These tips are the result of many hours of dedicated study and experience. Don't take everything for granted, but have confidence in what you're aiming for. We're sure that if you're at the beginning of your career, you could derive some benefit and inspiration from what has been our personal experience.
We decided to open my blog because we wanted everyone to learn what one has to undergo so as to overcome the starting stage of anything.
We needed to speak, to launch our thoughts in the mare magnum, the internet, hoping for a response, and that is why we decided to write a blog. We still have a long way to go, but here's some of what we have learned in the past few months.
1) Selecting a niche
I know, I know, we haven't even started yet, and you might be thinking, isn't that the most obvious thing? Yes, it is, but it's also one of the most ignored and missed out things while making a blogging strategy. It's one of the most important things that will help to determine your blog's success.
But the most common mistake that a beginner can make is not choosing a specific niche to turn to, or engaging with a particular group of people who share similar interests and needs. I found this concept missing from our blog in the past, but now I believe we're on the right track.
When we started this blog, we had so many different ideas, but not all of them were relevant to the blog. We wrote some articles too but refrained from posting them since we realized we have to stick to a particular theme to make it work. Long story short, a potpourri of articles, some that didn't hit the spot with the other.
You would now understand that taken by a delirium of writing, we ended up writing a number of different things, and in the process, sent the blog itself off-topic. We struggled to be seen because even if it was well written, we failed to effectively reach anyone in particular.
2) Originality always thrives
Do you know what they say in schools during exams or when giving out homework assignments? No cheating!
When you start a blog, in addition to fulfilling that desire to write, we aim to be seen, for our content to be read. We're fascinated by successful bloggers, how they managed to get so many people to read their content. The best thing about being a blogger is that you can inspire someone else to start, take on something new. But sometimes, in the process of gaining views, we start envying other writers who already have them. The desire to be as good takes over, and we sometimes think of stealing content and ideas, and that is never a good idea. But there's nothing wrong with studying other people's content and finding out what works for you.
If a food blogger ended up on TV shows from a simple blog and a Youtube channel, copying them does not guarantee your success too. Be original and find what you're good at. This will pave a path for you further. Readers like reading new content from new people and discovering originality, make that your weapon.
Blogging is very similar to advertising a product, if you want to beat your competitor in the same niche, you have to offer something better! So it's okay to scavenge for ideas, we do it too. Just make sure to add a bit of 'you' in your work and you're good to go. Your creativity and your style, will take you places.
3) Think and write like the reader
At the beginning, we wrote about ourselves and current events from around the world. But us writing about them was not enough, because those topics were already being discussed by major content houses. We made the blogs well-structured but failed to target a new audience to increase viewership.
Use simple language to get your point across. Don't use very complicated words. Always remember the 15 seconds rule. That's the time you have to impress the readers enough so that they continue reading. It is the golden time when a reader decides to read your blog post, don't let it go waste.
So when you write, think about them, think like the reader who is reading the first line of your blog. Is it good enough that it will peak their curiosity and compel them to read further?
Some things you should make sure define your blog post are:
- Easy to read Articles
- Languages covered
- Correct grammar and punctuation
- In-depth knowledge of the topic
- The creativity that attracts the readers
- Last but not the least, relevant information
Of course, you also need to take into consideration the structure of the blog itself. Choose a readily available template if you are not from a technical background so that it appeals to the eyes of the reader.
Some things you need to keep in mind while writing:
- Use clear and fairly large characters, because not everyone has an eagle's vision, make it comfortable for the reader to read your post.
- Pay attention to the color scheme, some colors and their combinations can make it difficult to read your articles. The best choice is to write the text in black on a white background. This always looks elegant and is easy on the eyes. And since it's also the most common writing format, readers feel comfortable reading it.
- Page speed is very important, the heavier and slower your website is, the more chances are the readers will leave your blog without actually reading the first line. The faster your blog page speed, the more comfortable will the reader be while reading your blog and better will be the experience.
4) Start with free platforms like Blogger and WordPress:
To begin with, open your blog on a free platform: WordPress or Blogger.
Blogger is owned by Google and has been up since 2003. And it's also completely free.
It's very simple and easy to create a blog using the tools made available by Blogger. You just need to log in with your Google account and start blogging. This platform is particularly suitable for those who are just starting with a blog. You do get a second-level domain but, you can use your custom domain as well. Also, the blogger provides the SSL certificate for free, which in turn provides you with a secure website.
We started with a free domain, hosting on blogger. It provides a sense of security to initialize with the free stuff for trial before spending your hard-earned money with no guarantee.
However, you should know that it is a limited platform because it does not offer you the possibility of inserting specific plugins like a login page and additional features, particularly useful when you have more specific needs. But, you can always do that when you get a hang of what you are really doing.
The WordPress platform is also free, and gives two option to choose from:
WordPress.com and WordPress.org
- WordPress.com is a version that will host your site on its servers, so you won't have to spend a penny to get started. It is fine for beginners because it is simple to use since everything is preset by the platform itself that will host your blog. However, you will have a second-level domain like in blogger.
- WordPress.org is the professional self-hosted version (self-hosted means that you have your own server space on which you install the WordPress software that you administer), it is always a free version, but to use it and create your blog, you must necessarily buy your domain and your hosting space (it is an investment of about $5 per month in total) on which you can then install the platform.
Once installed you will have the freedom to customize your site and access the best custom plugin categories and themes, as well as have a top-level domain.
You need to be careful because if you decide to make a transition from a second-level domain to a first level one, you risk compromising your search engine positioning.
5) Content is the most important thing you need to focus on ... But that alone is not enough
Anyone you hear, speaking of bloggers, will rightly tell you to pay attention to what you write and how you write it. For it to be captivating and original. But few, if any, will tell you that you may have written the piece of your life, but if you don't make it easily readable and appealing to your readers, you've only wasted your time.
Also, how you write won’t matter if you don’t focus on SEO, because without it your content won’t reach you, readers. The things you need to take care of are:
- The content you write should be well written and formatted
- Clear and legible font
- Neutral colors
- The formatting of the text, in fact, allows you to give order to what you write, helps your reader and allows you to emphasize the fundamental concepts that you want to express
You should avoid writing short and superficial articles just so that you can publish those pre-decided number of articles weekly, which you think will serve to catch and retain an extensive number of readers. I have never known people who stopped reading an interesting blog because it was published late. The content you provide should be accurate, interesting, and should make sense, and serve its purpose.
6) Blogging according to Google's compliance rules
Before starting the blog, we didn't even know the word SEO, or all that stuff about detection, analysis, and reading websites by search engines. I'm certainly not at the top, but now I know what to focus on, which helps in taking the blog further.
For the optimization of a blog in search engines, it is not necessary to write a post with dozens of pages, make it minimal and accurate. Read these free guides offered by Google for further guidance:
Google Getting Started Guide to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) (PDF),
Webmaster Guidelines - Best practices to help Google find, crawl, and index your site (Video),
Webmaster Tools (Now known as Google search console), Do you need SEO?
7) Address the readers personally
One of the many things that can affect the success of any blog is talking about yourself while writing, give them a first-person perspective. Giving a peek inside your life can help readers understand you better, which further makes your articles engaging to read.
Not only do we write on who we are and what we do, but we also talk about our aspirations and future plans for the blog. While providing information about how to do something, we also give our audience an insight into our personal lives, an idea of our vision about the blog. This sets in a personal relationship between the reader and the writer.
This is the time to make it personal because personal is going to make you look good and interesting. Your blog is the place where you can act and react like an extrovert. So, take full advantage of it.
8) Use the Power of Social Networking
There are plenty of social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, and many more to publicize your content. Quora is another important tool that can help increase your viewership.
Creating a Facebook or Twitter page (or maybe Google+) dedicated to your blog is a great move to effectively reach more users. Moreover, social networks allow you to establish a real dialogue with your readers, people who decide to devote their time to you, (today is the most precious and scarce resource). Spending a few minutes of their day reading what you post, is a great gift to you. Always remember that they are the ones who determine the success of your blog. Pay attention to them, actively engage them, and always respond to their comments and requests.
Our reader's views are very important to us, so don't forget to comment and tell us how you like our content.
That’s all until next time, see you soon guys. Please drop a comment if you liked the read and subscribe to get an update whenever we post anything new.
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