Social media and blogging have never been bigger. There are literally millions of female (and male) bloggers on the net today. Blogging is essentially a style of writing on the Internet that reaches out to its target audience in a very personable way. For some people, blogging and the social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are simply a way of expressing themselves through various blog posts. They may discuss their daily routines, gripes, likes, and more. Generally speaking, nothing is gained financially as it’s more for personal pleasure. Others, however, are making serious money and forming lucrative careers out of the art of blogging. Read on for your step-by-step guide to improving the potential of your blog and maximizing visiting traffic.

What makes a good blog?

Self-hosted blogs are meant to be pretty informal and are usually written by just one person, although sometimes are written by a small team of writers. They can come in any size and can cover just about anything. The style of a blog will differ depending on the person that’s writing it, and so will its effectiveness. However, there are a few things that all good blog posts have in common and also what makes them work so well. Here are a few ways in which you can promote your blog:

  • Length: While you don’t want to bore your readers to death with 16 pages of fluff, you want to write enough to get your point across. So, you need to find a happy medium; a place in between that will give your readers enough interesting information to keep them reading, yet not too much drivel that they zone out before the end.
  • Tone: When preparing to write your blog, you’ll already have in mind the people it’s aimed at (i.e. your target audience). Depending on who that is will depend on the tone of the article. If you’re going to be blogging to older people, there’s no point using modern slang or text speak as they won’t have a clue what you’re on about. Similarly, if you’re going to be blogging to a group of men, try not to use too much “flowery” talk.
  • Readability: Make sure it makes sense. It’s all too easy to get carried away with writing and let your fingers run away with you, not really taking notice of what’s being said. So, just be careful with that. While you want your blog to be “chatty,” it needs to make sense too.

Now that you have a bit more of an idea as to what blogging is and what makes them effective in general.  Here are a few more tips to help you succeed in the world of blogging:

  • Choose an interesting topic to blog about. This may sound like a given, but sometimes bloggers try to write about topics that they have little or no interest in, and this comes across in their posts.  If you want your readers to remain engaged you have to keep them entertained and you won’t do that with a topic you yourself find boring.
  • Plan, plan, plan. This is probably the most important part of blogging. There aren’t many people out there that can simply hop on a computer and write a decent blog without any prior planning. It doesn’t have to be anything too extensive. Maybe just a few words are enough. It’s really just something to get those creative juices flowing and pointed in the right direction.
  • Make sure it’s credible. Spending time doing good research will save you time and shame later on. Before you publish anything, you need to check your facts and make sure that what you’re writing is the truth. If not, you could find yourself in hot water.
  • Learn to love your readers. At the end of the day, without your readers, there’s very little point in blogging. So, instead of putting all your attention on picking up new customers, instead focus on the ones you have and get to know them better. The beauty of a blog is that it’s a way to get more personable and is much easier for the reader to see the writer’s true colors and learn to love them back.
  • Format your blog: You might not think it matters that much, but formatting is actually quite important when it comes to blogging. A blog can have the most interesting content in the world in it but if it looks dull and boring, no one’s going to get past the headline anyway. One way to make your blog stand out is to be generous with bolding. Bolding out key points within your blog allows people to skim through it to get an idea of what it’s all about. If they like what they’ve read in those few words it’s very likely that they’ll carry on to read the remainder of it. Another good formatting technique to use when it comes to blogging is to use dots to create a feeling of suspense. Often, readers can’t help but feel curious as to what might be coming next.
  • Be SEO aware: Every good blog post needs a way to be found and this is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes in. To give your blog the best chances of being seen, be sure to use a good keyword ratio, keyword optimized titles, keyword anchor text, and the correct use of keywords throughout the blog. Being able to apply SEO techniques correctly will enhance your blog’s chances of being read tenfold.

As with anything, blogging takes a while to master to drive more traffic to your site. It’s not that it’s particularly difficult, but it may take a while to find your own style to promote your blog. While you want to be chatty, you need to be informative also. A self-hosted blog that’s only 30% factual and 70% fluff is not a good blog. It doesn’t need to be an essay. Something short, sweet, and informative will do the job nicely. Just remember to keep practicing and don’t give up. Take note of the above tips and before you know it, you’ll have yourself a database of dedicated readers.

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