Early blogging days are always hard to pass. I remember even 10 visitors seemed a fancy number.
No matter how many hours it took to find an answer to my query, i didn't mind spending it. Sometimes 4 sometimes 10! Today building out a decent base of BloggingeHow, we aim to go further with the support that you guys have always showed.
During this time period, and reading out dozens of blogging tips that proved beneficial for my self, i would like to point them out here, so that you get an idea of what to look for in your blogging career and what aims to achieve during this hard work time.
Here are top 25 blogging tips that i believe are most crucial to a successful blog launch and would earn you a bright future if you stick to them.
Approach
1-Set A Direction: Know Your Path
Once you're sure about what you want to write about (regardless if you would make any money out of it or not, but only because its your passion to do so), now its time to get technical. Carry out a research for that specific topic and find the 'most' suitable "keyword" that you would build your blog upon.
You just don't drop out and start writing upon. Notice how you find content online. You search a specific keyword or phrase and Google shows up its most relevant and high quality results. A minor changes to your keyword search would change the results likewise.
That means, that every site/blog has its own area of focus and it gets traffic through those keywords. So jump out on Google Keyword Tool and search your keywords. Finally come up with a short phrase that has highest traffic per month (that's how keyword tool shows).
Say you wish to write about making money through Internet. The most used and highly searched keyword in this aspect is say "make money online".
So choose this keyword and put it in your blog meta keywords. (i would later talk about it in SEO blogging tips).
So choose this keyword and put it in your blog meta keywords. (i would later talk about it in SEO blogging tips).
Make sure that you find your self a specific niche (blogging topic). Blogging about Technology would consume more efforts and would be hard to rank high then simply writing about Apply products.
Just a random idea. Now days people search more specific queries in search engines and that what you need to take care of while choosing the right topic.
Just a random idea. Now days people search more specific queries in search engines and that what you need to take care of while choosing the right topic.
2-Choosing The 'Right' Domain
Once you have sought out the blogging topic for your self, its time to hunt for a relevant domain that is made up of those keywords that you want to target. Its not that easy to find out.Top domain names would be always booked when you look for them. But hard work always pays off.
Buying a domain like : www.makingmoneyonline.com would be a dream for you. When you visit the domain registrar site (bluehost may be), you can search for domains there.
You may like to read:
3-Choosing The 'Right' Blogging Platform
Now this may be controversial to many, but i believe it totally depends upon you. The most popular blogging platform today are WordPress.org and Blogger.com.I go through the entire procedure of starting a professional blog on Wordpress on the post linked below.
How to Launch & Publish a Self-Hosted WordPress Blog In 8 Minutes! [VideoCast]
WordPress.org (self hosted WordPress) is a paid service, where you would have to buy a hosting so that you can put your blogging files up there on the server. You cant start up with it without getting a hosting.
On the other hand, if you still want to go with WordPress but don't want to pay, then WordPress.com (Free WordPress with limited options) is available too. Like wise, Blogger.com is also quite famous (By Google) and is totally free with 100% up time reputation.
This blog is hosted upon Blogger. I just bought the domain and it was good to go. If i have to recommend a blogging platform to any beginner, i would say it depends upon you.
If you don't have financial constraints and most students like me do, then WordPress would be the right choice with a self hosted blog.
The only attraction towards WordPress over Blogger is its great looking professional free templates plus, a great amount of quality plugins that are on your disposal.
There is nothing such plugins thing in Blogger. You have to do tweaks manually. But again its totally free, so what to loose?
Early blogging days are often experimentation and for that, i would recommend Blogger. Later you may consider shifting over to WordPress.
4-Choosing The Right Hosting Company
Blogger is known for its 100% up time. But that's not achieved by any other hosting company, even the top ones.Currently I utilize bluehost web hosting and it's been over 3 years that I'm totally satisfied with it. I have talked about that in this getting started with blogging page.
So make sure you get the best ones right in the starting. But again, don't be afraid of failures if they come later on as its the part of learning process that we all are into. Just make your decision wisely and then believe in your self.
5-Setting Up a Goal
Setting goal is extremely important for your success in any field that you hop into. That's the only force that makes you work harder to achieve that target. Look how top entrepreneurs and a legendary body builder, 'Arnold', made out their way to the top.
You may like to read:
6- Be Your Self
Its like branding 'Yourself' too! Make yourself unique and that would only happen if you stay what 'You Are' and not trying to be like the top probloggers or who ever you admire. Note their best qualities and indeed apply to them to your life style, but in your own way.
People often like the informal way i write my posts and that's what they like about articles here at BloggingeHow. Be confident in what ever you do and people would start following you likewise.
Thank you for all of this :)
7- Enjoy Your Writing Career
Take blogging as a discussion with your readers. Pretend that they all are listening to your right away when you write your content. This way you would enjoy what you write. Also as mentioned before, passion for a particular topic is vital in this regard too.Design
8- Make Sure You Brand Your Blog
Its all about giving a unique look to your blog so that people know it my its design. Every top website/blog that you know has its own unique look. You could get a free template and then customize it according to your liking. Its called branding.Giving out a unique look to your blog so that people know you by design too.
You could buy professionals template, that are already fit to go on with in most cases. But still you would be needing a branding phase. Or you could either simply hire a programmer and build out one from scratch.
You may like to read:
9- Concentrate On 'About Us' Page
Ever read about how About Us page can make or break impression? People often visit About Us pages to get involved in what ever they would read later on. They like to get connected virtually with the mind behind the content they read.
So make sure you give out your best picture on about us page, a video would be even better. Write out about your self in a friendly way as if you would narrate your story.
Design it well. Tell them what reader can expect from your blog and finally at the end, give them a call to action. Mention out your best posts etc to tell them what to do next.
You may like to read:
10-Perfect Contact Us Page
It can be a good idea to have a separate Contact Us page on your blog. People often like to get connected with you for seeking inspiration and sharing their views about your blog. Or they may like to get any advice.You may like to read:
SEO / Building Traffic
11- Choose The 'Right' Post Frequency
Post frequency matters a lot to a blogs success. Posting content frequently on your blog, may be daily, would attract your visitors and your blog would become a part of their lives. I wrote a post yesterday about choosing the right post frequency for your blog. Once you decide it for your self, simply stick to it.
Read the article below to get the entire idea:
12- Take Care Of SEO
Search engine optimization is most crucial and is backbone to driving traffic to your blog. You would aim to get major traffic from search engines, and for that your content should attract them. Your blog should too in general!SEO is majorly depended upon few vital aspects that i have talked about in the post below. There are couple of Search engine plugins that i compiled too, in one of the posts below.
- Top 4 SEO Plugins For WordPress In 2012
- How to Submit Blogger (Blogspot) Blog Sitemap to Google
- How I Increased Google Page Rank To PR 4 And Why You Couldnt
- 4 Essential Ways To Build Back Links For Your Blog
- How To Assign Post Titles H2 tags For Better SEO In Blogger Blog
13-Giving Out Quality Content To Readers
The more comprehensive quality content that you give out to readers that solve their problems, the more they would be loyal towards your blog. They may subscribe to your feeds and social network (Facebook, Twitter etc) at the end of the post.Readers would come back to your blog and would recommend it to their friends too. So as a whole due to word of mouth and social media interaction, you would start seeing increase in your blog traffic. And remember, its exponential!
It may be difficult to build those first 100 visitors. After that its becomes much more easy. So look forward to that time and motivate your self to workout hard in those early days. Simply follow these tips consistently and you would feel the rewards coming.
14-Choose Perfect Post Titles- A Gateway Of Traffic
Understand that optimized post titles are Gate Way of search engine traffic. The more search engine optimized content you write, the more doors are you building for people to access your blog through different search keywords and phrase.Read this post to choose Post title wisely:
15- Consider The Right Posting Timings
Posting timings matter a lot too. Though you wont feel the difference in early days, but when people start following your content on daily basis, you should make sure that you give them content when "They" want it to come.
Look towards the statistics of your blog and know the demographics. Like most of our traffic comes from United States. So i would make sure that i post out an article when people are in their offices (they often like to read something of their interest in morning).
Posting Timings becomes crucial in manipulating Alexa rank later on when your blog is highly ranked. I would keep you updated over this as i am experimenting upon this now days too.
16-Monitor Blog Statistics Regularly
Though it might not be a good idea to waste too much of your time in looking to stats, as you cant do much about it in early days.
At then the only thing you should concentrate on is creating content. Later on when you start getting decent traffic, you can make use of statistics and plan out your approach and posting timings likewise.
17- Make Use Of Blog Feeds
Many readers like to read content through their emails. Its called your blog feeds.Your daily content is emailed to your blog feed subscribers and thus make them satisfy.
Many people also limit their blog feeds to 'jump break'. That is a limited snippet of your daily article is mailed to them and thus they reach out to your blog post page to read the remaining content, and thus increasing traffic.
You can checkout these top content marketing platforms that you can use to increase your blog's outreach.
The more email subscribers you have, the more traffic you can get.
Know why your email subscribers are not increasing:
18- Write Top Posts
Top Lists are always attractive to the eyes and drive traffic through search engines to a great extent. People often like to share them in their social circles to thereby increasing your traffic. Sometimes if you're lucky, they might get viral bringing in thousands of visitors.
Connecting With Fans
19- Socialize With Your Fans
When you get a decent following on social media (Facebook, Twitter etc), socializing really benefits your blog. Its doesn't mean that you should always share a post with them. You could share you views on a particular topic, take their views, or just post out a quote of your liking.
Got the idea?
Make sure that they remain connected with you and your blog brand.
Do you have a custom Facebook Fan page URL? If not, read the post below:
20- Marketing Your Blog
This works best in early days of blogging. It helps to increase your back links (through blog commenting) and brings in few of those first valuable visitors, that keep you going in blogging career.
Leave out comments (with a link to your blog) on blogs with in your niche. Its even better if the blog is do-follow. That would earn you a respectable Google Page Rank due to quality back links.
You may like to read :
Guest Posting is another great way to put out your voice and name in blogging world. Popular blogs have massive following and by leaving out a quality guest post their would bring traffic towards your blog. These visitors often subscribe your blog too as they look forward to get connected with you, if you leave a lasting impression over them.
That's where first impression counts.
21- Encourage Comments On Your Blog
Building out a community is a dream of every blogger. The more informal and friendly you are towards your readers, it is more likely for them to leave out a comment. Always replay to them in an encouraging way, and help them out in a professional manner.
You would see those commentators becoming loyal fans of your blog in no time!.
22- Handle Negative Comments Wisely!
Its too important and makes an impression over other readers too. Negative comments are always their and you just cant make every body happy in the world. But you ultimate success is to convert those haters into loyal fans.
Also checkout these 5 Effective Ways To Deal With Negative Comments On Blog
And that would only happen if you would appreciate those commentators and say like :
" I appreciate your comment though i would like to clarify this or that..."
Something in this fashion so that the hater gets the room to become a fan and change his words later on. Don't corner him and force him to be even bitter. Blogger are kind of psychiatrist too :)
23- Promote 'Easy Following'
Place Facebook like boxes, Twitter follow button in most suitable places on your blog. Above the post, below the posts, above the fold on homepages etc.You may like to read:
Make sure your readers get the chance the share your content easily. Sometimes you need to ask them to do so as they get distracted in other things on your blog. AND that's what ill be doing at the end of this post :)
So don't forget to share this post too! That would mean a lot =)
Formatting
24- Always Edit Content Before Publishing
Make sure, and make it your utmost priority that you go through your post and edit it in the end. Read out these productivity tips that i wrote few days back that talk about editing content.Minor typing errors leave a bad impression on your readers and they start taking your content less seriously.
25- Paragraphing Is Too Important
Notice how this post is divided into eye catching format. It becomes much easy for the reader to hover over the content if its divided into small paragraphs of few lines (3-4).You just have few seconds to convince the visitors to become a reader!. Formatting makes him to be that.
Thanks a Lot!
This was one of my greatest posts of all time. Hope these blogging tips were productive for you and would make a difference in your life.
DON'T forget to share the post with your fellow mates. It would mean a lot to us. :)
Astalavista!
If you yet haven't started a blog, you can learn and get started from scratch from this getting started video!
