As i write a blog that gives out advice here and there, i thought it not the worst idea to actually give advice about blogging itself! After all, it is an area many are dabbling at right now, and will continue to do so in the future. So here are my personal blogging tips.
Blog About Your Passion
If you are going to blog about something, it is a hundred times easier if you are interested in the topic! The passion you show for the topic you blog about will show through in your writing. Which makes it more likely to gain traction and become successful.
Blogging Tips – Answer questions.
Readers may have questions. Use a specific question as the title of your blog post. The answer to the question is your blog post content. Think about topics that will challenge readers and garner their attention. Starting with a question in your head can often be a great way to start a discussion and create subjects for you to write about.
Blogging Tips – Plan Initial Draft
Before you complete the meat of the blog, think about how you want to organise the blog. Outline the themes, structure and more. This advance preparation will not only make your final blog easier to write, but make it better too. It should flow better if you have thought ahead how you wish it to go.
Don’t Set Tight Deadlines
This is subjective and perhaps personal to me. But i do not find that i am very creative when working to a tight deadline. If you have a personal blog that readers do not demand set content releases for, then relax. Some days i simply cannot be creative. The juices will flow when they decide to. When they do, get writing. Turn off all distractions, and keep writing until you lose the urge to do so. Seize the moments when you feel creative for maximum effect.
Consider Blog Length
There are many great blogs out there, of varying lengths. Many focus on long reads, and so it is hard for me to tell you how long your blog should be. Sad fact is though, people have poor concentration spans nowadays. So if you want a punchy blog, consider a length of no more than 1500 words. And start strong!
Visual Appeal
With concentration spans in mind, do not underestimate the power of visual aids. Make each blog post easy on the eyes. I have learned from Twitter that a photo or picture has more viral potential than words alone. But above all, if your blog site looks good, people are more likely to come back. There is little point writing brilliant pose in a font people struggle to read on a page littered with bugs and adverts.
Timeless Blogs Are Useful
An “evergreen” blog post is a blog post that will be popular several years from now. Typically, these are “how to” or list-type blog posts. You could say this article is an example of such a post! But this means that your post can be popular at any point and keep collecting views. You can publicise it at any time, and new readers may then latch on to your other pieces.
Blogging Tips – Style
There is no set answer here, but i find my best approach is to address readers as if they alone are reading (which sometimes is actually the case). Make them think that the post is written for them, and make that connection that will make them want to return to your site in the future. Additionally, nobody likes a know-it-all. The more personality you can show in a blog post, the better the response you should receive.
Blogging Tips – Don’t Write SEO material.
It could be tempting to stuff keywords in the title or copy of your blog post. Then hope you get in search results on the top page and get some clickbait viewers. But do you really want to lead that sort of life? Blogs should not be about that. Just write for your audience. If your audience finds your content valuable, Google will catch up and you will grow exponentially. And always define who your targeted audience is before you embark on the blog journey.
Above All, Have Fun
If you are not enjoying your blogging, then there is little point doing it. And that lack of enjoyment will probably show through in your writing and will thus be picked up by potential audiences.
