Starting a blog is easy. After all, there are millions of people today that have blogs from all around the world, and those blogs do have some content in them.
However, how many are actually following the best practices that ensure their blog will become successful and stand out from the crowd? Not that much.
There are numerous people that are launching blogs every day, all with the mission of making some money and gain success online, but very few are actively following the steps that lead them to success. Here are some important blogging tips that you can use – and they will also help you avoid common mistakes.
Be patient and passionate
In the world of blogging, patience and passion are major keywords.
Before you open a blog, you must choose a niche you will specialize in, as well as the target audience. When you specialize in a certain topic and love to write on it, you will gain a loyal audience with time. In addition, always remember that making money online is not quick, and it takes a lot of hard work, constant posts and patience.
If your only goal is to make money, then you will need to examine other aspects of online marketing, rather than blogging alone.
Make a proper strategy
This is one of the most important aspects of running a blog – you need a set strategy in place. You need to know the number of posts you put out and the frequency.
If the blog is going to be a revenue-oriented one, it is a non-negotiable requirement to treat it like a serious business. You must be dedicated and passionate about the cause.
Make and stick to a social media marketing strategy
The internet has evolved greatly, and search engines are no longer the main source of information for many people. In fact, many people will get their information on social media, such as Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter – these can generate a great amount of traffic.
However, always keep in mind that this traffic will not always come easily, especially when you are starting out. The best strategy is to interact with people in your target audience on each platform (again, make sure you know the specific platform you will work on) and work on building strong relationships with them.
The more social media traffic you generate, the higher your blog will rank in search engine searches, and the more new people will be exposed to your blog.
Make a link building strategy
You may not think much about it, but link building surprisingly matters when it comes to search engines. You should have a proper link building strategy as you continue posting articles – especially the high domain authority blog posts.
Give your blog a ‘community’ feel
When it comes to blog posts and the general blog itself, any visitor that comes along should feel like they are welcome to read and comment as much as they can. In that sense, borrow a leaf from YouTubers who go out of their way to create a community on their channels.
You should aim to have an active community of people who are reading and talking to you, and build a sense of family – that will always go a long way in ensuring repeat visitors.
Create strong relations with other bloggers
You are obviously not the first person to create blog posts within your niche – there are always those that have started before you did. Go out of your way to find out who they are, and build relations with them – they can teach you a lot from their experiences.
In addition, consider creating an influencer marketing strategy, which ensures your blog is visible to influential people in no time. It will also assist you to gain new audiences quickly.
Create great and unique content
If you are reading this article, you have likely heard of the phrase ‘content is king’ – and that is true. Stay away from the idea of copying the content from other people, because it is highly likely search engines will ban you. You have a blog; at least make it as original as you can with your unique take on things.
Interact with your readers and reply to them
You want to foster a sense of welcoming community? Then you must take your time to answer questions posed by your readers and comment on their comment. Any reader will absolutely love it when the author of the post notices their comment and responds to them, and they will always come back and comment again in the future.
Utilize article marketing
So, you have settled on a niche, so what is next?
Writing articles that are related to what your blog is about, and writing articles for other high-traffic publications of high authority such as Huffpost or Medium (and always include the backlink to your blog, so the readers are directed there and see your content). This may seem small, but it always increases the perception of authority readers will have about you, making your blog rank very well in search engines.
However, when writing articles for authority websites, always be careful to submit content of very high quality and always original. On that note;
Guest writing for other blogs
This is a very easy way of alerting audiences of other bloggers that you exist and they can check out your stuff. Look for other bloggers and write articles on their blogs, but make sure they are within your niche – you do not want to market yourself to the wrong audience.
In addition, you can always guest post on blogs that have high traffic, as this results in greater levels of exposure when you backlink to your blog.
Final thoughts
Starting and growing your blog is a long process, because it takes willingness to learn on the job. However, you can avoid costly mistakes with these tips and many more, and ensure your blog grows in its influence.
