Continually cranking out content for your blog that is consistently
fresh, engaging, and audience-building can be challenging, to say the
least. And unfortunately, blogger’s block doesn’t discriminate, and it
can affect everyone from the greenest writer to the one pulling in six
figures.
So, what does it too create a chain of content that grows your
traffic and keeps audience enthusiasm high? Here are five tips to help
you refocus your blog and succeed at creating quality, memorable posts:
1. It’s all about the reader
You know what you like to read… now forget about it. What interests
you specifically isn’t worth a hill of beans as compared to what
interests your readership. They’re in the driver’s seat and you’re
barely a back seat navigator. Every blog post you approach has to be
taken from the perspective of your reader.
You have to instinctively know the questions that the reader will ask
about the industry sector you cover and you must cater to those queries
by providing in-depth, unique, and compelling information.
It is also extremely important, especially for bloggers in the
technical field, to give industry buzzwords and other assorted jargon a
wide berth. Sure you may know exactly what “you can’t get decent bogon
suppression with AFJ filters at today’s net volumes” but what chance
does your non-programmer reader have at deciphering that gobbledygook?
2. A picture sells a thousand blogs
What is the reason behind the massive explosion in interest for
Pinterest? The answer is fairly simple as it is that since Pinterest is
essentially a blogging platform for people who don’t care to write and
for readers who don’t care to read, it’s at the forefront of the new
blogging world! By replacing long-winded gray blocks of type with pretty
pictures, Pinterest is a vivid example of what bloggers should be
striving for in building visual allure into their blogs.
Visual allure doesn’t mean changing the color of your header or
background, it indicates a blog that has integrated both static and
video imaging into its story telling process. There will likely never be
an age when written blogging is completely extinct and only replaced by
images, but all bloggers should strive to incorporate as much visual
flair into their posts as they possibly can in order to further engage
your readership.
3. Hawking your wares should be an ancillary, not primary focus
We’ve all witnessed the disintegration of blogs that we once
treasured but have since descended down into nothing more than thinly
disguised shilldom. Many bloggers start out by offering phenomenal and
insightful content and as their audiences grow, they shift their focus
almost entirely to improving their monetization.
So a blog which was once chock-full of great information is now doing
little more than pushing the blogger’s latest paid ebook, online paid
course, or selling tickets to their national seminar tour. Although a
certain level of ancillary marketing is expected from bloggers who have
to pay the rent somehow, when the entire blog turns into a sales pitch,
you can be certain your readers will pitch your blog… right into the
trash.
4. 95.5% of the world’s population is not American
Sure, you were born in Nebraska, went to college in Michigan, and
raised a family in Texas… but that doesn’t mean that the perspective
reflected in your blog should end at Portland, Maine on one side and
Portland, Oregon on the other.
The vast majority of blogging topics are of equal interest to readers
in Portland, Canada; Portland, England; Portland, Australia; and every
other port on the high seas. With the rise in international blogging,
your readers outside of the USA may be finding your Americancentrism
disturbing and detracting from the value of your content. Either
neutralize your geographical references or make a solid effort to cover
events outside the USA.
5. Write well
Far too many bloggers write like uneducated dolts. Set yourself aside
from the lowbrow, inept, and artless by cultivating a high standard of
spelling, grammar, and overall mastery of the English language. You can
accomplish this by double-checking your writing, but you should also use
the Internet to learn tricks to help you write cleaner and faster.
Efficient and effective blogging isn’t a fantasy, you can achieve it
today by applying these top five key strategies. The rewards for
succeeding are steady traffic, plenty of comments, and lots of incoming
links.
Hal Licino is a successful author, award-winning freelance writer, and frequent contributor to a blog hosted by Benchmark Email, an email marketing service for small businesses. He also writes a weekly column for Daily Blog Tips.