Blogging is now to the social media world what the Kardashians are to the reality TV show world; inseparable. These days, everybody and their mother owns a blog, many of which cover mundane and weird topics; so far there is someone out there that will read it, let’s blog it. This proliferation of blogs is largely due to the relative ease with which they can be set up. There is no need for much technical know-how, any average computer user can set up a blog and get to writing.
Many of these blogs, though, have very short half-lives, some might even start strong, but eventually, fizzle out like so many firecrackers. This is usually due to many reasons, chief of which is the fact that many of them do not understand the little things that make a huge difference in blogging. They figure they could just open up a WordPress account, choose a random theme and voila! 1000 readers per day, here we come.
That is not how it works. Blogging is an art that is inherently tricky to master, but also simple. You only need to get the various components just right, keep at it, do not slack, then you can sit back and watch your blog outgrow even your wildest projections. Let’s see if we can work these components out, shall we?
Have A Plan
Blogging is not just something you go into when you are tired of watching reruns of Breaking Bad on television, or maybe it is, but it is absolutely important for you to have a game plan when you decide to enter the highly competitive world of blogging. You need to answer these questions honestly- What am I going to be writing about? Do people want to read it? Do I have the available time and resources to be consistent? Am I willing to work hard? Is blogging something I enjoy?
Some of those questions might sound a tad deep, but blogging is serious business. It will eat up your time and energy and maybe your money too. You have to be ready to put in the work. Either you are blogging for fun or to make money, same principle applies if you want to be successful at it.
Now, that last question might seem like a no-brainer but that is not always the case. Some people go into blogging solely to make money or to get famous or for bragging rights. Of course, these things can come to you from blogging, but if they are your reasons for doing it, chances are, it won’t last. Money, fame, these things don’t just fall into your lap in a day or a week or months even, sometimes it takes years for your blog to get you there. The question is, before that happens, what sustains you? You have to actually love blogging, you have to enjoy it because that is the only thing that will keep you going when things don’t work out as you planned.
Setting Up- Get It Right
This is the foundation of your blog and it’s important to get it right. You need to get the right company or person to register your domain name and host your blog. There are several choices available, just choose one that is right for you. It is also important to choose a suitable theme for your blog, depending on the kind of content you post, either it is a more text-based or picture-based kind of site. Whichever it is, it is smart to keep a lot of white space on your blog and not clog it too much with content or graphics, choose the right font and formatting style. These things improve the experience of your readers on your blog, it is not just about the content, it is also about how the content is presented. Also, be sure to take advantage of resources that will help you in your blogging, like Feedburner and Google Analytics
Make Your Content Addictive
You have to be consistently churning out engaging content for your readers. Online readers have a very short attention span, things are always moving in the world of social media, if you lose their attention for a fraction of a minute, they find something else to hold it. It’s a “content eat content” world out there, so you have to ensure your content always beats or at least equals the hundreds of alternatives available to your readers.
Notice that I used the word “consistently” in the first paragraph. This is just as important as the quality of your content. Imagine you have a dedicated reader who loves what you write and is always looking forward to the time your content comes up, he even has a notification set up to tell him when that happens. Then he sees no post from you the first day, second, third, he is wondering what is wrong, he misses your posts, but then he couldn’t stay heartbroken forever. He eventually moves on and doesn’t visit your blog again, even when you resume regular posts. That paints a clear picture of how most online content consumers behave, you have to be consistent, always.
Be SEO and Industry Conscious
Being good at SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a great way to drive traffic to your site without having to spend any of your money, so it behooves you to understand how it works and make it work for you. There are several SEO agencies that could provide some insight into this if it is necessary for you. It is also a great idea to be current with what is happening in your industry (whatever your blog is about), people are more likely to read articles on current happenings than dated pieces.
For example, if your blog is about cars and it so happened that the Lexus RX350 2018 car just got the grand unveiling ceremony treatment the previous day, instead of writing, say, a piece on how diesel engines are better than petrol engines (which was your initial plan for the day), you could table that and write a piece on the unveiling ceremony and maybe even tie it in to your engines article. That would make a great read for your readers, the majority of whom are most likely already seeing the car launch everywhere on their social media feeds.
These are not the be all and end all of blogging tips, but they are sure to keep you afloat in this “blogosphere”. It could also help, if you have the extra cash, to employ the services of an android app development company to polish your blog and maybe even create a mobile app for your readers so they can gain easy access to your blog right from their phone home screens, wouldn’t’ that be awesome!? Just remember, as far as blogging goes, you are the most important factor, write what you enjoy, keep at it, be consistent and above all, don’t stop.
Junaid Ali Qureshi
is a digital marketing specialist who has helped several businesses gain traffic, outperform competition and generate profitable leads. His current ventures include Progostech, Magentodevelopers.online.eLabelz, Smart Leads.ae, Progos Tech and eCig.