What it takes to be a good blogger? This question has been running through my mind for weeks now, and that’s why I searched to learn about different tips to improve my blogging performance and that of my co-workers. Nowadays blogs have become very popular between companies, big or small. Blogs serve as a tool to reach consumers better and offer them valuable content. When a company starts a blog, the person in charge should keep in mind that blogs aren’t meant to sell a product or a service. Blogs are meant to be a tool to show your potential clients why your company is the right one for them. As I previously mentioned, I did some research in the past few weeks and came up with this list of tips to become a better blogger. Some of them are common sense. If you or your company run a blog, these tips might be helpful. Here they are:
1. Be REAL
People tend to search for blogs that discuss topics they can relate to, share anecdotes and stories of your own. Being real and honest will help you build a strong, loyal and trustful relationship with your readers. Blogging is way more personal than conventional websites.
2. Post at least ONCE a day
If you want your blog to be noticed, you need to post content frequently. Otherwise no one will know you have a blog and this strategy won’t work. Remember, post regularly but post relevant content, don’t blog just for blogging.
3. Be persistent!
At first it might seem that your blog isn’t giving the results you wanted, but trust me, you just have to be patient and continue to post content. It takes a little while for people to get to know your blog and begin sharing your content. Don’t give up, in the end it will be worth it.
4. Encourage social media sharing and bookmarking
Be sure to include social media links before and after each post, this will permit readers to share your post with other people via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ , etc.
5. Have fun
Blogging doesn’t always need to be serious. Writing in an entertaining tone can help your blog acquire more views. Feel free to create fun content and share it with your readers.
6. Write engaging headlines
Remember that the headline is the first thing your reader sees, so you have to write appealing headlines that will attract readers and will make them share your posts. You can use numbers in your titles like “10 Tips to Be a Better Blogger”… just like I did with my title. Also you can create top lists like “Top 25 Best Blogs” or maybe create a how to article “How to Be a Better Blogger”, etc.
7. Give something visual to share
Like infographics, photos…people tend to like more visual content rather than words. They engage better with photos, graphics, and diagrams. There is a lot of information out there and we don’t want to overwhelm our readers with paragraphs.
8. Write with your reader in mind
Don’t forget you are writing for your audience, so make sure you post content relevant to them. Imagine you are having a conversation with them, use simple words and don’t get so technical, but if you are, try to use words that people can easily understand.
9. Make your blog’s content SEO friendly
Avoid keyword stuffing, use keywords on your url’s and headlines (when using keywords on headlines these should be in front of the headline), use links as part of your copy, include image ALT tags and also use heading tags; this helps Google identify the more important text. Re-read your content and choose the main topics discussed in your post, use these topics as your keywords. You can use phrases as keywords, because readers tend to search for “How to be a better blogger” instead of “blogger” or “better”.
10. SHARE, SHARE, SHARE!
Don’t pass on all the responsibility of sharing content to your readers. For a post to be seen it needs to be shared, so encourage your co-workers to share the posts with their friends and so on. Oh… and don’t forget, sharing starts with you. If nobody shares the posts no one person is going to read it and your blog will most likely be unsuccessful.
