Connor Brooke
Did you know more than 2 million blog posts get published every day?
Looking at this number, chances are that your readers might be suffering from content overload and likely might not be willing to read your content, unless you offer them something strikingly different.
If you don’t want to get lost in the crowd, you need a full-proof strategy, a plan that would encompass everything from writing to publishing, sharing with others to responding to feedback.
Here I have jotted down 4 major questions that you must ask yourself before starting a blog. Don’t worry I have the answers as well.
Let’s get started!
What to write?
This is the first question, you should ask yourself.
Keep your senses open:
You never know when you would get inspiration for your next blog. Anything can be your blog topic. Look for user-generated content. A Twitter debate or Facebook campaign, an Infographics, a latest development of your favorite site, a new app or a viral video, anything can be your next blog subject, provided you have the required insights on the subject.
Get inspiration:
Get inspired from other bloggers in your niche but stay away from copying their style or pattern of writing. Try to improve the article by adding your own point of view on the topic. Research on it for a better understanding. The results will be sweeter than anything else.
Look for user-generated content:
Try to get an insight about what your audiences want to read. Identify a niche. It always proves fruitful to toiler your content specifically for a target group or audience. Your understanding on your readers’ demand will help you serve them better.
Don’t write the obvious:
Everyone knows that blogging is important for any business. Offer your readers something different to read. Instead of writing about the importance of blogging, you can write about how the pattern of blogging changes with different industries.
How to write:
It’s important because it sets you apart from others
Less is more:
Nowadays, none have the time to read long and descriptive articles, unless you present them appealingly. Try to include more and more visual content to your blog posts. This is exceptionally helpful to make your write-up interesting.
Make your blog scannable:
Use bullet points, numbers, small paragraphs, catchy headlines. Use images and other visual content creatively. Make it visually smart.
Use visual content smartly:
Followed by Twitter, now Facebook and Google Plus also offer embedded posts. You can embed any public post to your blog. This is specifically useful, if you want to cite an example directly from a social media post. Click on Embed Post of the right side drop down menu of any public post. Copy the code on the TEXT box of the writing tool. Now check the VISUAL box, you will see the embedded post on your post.
If you need to post a video on your blog, make sure to uncheck the hyperlink button of your blog editing tool, so that it appears as embedded videos.
Optimize images:
Try to use original images for your blog posts. But you may not always have an original image, as not everyone can be a Photoshop expert. Don’t worry! Even If not don’t have original images, glue any suitable image from the web. Optimize each image with proper tags, ensuring their search engine friendliness.
Give credit:
Give credit to people, who inspired you to write the blog. This is applicable for images as well. Don’t forget to give credit to the original source. It will be beneficial for you too, as it will notify the original source that someone is using their thought/idea/image and they might end up visiting your blog.
It is effective to draw their attention. For example, let’s assume a Pete Cashmore post inspired you to write a blog. Don’t hesitate to mention his name and the original post. You never know you might just get a comment from Pete.
How to share:
This is probably the most important factor that decides the fate of your posts
Social media integration:
Social media integration is a must for your blog. This enables your readers to share your content directly from your blog. Use suitable plugins.
Use Reddit:
I always use Reddit. It draws a huge traffic to my posts, always. Although, the social bookmarking site has some strict rules of posting and sharing, but if you can maintain the decorum, it would return you great results.
Network with bloggers:
Start networking with other bloggers and influencers in your niche. Comment on their blogs. Exchange ideas. This is the nicest way to create a strong community.
Welcome comments:
Make commenting easy. While sharing, ask for comments and views. Add compelling heading or introductory note to make your audience believe that you are offering them a great content to read. Share from all your personal profiles. Don’t worry about negative comments. Some people may not agree with all your points. Deal with them positively. But get rid of any factual or grammatical error.
Re-share old blogs:
People often ask me a question if they can re-share their old blogs? Why not? In fact, they should always practice the art. The key is time. Share and re-post your old content, when the time is right. For example, when Facebook introduced Trending Topics, everyone was talking about it and compare it with that of Twitter’s. If you have a post written on Twitter Trends, you can always re-share. But don’t forget to add your comment on the current context.
Another way of re-sharing your old posts naturally is by asking a question related to your blog topic. Let’s assume, you have a great blog post on free analytics tools for businesses. Now, you can ask your social community about their favorite analytics tool. And at the end of the conversation, smartly share your blog.
What to measure:
Always measure the performance of your posts to get insights about your content reach.
Measure performance:
Writing and sharing a blog will not complete the cycle, until you measure and track its performance. Measure your content reach once a week and critically analyze the result once a month. This is important as it will help you decide if your posts are performing according to your expectations.
Share with Bit.ly:
Use bit.ly links to share your posts. This URL shortener tool offers in-depth insights about all the clicks for each link. The integrated analytics also shows other details like the sources of the clicks, time of clicks, geo-location of the people who viewed your content etc.
Blogging platform’s in-built analytics:
Some platforms like Reddit don’t support URL shorteners, as they find them fishy! In that case, the integrated analytics, offered by your blogging platform, can offer you some insights as well. However, the data is given for the overall performance, including the bit.ly ones.
Monitor social sharing:
Try to monitor how your posts are doing on social media. Are you getting numerous mentions and shares on social networks? Have people in your niche started to consider you as an influence? Every comment, retweet, favorite and share matter here. If you feel things are not as expected, try to figure out where the problem lies.
Now it’s time to put all the answers together. You’ll be amazed to see how you have created a road-map for a successful blog.
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Connor Brooke.
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These are all very good tips! I really like the part about measuring your performance and integrating your blog with other social media tools. For Prose Media’s blog, we’ve been emphasizing reader-response, and it’s worked out really well!
Glad you liked it Justin. I practice all of them on my blog as well as my company’s. As you stated about reader’s response, I too believe that it’s a vital factor that decides your Blog’s fate.
Cheers!