There are loads of blogs out there. However many blogs you think are being created every month, the actual number is probably higher. If you doubt me, then I invite you to check out the statistics. With this in mind, it’s pretty essential that your blog stands out amongst this overwhelming multitude! Here are some suggestions you should take on board ASAP.
Identify your style and tone of voice
So what manner are you going to communicate to your readers? Whatever your subject, you can approach it with a different style and tone of voice. A political blog may be humorous, or it may be deadly serious. You might write relatively short posts that can be read in about a minute, or posts that are written for optimum scanning, or longer reads that are deeply informative. This all helps define what your readers expect from you. If you’re working with several writers on this blog, how will you develop a consistent tone of voice? Such consistency here can help reader foster loyalty.
Read as many blogs as you can
No, this isn’t so you can copy their ideas. You need to keep an eye on the competition. You need to learn from those who are writing the most successful blogs. What might be more important than these blogs, however, are other blogs that deal in your niche. What kind of content do they post? Inflammatory? Technical? Opinionated? Theory-heavy? Humorous? Do the writers get into the comments section and properly engage with their readers? Are the blog posts short or long? All of this can help you identify problems, “gaps in the market”. It helps you identify the mold from which your blog needs to break.
Good content, and lots of it
High-quality content will really make your blog stand out! Seems obvious, right? Here’s the brutal truth: there are millions of blogs, and most of them aren’t that great. Even the big ones aren’t filled with particularly great content. Your posts should be well-researched, informative, and full of personality. Don’t just fill your blog with meaningless fluff. Invest in quality. Be careful not to do so while completely ignoring quantity, however! New content on a regular basis is the way forward. This can be a hefty task when you consider the need for high quality, so consider working with other writers to make sure you keep the post numbers strong.
Look into guest blogging
If you’re starting a blog, then this it should be a fairly obvious conclusion that you love to write. If you love to write and you’re putting that writing online, then it’s also clear that you’ll want people to actually read your writing! With this in mind, perhaps you shouldn’t only write for your own blog. You may think that creating content for other blogs is an unwise fraternizing with the enemy, but it can help you in big ways. It helps when it comes to networking and can also see your blog gain more recognition. Guest blogging is more popular than you might think; all the big blogs, including LifeHacker and Business Insider, host guest blogs.
Use images
The written word isn’t exactly dying the way that a lot of people are making out, but a lot of the people who read blogs on a regular basis aren’t always avid readers. There’s a big difference between those who read books and long-form articles and those who read the quick, entertaining, cut-to-those-chase articles that make up the bulk of the content of popular blogs. So breaking up the text with images is very useful. You can look into WordPress gallery plugins if you want to make images a more prominent part of your blog. The right images can complement your text in big ways, increasing the overall impact that your blog has on your readers.
Get it looking good
Surely no-one cares how a blog looks? The content is what matters. The writing is way more important than the aesthetic, right? Who in the blogging world would care about such base things as a website looking pretty or modern or sexy? It’s a blog. You read words, not ogle at the design surrounding those word. Right? Well, not so fast. If there’s a lot to read, then your readers have to spend longer amounts of time, you know, looking at your website. And if it’s an eyesore, then that design can distract from the reading process. Consider working with a web design agency to get your blog looking good.
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