Why blog?
Here is the reason. Many aspects of online technology can be very intimidating to newcomers, but blogging does not need to be one of them. Everyone can benefit from learning how to effectively inform and entertain visitors that come to their website, through the art of blogging. Take some tips from this article to make your blogs come alive and have the desired effect on readers.
Don’t become entrapped with “right now”. hot topic writing can only last as long as the hot topics do. Many times, that is a very short time period. Try writing content that can be easily read months and years down the road. Even if the content is about a hot topic, Try including something timeless in it.
Choose a niche that you are passionate about. By doing this you will have a true interest in the things you are blogging about and this will reflect in your writing. It may sound silly but when you are passionate about the things you write about, your readers will be able to tell.
Resist all temptation to copy from research articles, other blogs or anything else that you come across that is written by someone else. Plagiarism is a very serious offense, and being fingered as a plagiarist can destroy your reputation. You do not need any advanced degree to succeed in writing your blog, but you do need to be knowledgeable and passionate about your subject.
Everything you do can end up being the subject of a blog. Take notes when you are away from the computer, if you stumble across an idea that may translate into a post. You want to always keep your eyes open for subject ideas. Writing is the easy part, it’s coming up with the initial concept that usually leads to writer’s block.
Make sure your posts don’t elicit the “It’s too long so I didn’t read it” response from your readers. Studies show that people stop paying attention more quickly when reading on the web than they do when reading print. For this reason, try to keep posts under 300 words or so. Some types of posts, such as scholarly articles, don’t suffer from this loss of attention of much as others, so know your audience.
Try asking readers for feedback. Be sure to interact with them. Don’t assume that you know exactly what it is that your readers want from the blog, try asking them outright. This can be done in your comments, by creating a specific post for feedback by email, or social networks like Twitter. You could even use online communities.
Having active commentary on your blog is an effective way to maintain traffic. This is because comments are content just like blog articles. Readers will revisit your blog not only to read new articles, but also to see if anyone has left new comments. You can encourage commenting by asking questions and inquiring about your readers’ perspectives in your blog articles. Responding to comments also encourages commenting.
When you are attempting to select a topic that will be the basis of your blog, you should make sure that you are interested in your topic. You can’t expect to maintain a blog whose topic doesn’t interest you in anyway. Selecting a topic that you love increases the chance that you’ll stick with continually updating your blog, which will generate new readers.
If you use Twitter as your only means of promoting your blog on social sites, then you should try using Facebook. Facebook is an extremely powerful networking tool that millions of people use all around the world. Some users of Facebook do not use Twitter, so using Facebook, along with Twitter, can prove to be extremely beneficial to your blog.
If you have a day when you feel like you can get a lot of writing done, take advantage of it. You will find that you will have these days, and then you will also have other days where it will be hard for you to write anything at all.
When you start blogging, you might be doing it for marketing reasons. While this is perfectly fine, you need to make sure that your focus is on your content, not your marketing. If people believe that you are just giving them one sales pitch after another, they will not come check out your blog.
Try to link to other similar blog posts across the internet to increase your viewership. The more interconnected your blog site becomes the higher chance there is that a person surfing the web will stumble across your blog. Therefore, it is vitally important that you link your blog to similar blogs.
Use the power of social media to build readership for your blog. Social media is the newest technology on the internet, and if you are not in tune with what it has to offer, you are missing out on a big chunk of potential traffic to your blog. You should announce new posts on sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Aim to have a large number of videos in your blog. Use TubeMogul in order to publish these videos in as many different places as possible. In addition, you should ensure that your blog URL is not just simply in the video. It should also be in the text description that goes along with the video.
So you now see that blogging can be an enjoyable way to communicate online, without the typical formality that exists when conducting business. When your site visitors are relaxed and well informed, they will be more likely to trust you and invest in your products or services. Take the insights gained here and put them to work in your own blogging efforts.
