blog traffic is doing. (Don’t have a web analytics tool?  You really should get one! I cannot stress enough how useful they can be.  Here is a good list of web analytics tools you should look into).  If all seems well, then prepare to transition into using more ads. Try moving the ads higher up in your navigation bar, consider adding a few more ads on your site, and consider using a slightly larger size.

3. Analyze Your Results

The next step is basically to continue to repeat step two, with the exception that you will eventually reach a point where you do not want to keep adding ads. Making money blogging is a lot about experimentation and finding what works best for your blog. Keep watching your traffic and the number of clicks you get on your ads. Every so often, move your ads around and see how it affects your profit and your traffic.  There are many different areas on your layout where you can place your ads. Also try using larger ads. Try moving the ads to different spots on your blog outside your side bar – for example, some bloggers place ads at the top of the blog entry page, or at the top of the home page. Remember that the top left of your blog is considered the most optimal place for your ads.

Keep in mind that the larger your blog becomes, the more that advertisers will be willing to pay you. So you don’t have to go crazy and add a lot of ads to your blog. By just using enough ads to make money without alienating your readers, you will eventually be able to ask for more payment for the ads, so you don’t need to add more as you go.

When it comes to earning money blogging, you don’t want to take any chances. You might think that adding a large banner and tons of ads will help you make more money, but it won’t make you a dime if no one visits your site. To make money, you need readers.  Advertising doesn’t have to hurt your blog’s readership – you can still see a blog traffic increase even while earning money.  Just remember when monetizing your site, take your time, analyze your results and follow these basic steps.

Side bar

The most common place that bloggers put ads is in the side bar – that’s that smaller column on either the left or right side of your content, where your “About Me” section is. You next need to decide where in your side bar you want to put your ads. Do you want them towards the top of your side bar or towards the bottom? There are different advantages to either choice.

Top of Sidebar – Placing your ads towards the top of your side bar can help you earn more money with your ads. More people will notice ads at the top of the page, so you’ll increase the chances that readers will click on your ad. The downside to this strategy, though, is that some bloggers might not like seeing the ad at the top, especially if they are looking for the “About the Blogger” section. A solution is to place your ad just beneath this, so it’s still towards the top.

Bottom of Sidebar – Placing your ads towards the bottom might be a better solution if you are just introducing ads to your blog for the first time and are worried about what your readers will think. Because it’s less noticeable, your readers might not notice or care at first since the ads are tucked out of the way. Of course this is also the draw back as well – if less people notice it, then you won’t get as many clicks and won’t make as much money.

Also remember from this post about increasing your profits by redesigning your site that more people skim down the left side of a page, so if you have ads in your side bar, you’ll want your side bar to be on the left.  If you’re wondering how many ads and what size ads you should use, check out this blog article about adding ads to your blog.

Between Posts

Another option that I’ve seen some bloggers do is they’ll put advertisements in the space between their posts with a long, narrow ad. This is an attempt to combat ad blindness. Ad blindness is when readers don’t notice your ads because they are so used to seeing them; if you want to make money blogging, then you don’t want  your readers to have ad blindness.  Many readers probably expect to see some ads on the side bar and so they might be less likely to look there and click on them. However, readers will be more likely to notice ads between posts as they skim over the blog’s content.

While this is a great way to get readers to notice your ads and click on them, it may be too annoying for some readers. If you’re just introducing ads to your site, you probably will want to avoid this method as it might feel obtrusive to your readers. Experiment with the side bar ads first, and then if those are doing okay and your readers don’t mind, experiment with putting an ad between your posts, too.

Top of Site

This is also quite common, along with side bar ads. You might see a long banner at the top. Such ads are highly noticeable, meaning more likely to get clicks, but at the same time, because they are so noticeable, they might also be more likely to alienate your readers.  How much your readers will tolerate an ad here depends on how large it is and what the ad is.  If you have an incredible large, flashy ad that takes up half the screen, then your readers won’t like it. But if you have a slightly smaller size ad (468×60 or 728×90) that is relevant to your readers, they’ll probably be more willing to tolerate that.

If you are worried about alienating your readers, then a large banner ad at the top of your site is probably not the best choice.  However, if you consistently update your blog with exceptional, high quality content and if you include a disclaimer explaining that you get compensated your readers should be understanding.  Just remember to use ads that are relevant for your readers – not only is this more interesting to them, but it means they will be more likely to click on them because they’re interested in the products.

On blog entry page

Some bloggers will put an ad on their blog entry page (this is the page that shows only one blog entry and has a section for comments). For example, some bloggers place their ads in the top left corner of the blog entry, just beneath the post title, or in the middle of the post. How you do this is going to depend on your relationship with your readers and how receptive they are to your ads. You will also have to decide what size ad to use and whether or not you want to wrap the text around the image.

For a blogger just starting to monetize, the best, safest place is probably your side bar because readers see that often enough that it feels normal. Based on your success with that, you can move the ads around and see if that helps your blog profit increase at all. If you do use ads in your side bar consider moving it to the left so that it will get more clicks, and keep your ads towards the top.

Note for new bloggers: a guest post is a post that you write and submit to another blogger, who then posts it on his blog.  It allows you to reach that blogger’s visitors and gives you an opportunity to grow your blog’s audience.

Here are the five basic steps you should follow if you want to write a guest post:

1. Research
2. Comment
3. Brainstorm
4. Contact
5. Follow Up

1. Research

You need to find a blog that matches your subject and that will have a similar audience base that you are looking for.  You can’t just write a post on any random blog.  Your goal is to get more traffic to your blog, after all.  If you post on a blog with your target audience, they will be more interested in what you have to say, and thus more likely to visit your blog after reading your guest post.

For example, if you write a blog about food and cooking, and you post a guest post on a blog about sports, then chances are you will not get many of those readers to click through and visit your blog.  However, if you write on another food and cooking blog, then the readers of that blog will be more likely to click through to yours.

Also, you want to pick a blog that is medium sized.  A blog that is smaller may also be fine, but you just won’t get as much traffic.  A blog that is larger may be more difficult to get your guest post accepted.  Of course there are some strategies you can try to get your guest post accepted by a popular blog, but be prepared to be rejected.  Try to find one that has a little bit more traffic than yours to increase your chances of getting accepted, while still reaching a decent amount of potential readers.

Just like if you were submitting a story for a magazine or newspaper, you need to do research to understand what the blog writes about.  Make sure that you read several of their posts.

2. Comment

Once you have found a blog that is a good match, start commenting on posts.  Write relevant comments that add to the discussion.  Show the blogger that you are knowledgeable in the subject area and are also polite and respectful.  Build a relationship with the blogger by commenting frequently (but don’t spam and do not troll).

Don’t forget that commenting is also another great way to promote your blog.  Interact with other commenters and they will likely be curious to read your blog too.  Be nice and focus on leaving a good impression.  Friendliness will get you far.

3. Brainstorm

Before you approach the blogger with your guest post idea, you want to make sure that your post is relevant to their readers as well.  In your Research phase, you should have read multiple posts on their blog to make sure that your blog is a pick.  Use that information to come with a topic idea that you feel will fit with the blogger’s theme and ideas.

Don’t just rehash what they’ve already written, though.  Write your post perspective as the blogger so that your post is relevant and interesting to the readers, but is refreshing and unique as well.  Or write a more in depth look at a subject the blogger may have only touched on briefly.

4. Contact

Before sending an email, carefully review their site and see if they have any information about their guest post policy.  Some blogs might not have a policy, but you should look for it because if you do not follow the blogger’s guest post rules, you could ruin your chances of getting the guest post.

Your next step is to email the blogger. Some places advise that you attach your whole post; others say just email them with your idea.  Personally, I would advise that you just email your idea and maybe an excerpt.  Sending the whole post seems presumptuous. Also some people might be hesitant to open an attachment.

If the blogger responds with suggestions for or criticisms of your post, do not be too offended.  It is their blog and they are doing you a favor by including your guest post.  If they are a more popular blogger, they might be pickier about what they post so keep that in mind too.  If you feel comfortable, make their suggestions. If not, you do not need to, but then remember that you are missing out on an opportunity to promote your blog and increase your blog traffic.  Making the edits will probably be worth it in the long run.

5. Follow Up

Readers will likely comment on your article, so make sure you visit back to see what they say and respond to them.  Responding to them builds your relationship and your credibility.  It is an opportunity to gain people’s trust and to get more people to visit your website.  Since your goal is to get more blog visitors, you want to leave a positive impression on these readers and commenters.

Guest posting gives you a chance to get your name out there and attract new readers.  You want to make sure that you do it right.  Always be polite and respectful.  Follow any rules or guidelines the blogger posts about guest posting on their site.  Do not be rude if they do not accept your post – just move on and look for a different blogger.  Promoting your blog can take time and patience, but if you keep trying, then eventually you will see an increase in traffic to your blog.

How fast should your site load?

1 or 2 seconds is the ideal page loading speed, at least that is what the general consensus seems to be.  Less than ten is acceptable, but anything beyond that and it’s taking too long.

Keep in mind that your site might be loading alright for you, but it could be slower for other people.  How fast your page loads can depend on a number of factors, including your hosting provider, your readers’ internet connectivity, and your code.  To check to see how fast your site is, you can use various tools; you can find a list of tools here at Google’s Webmaster Central Blog.

Why is your site’s load speed important?

If your site is taking too long (over ten seconds, possibly over two seconds depending on how patient the reader is), then the visitor may leave your site before it finishes loading.  Even if they wait it out, chances are they will be less patient and probably won’t explore your site if the pages take forever to load every time they click on a link.  They’ll lose interest and won’t come back.  So forget about making money with your blog – if your readers are bouncing, they won’t be clicking your ads.

Your rankings may also be affected.  Google has stated that they do factor in site speed in rankings (see the link to their blog above).  They know that site speed is important to readers, and they don’t want to list a site at the top of the search results if the site takes forever to load.

Therefore, improving your load speed can increase your blogs followers. It can help your rankings and when visitors do come to your blog, they’ll be more likely to stick around.

How you can increase your load speed?

A number of issues can impact your blog’s load speed, including server delays, a poor hosting provider, and fancy widgets.  Even where your readers are compared to where your blog is hosted can make a difference: if your blog is hosted in China it might take awhile for it to load in the US.

You can make your blog load faster by addressing these issues.

• Do some research on your hosting provider and see if there are known issues with loading time.
• Use widgets minimally – get rid of any superfluous widgets.  They might seem cool, but if they’re slowing down your blog then they are not worth it.
• Keep your design simple – look at your code and take out any extraneous, fancy elements. Use Cascading Style Sheets.

For more tips, read this article about how to improve your site’s speed.

Remember, your load speed does have an impact on how much money you can make.  Readers are impatient, and if it takes too long for your content to load, then they’re gone, clicking on another blogger’s PPC ads.  Don’t make the mistake on your blog.  Be aware of how long your blog takes to load and, if it does take too long, take the time to optimize your site and fix it.  The impact it will have on your blogs traffic is invaluable.

What is a “bounce rate”?

A ‘bounce rate’ is the percentage of your visitors that are leaving your site after only viewing one page (typically your entrance page).  A visitor might leave your site in a variety of different ways, for instance, they might click on a link to go to a different site, they might click the back button, they might close their browser, etc.

Lower bounce rates are better, because that means more of your visitors are staying on your site for a longer period of time.  Knowing your bounce rate can help you understand what your readers are doing on your site. With a better understanding of how many people are leaving, you can try to figure out what you need to fix in order to increase your blog traffic.

How do you find find your bounce rate?

Use an analytics program like Google Analytics or SiteMeter (here is a link about the top 20 analytics tools), if you aren’t already using one.  Analytics programs are great and definitely something you should use.  They can tell a variety of different website traffic statistics, including your bounce rate, the amount of time visitors are staying on your site, what links your visitors are clicking on your site, what browsers they’re using, where they’re from, etc.  All of this information can be important for telling you what kind of audience you have, and thus help you better cater your site to that audience.

How to lower your bounce rate

The lower the bounce rate, the more visitors are actually staying on your site.  Here are some things you can do to lower your bounce rate and keep readers on your site:

1. Decrease your load time

Your visitors want to see your content as fast as possible.  The longer it takes your page to load, the less patient they’ll be.  If it takes too long, then they’ll leave and go to another site that loads faster.  Here are some suggestions for how to decrease your load time.

2. Make Your Site Easy to Navigate

Your visitors might like your site, but if they can’t figure out where to go next, they might just leave (and not come back).  Make it clear where they can find what they’re looking for. Use categories for your posts so they can find the topic that is most interesting to them.  Put your About, Contact, and Disclaimer pages (if you have them) at the top of the screen.

3. Write Enticing Headlines

Reel your readers in by using exciting and interesting headlines.  Your readers will probably skim over your blog titles, or headlines, to see if any of your posts look particularly intriguing.  Your title should describe what your post is about in a short way.  If you want to learn more about headlines that work, check out this post about headline suggestions.  The right headlines can help your blogs traffic increase.

4. Make your site easy to read

All the work you do promoting your blog is useless if your visitors can’t read anything on your site.  Use a font that is easy to read, a simple background, and colors that are nice on the eyes.  For example, red text on a blue background might hurt your readers eyes, so avoid that color combination.  Also, if you have a really busy background, that will make your text difficult to read.  If you want to use a patterned background that’s fine, but use a solid color for the background of the text part of your site.  An easier to read site means more people staying to read your articles, and thus more overall traffic to your site as readers keep coming back.

Other Factors to Consider

If you do have a high bounce rate, you might want to do a little bit more research and look at your other stats.  Are a high percentage of your readers clicking on your ads?  If so, this is probably ideal and you won’t want to change much if anything, as it means you’re making more money.  So whatever you are doing is succeeding at getting your readers to click your ads.

Also keep in mind that if your blog is still new, your bounce rate might not be as reliable.  If you have a lot of friends and family visiting your site, it might make your bounce rate look significantly low because your family will probably take some time to view your entire site.  It doesn’t reflect unique traffic from other visitors.