22 May 5 Essential Steps To A Successful Blog
How do you start a successful blog?
For starters, it doesn’t happen overnight.
It takes effort and time.
It’s a journey, an uphill battle at times.
Many writers want to be that next blogging success, but few are willing to do the necessary steps to actually make that happen. Blogging is tough, time consuming and most of the time comes with little to no praise from the readers you pump out content day in and day out for. So you ask yourself, what do I need to do to lay the groundwork that will eventually open the flood gates to success in Blogging.
Well, you should first…
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Define The Purpose Of Your Blog
“Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” — JFK
You need to establish a very specific motive for your blog.
Why am I blogging?
Reasons for starting a blog vary, but the 3 most common are to:
- Become an authority. Establishing yourself as an expert in a field brings several rewards. It gives your experience more credibility, allowing to become an influencer.
- Educate and help people. Offering advice, explanations and solutions to guide people through a difficult task or situation. Usually, this involves writing “Tips” and “How to” type of blog posts.
- Promote a product or a service: A blog makes for a powerful marketing tool. Persuasive, informative writing dramatically increases the chances of converting visitors into buyers.
It’s crucial that you figure out your blog’s purpose. The more specific, the better.
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Know Your Target Audience
Did you figure out the “Why”?
Great.
Now it’s time to find out the “Who”.
Know as much about your potential reader as possible. What’s their age group? What do they care about? What kind of language do they use?
Knowing your target audience helps you tailor your content to meet their needs.
For example, suppose you want to start a blog about traveling.
That’s great. Who doesn’t love to travel, right?
But are you catering for solo travelers? Couples? Students on a budget?
Every group has its unique needs and interests. You need to know those to provide useful, relevant content.
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Be Consistent With Your Blog
You want a successful blog, right?
Producing quality content on regular basis is paramount to your blog’s success.
Whether you post on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, you need to maintain a constant blogging pace.
As you blog frequently, you’ll have more relevant content. Therefore, people will tend to stick around longer on your blog, which improves its search engine ranking.
Over time, this helps you build a loyal readership.
But it’s not just about how often you post you a blog, though.
Your content needs to be consistent.
In other words, always make it relevant and useful for your target audience.
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Create A Habit Of Writing Every Day
Writing is a skill, so as with any skill, you need to hone it regularly.
A hallmark of great writers is the habit of writing daily.
You could write a hundred or a thousand words a day,
what matters is that you write. Every single day.
Jeff Goins suggests a 3-step plan to start writing daily:
- Pick a space. It matters little where as long as you’re comfortable. It could be a cafe, your desk or even a couch.
- Choose a time. There’s no perfect time for everyone, so work out a time that suits you best. Simply, commit to a time.
- Set a goal. Decide on a target word count. This could be 300 or 1000 words, whatever you’re comfortable with. Don’t edit, just write.
Practice makes perfect. Besides becoming better at your craft, you’ll also find it easier to write with time.
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Promote Your Blog
How do you measure the success of a blog?
In one word, traffic.
So how do you make people flock to read your content?
If you just started blogging, getting traffic will be a struggle. Fortunately, though, there are dozens of way to promote your blog.
Use social media it to your advantage. Share your blog posts on your Facebook, Twitter or even LinkedIn account. Join blogging communities or forums in your niche.
You can also network with fellow bloggers in your niche. Try to guest post on their blog or get them guest post on yours.
It’s all about exposure.
Starting a blog is easy, but turning it into a success is tough. Don’t be discouraged, though. With the right planning, you can definitely make it.
Share with the community what makes your blog better! Comment below!
Kim 😉
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