If you have talent as a writer, blogging is a great way to let the public see your knowledge and expertise in any field. Being a skilled writer however is not enough to make your blog truly great. The following are ways that you can raise your blog from good to great!
- Content is King
Of course everyone knows that the heart of any good article is the content, but so many fall short. Make sure your article is full and explains the topic completely. There are very few things more frustrating for a reader than to get an incomplete picture of what the writer is trying to say. It’s sort of like watching a movie and missing several scenes. To avoid this frustration for your readers, make your content full and informative. It should be packed with useful information that can establish you as an authority in the topic. You want to make your readers come back for more enriching information. - Eye Catching Photo
Photos can add so much to any article. In recent years they are becoming less popular, but newspapers always had pictures to go with their big stories. There was a reason for this. Pictures add depth and imagery to an otherwise bland experience. Modern technology makes it quite simple to obtain pictures for any article you write. The internet is literally overflowing with images that can perfectly complement your blog. So not adding a picture is just silly, so make sure you always do it. Just make sure that you don’t take a photo without giving credit for it. It has been proven that blog posts with images get more clicks than ones without. - Search Engine Optimization
Imagine a huge billboard with vibrant colors and flashing lights. The message it says is very helpful and memorable to anyone that sees it. Unfortunately, it’s a thousand feet from the side of the road, obscured by trees. This is similar to a great blog with bad search engine optimization. SEO can help your audience see your masterpiece. Let’s face it, you put your valuable time and effort into that blog, you don’t want it to go to waste do you? The whole point of writing is to provide something for people to read and they need to find it before they can read it. Having search words added to your blog is very important in getting your message out to the public. There are free plugins to help you with this, such as Yoast or All in One SEO. - Install a Plugin So Readers Can Tweet Your Blog
There are free plugins that you can use for this purpose such as click to tweet. This allows your blog readers to have pre-written tweets that they can share with their followers. It is a great way to share your blog. - Proofread Your Post Multiple Times
Make sure that your content is checked for spelling and grammar before you make it available to the public. It doesn’t matter how great your message is; your credibility goes out the window if you publish a blog riddled with spelling errors and grammar mistakes. In terms of time, proofreading is the shortest part of the process, but it should absolutely not be skipped. - Have a Call to Action at the End
This is an important part of each blog. After your readers have read your blog, they should be brought to a bio box. This is a small snippet of your bio with a call to action. This can be your IFO. That is an irresistible free offer. It is essentially the incentive for people to sign up to your newsletter. They get a free “gift” in exchange for signing up to your list. This is a great way to build your list. - Post on Social Media So Others Can Share
Another way to help get the word out about your article is to use social media. Posting on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn with a link to your blog is a great way to share your work with your online connections. If you have 5000 connections on Twitter, why wouldn’t you want to tap into such a huge audience? Posting on social media is a great technique to get your message out to the public, so make sure you do it often and at the right times of the day. - Schedule your post at an optimal time
Avoid posting at the end of the day because most people would rather just go home rather than read your article. Try to post it in the beginning of the day instead to give your busy working audience time to read it. Avoiding Fridays is also a good idea because if they don’t get around to reading your article that day, the weekend will make them forget all about it. For this reasons Mondays are the best day. However, it is important to analyze your stats to see when your readers are most viewing your blog. This will give you the optimal time to post.