Starting a blog is something really easy but the tough part is taking your blog to the next level. Everyday thousands of people start a blog but only a handful survive.
The reasons for failure could be many but learning from your mistakes is important. Bloggers often fail to implement proper strategies but it’s never late to learn a thing or two about blogging Here are a few tips to help you succeed in your blogging efforts this year.
Have a forbearing attitude
Patience is the most important tool for a writer. If you are a person of forbearing attitude then it is great asset because success won’t come easy.
It is a long term process and hence it’s important to have patience in whatever you do. While the right attitude can work wonders for you, it is also important to enjoy your work it is quite common for bloggers to get bored. So write about what you like and enjoy what you write.
Getting in touch with right people
As a blogger, the first and foremost thing you need to have is a good rapport with your readers and fellow bloggers. Interacting with fellow bloggers and your readers is always a plus point and you may even benefit from other blogs featuring you.
Communicating with the readers will help you to build a good relationship and good relationship equals increased following.
Use controversy to your advantage
Innovation and creativity is what every work needs and it is so with writing. There is nothing as refreshing as good content. A controversy every now and then can also be very healthy for your blog.
Keyword research is good but writing posts simply based on keywords can lead to common topics. Write creative posts that appeal the readers so they keep coming back to your blog.
Spend ample time on proof reading
Good content pleases everybody. But at the same time, nobody likes to read something that is completely riddled with errors. Even a single misspelled word is not acceptable as it can ruin the flow of your readers.
Also if people are spending their time reading your posts, they are also looking for good value for their time and if you provide them with low quality writing. There is a good chance that they will never return.
Reply to every comment
Marketing your blog is more about building relationships that you think. If your readers are commenting on your posts, it means is a good thing. It is a way for them to show their liking towards your articles.
If you don;t interact with these readers through your replies, you are making a big mistake. You need to show them that you are a real person expressing his/her views through the blog. You can do this through blog comments and that human touch to your blog.
Guest blogging
Allow other bloggers to post on your blog or write posts on other blogs. This is an excellent way to build relationships within the blogger community.
Also authoring on other reputable blogs can increase your followers and also your SEO ranking. So guest blogging is good and if you are not doing it already, it’s about time you started doing it.
Stop thinking about money
Don’t keep money as a primary goal. First, only focus on innovating and adding creative elements to your blog so that the readers get attracted to it.
Later on you can think of ads and ther strategies to make money. You can easily find several corporate and professional blogs online
Don’t give up
Finally, never give up. There can be hard times but they won’t last forever. So always stick to what you are doing and never give up. Most blogs fail only because the blogger quits.
Whatever the reason may be, never think of giving up. Blogging is not about strict rules it is about the freedom and a continuous learning process. If you can simply search the web, you would find a lot of blogs that you can learn from.
Jessica Davis is a Content Strategy Specialist with Godot Media. She has years of experience in working closely with online businesses, helping them refine their marketing strategy through optimum use of content. Her other interests besides online content strategy, internet marketing and search engine optimization are- technology, sports and even fashion. You can read her articles at http://www.godotmedia.com/blog
Hey Buddy!
I am using many of the tips you have suggested above like Guest posting, engaging people with poll and also rewarding people occasionally but i did’t got much positive feedback.So what to do next?
Keep Updating your blog thrice or twice per week, engage in social media sites daily, keep updating and keep replying for the feedback of customers. Keep healthy relationship with the customers. These are the points you need to keep in mind to get good response for your blog website.
Hi Jessica…I’ve tried guest blogging for a few times. There was a boost in traffic when i did guest posting in a site with good traffic..I also gained some new subscribers…At the same time there was no substantial traffic when i posted on a different blog..So my suggestion to everybody venturing into guest posting will be to consider the traffic of the site..Because writing a quality article itself is a difficult task..If you are giving it away then you should definitely make sure that you get something out of it..Checking the alexa rank of the site will be a really good idea.
Thanks for great advises. Well always use simple word and informative concept that attracts our visitors the most. This makes our blogging successful!!
Hi Jessica,
I like the last part which is “Don’t give up!” I blogged for so many years but still can’t make my blog grown in a way I wanted.
I have done all of these things but I can’t make it grow. Later I found out it is because my blog didn’t focus on any particular topic.
I think to build a successful blog, it is important to choose a right topic. If you choose a wrong one, whatever you try, you won’t make it any far.
But I agree on those techniques that you mentioned in the blog post, it will work only if you choose a right topic!
Cheers
Nice effort Jessica…First of all I gotta say that I’m not a believer and follower of quick blogging success because I ;love to say “the slower you rise the slower you fall” Still your post was worth reading…Keep it up..
what an interesting post. Sometimes it is hard to answer all comments but hey! atleast you answered to their taste right? I also love making friend because i guess that comes natural
Your tips are spot on. Thanks and do have a lovely Easter
Great Advises Jessica. The last two paragraphs are most important as stop thinking about money and give value to your readers and their time, then money will follow your way automatically. The second is Don’t give up. You remind me this awesome quote “Never, never, never give up. by Winston Churchill”
Guest posting is an important element in blogging. It brings good amount of traffic and you can also do blog commenting to sttarct new readers. Great post.
Regards,
Amrik Virdi
Jessica,
Thanks for your great post. Of all the items, I think that NOT focusing on the money has got to be the key.
When it is, and I’ve fallen prey to this before, then it completely taints your drive, your posts, your thoughts…and it is somehow detectible I feel on the other end.
Focusing instead on TRULY creating great content is something that real people (and thus Google now) truly appreciate…and what do you know? The money comes as a happy, non-focused on result.
Thanks again, ~Katie
well the keyfactor to get in fastly in blogging arena is the way to put your guest post ahead catch every moment that happens infront of your news circle attached to other bloggers.
The last two paragraphs are most important as stop thinking about money and give value to your readers and their time, then money will follow your way automatically.
And Smart Work, if you are working smartly than nothing can stop you to get into the league of best bloggers in this blogosphere.
Thanks for the post!
These are wonderful tips especially for the newbies in this business. I think the most important among these tips is the patience. Success cannot be achieved overnight and it takes a lot of hard work to build an online reputation. But with enough knowledge and hard work, everything will be paid off in the end.
Hello Jessica,
This is a lovely post. I love content that is clear, to the point, and easy to apply right away. I would recommend this post to anyone new to the blogging world. Thank you for sharing this awesome post with us.
To Your Success,
Stacie Walker
Woman in Leadership
As you have already said everything in this post and given mostly all important tips for a successful blog than i can only thank you for sharing this great info with us. keep it up.
Solid advice. You definitely need to learn to take the good times with the bad ones and roll with the punches. Some months will feel laborious, while others seem to fly and are filled with inspiration. This is the way it goes. If you simply give it all away in one of the down months, you could be losing out in the long run.
If you aren’t in the zone one week, so to speak, just accept it and come back to it with a fresh pair of eyes the week after.
And spell check for certain!
Hey Jessica, Nice list for bloggers to start with. Even though, the tips are as basic as ever necessary thing but many bloggers even pros are not applying it. I’m following all your steps but Guest Posting. Hope I start soon. And Wish I have my guest post here too @PBS
Very interesting breakdown, indeed. It’s nice to have such information available in one location and some ideas for new and different directions to take to help one stand out.
great tips as usual and this is very good article for all the bloggers especially for begginers great share
Yes, Two important things those are guest posting and reply every comment.
Guest posting is getting quality of backlinks from high PR blogs.
IF you are reply after every comment then it because a discussion and here you clear the others problem and you will be find new more visitors.
Hey,
Money is sometimes not everything. I really like your tip “Stop thinking about money”.
Regards,
Jannie Taylor
Hey Jessica,
Nice post and Yes, guest blogging, reply to every comments and making relations with other are most important parts of the blogging. In starting of blogging, it requires lots of hardwork and yes, we have to not think about money in starting. Thanks for sharing this tips.
really like your ideas. awesome post thyanks
Blogging is really intersting.It should be done the right way!!!
I like your saying’ stop thinking about money’This is great!!!
Starting a blog is something really easy but the tough part is taking your blog to the next level.Yeah!! This is right!! to start anything is easy , any decision you took at first you will find it easy.But when you go to the deep part you may face difficulties so at that point , the important thing is to accomplish it and going on the way you want to realize.
I have been trying to do all of these things, but my page is brand new and doesn’t get many comments or much traffic yet. What would you say is the number one way to get an initial boost in traffic?