The Web is awash with blogs these days. Everyone wants to tell their side of the story on so many micro niche subject levels that it is increasingly hard to stand out from the crowd. Scream and shout all you want, unless you have a coherent plan on how to gain attention and a loyal following you are dead in the water.
That is why I have put together the following key points that many successful bloggers undertake in one guise or another in order to rise above the din of the crowd.
Write regularly – Whilst there are no hard and fast rules on this at least try to be consistent with the interval between posts. It’s no good writing and posting a flurry of twenty to thirty posts in your first few weeks if you are then only able to provide one over the course of the following month. Readers are often aware of how regularly their favourite bloggers post so don’t feel compelled to just post for the sake of it. Instead work out a writing pattern that suits your lifestyle and your readers will learn when to tune in. Better for them than repeatedly visiting and seeing the same post on the homepage week after week.
Produce series of content – To encourage you to write regularly you should plan out particular days when you will update your readers on a given issue. So, for example, Mondays could be your ‘Predictions for the week ahead’ post, Tuesdays your viral video issue, Wednesdays ‘big issue debate’, Thursdays plans for the weekend and Fridays photos of the week series. Some of these lend themselves to being very brief to update. The video and image updates, by way of example, just require a sentence or two on the content of each along with the embed code for each. Such codes are freely available on the social media platforms you took the content from.
Be yourself – Don’t be afraid of the inner you! Let your voice be heard. Not everyone is the next Charlie Brooker but so long as you are authentic and offer your own honest opinion you will galvanise a following. To this end don’t just regurgitate what others have written. Look at an issue from a perspective that you have not seen the subject written from. In this way you can explore all sides of the argument whilst drawing a conclusion that is still true to your voice.
Be funny– You have limited time to grab the attention of all new readers who are scanning through your posts. As such try not to bore them to death! Throw in a little light hearted, tongue in cheek analysis to keep them entertained and reverential as to your comedic insight. This should not be confused however with slapstick comedy or one liners. Avoid these at all costs.
Promote your blog – Most blogs come with an RSS feed. This enables readers to receive automatic updates each and every time you post on your blog. As such be sure to plug it at every opportunity. Also use Twitter, Facebook and other social tools to interact with your audience one on one. Just like all real world promotion such virtual face to face interaction will encourage your audience to spread the word to their friends and so on. Such social recommendations remain the cornerstone of all high conversion referral schemes.
About the Author – Josh Aggars
Josh writes for a successful surfing and travel blog. His passion for surfing takes him to amazing places around the World and comes through in his regular articles as he explores all aspects of the sport. He subsidises his writing by running his own company selling animal flip flops online. Contact him for free articles for your blog or website at http://twitter.com/joshaggars.
All excellent points. I can not stress enough that part of promoting yourself is to interact with your readers, not only on your own blog but also on theirs. Get out and comment, share the good news from other blogs on your own, acknowledge your readers and friends. Build community.