Tag: Blog

For the people in the blogging loop, you may know one of the most established bloggers on the net, Andrew Sullivan, hung up his keyboard after 15 years creating one of the biggest blogs the internet has seen. Sullivan, a predominant political British-American commentator, came to the conclusion that his blog had served its time earlier this year. His resignation from blogging triggered a huge online debate in which many commentators declared “the death of blogging“.

Internet usage has risen steadily since the early ‘90s, however, despite the number of hosting providers out there all offering super simple, and quick to set up blog packages like the one described here, the actual number of independent online blogs has dropped drastically in the past five to ten years. This begs the question – where have all the bloggers gone?

Social media is continuing to grow and extend its reach into the lives of teenagers and adults alike, with new registrations far outweighing people leaving sites (Facebook is the third most popular site on the internet). This popularity enjoyed by social media is arguably the chief reason for the slump in blog numbers, as people who once sought the refuge of the blogosphere to share their two cents now do so through the medium of social media. In a nutshell, people are consuming the internet differently to how they did ten years ago.

Phenomena like ‘memes’, ‘gifs’, pictures, videos, tweets and status updates are the primary avenue of self-expression on the internet today – perhaps because the framework of social media encourages this kind of activity and consequently long-winded blogs have been ditched in favour of quick fix 140-character tweets.

This change in consumption has of course been accommodated by big business. Rather than creating blogs, businesses now opt for creating Facebook pages and mobile phone applications, further contributing to the demise of the blog. The blog is winding down toward becoming an obsolete form of technology, at least in its traditional format.

However it is not all doom and gloom for bloggers out there. The change in the way people consume information has seen established bloggers dwindle in numbers dramatically, concentrating the power of the blog among just a few busy writers. Social media has arguably trimmed off the fat in a blogging world which was once overrun by illegible pages created by vocal youths on the family computer. What remains now is the meat, meaning, if you can beef up your joint, then blogging can still be a worthwhile means of communication.

When it comes to blogging many of us forget that the simple things matter. We get so caught up in the ads and the content that we forget what makes a blog stand out to readers first is the way it looks. First impressions matter here if you want readers to stick around long enough to read your content.

That is why I wanted to go over a few simple points about blogging that you may have forgotten n your rush to get out great content.

1. Focus is essential

The first thing I want to remind you of is that your blog’s focus, its niche topic, is essential to its success. If your blog is not focused or has too wide of a focus you will lose your readers. There is a metaphor I like to remember when I think about focus.

It is like spaghetti sauce. There is smooth and chunky but no in between. Some people like smooth sauce and are happy. Some like chunky and are happy, but if you try to make an in-between neither of them will be happy. Like this, blogging is about making your content fit your readers.

2. Who are you writing for

Speaking of fitting your readers, once you find out what your topic is you need to find out who your target market is. Is it retired people? Teenagers? Business people? Stay at home parents? You cannot write effectively if you do not know who is reading your blog.

Instead use resources online to find out who your blog’s market is and what they are looking for.

3. Doing research

Now when it comes to finding out what readers are looking for it pays to do your research. There are many programs online that will give you insight into what search words and phrases your target market are looking for.

Once you find out those keywords to work with you will be able to tailor your content to meet their needs and get the traffic you want.

4. Use keywords

Keywords are overused and underrated. Keyword packing, where your content is nothing more than a series of keywords that no one would actually want to read, is a definite no-no. However if your content is inspired by your researched keywords you will get tons of traffic and meet the needs of your readers.

An example of this would be a site for special needs kids. The writer found out there was a lot of searching for Down syndrome and Down’s syndrome but no one knew what the appropriate term was.

He addressed this issue in his blog and at the same time increased his traffic by incorporating two huge keywords in his post.

5. Keep it short

While you should be focused on the quality of your blog posts you should not worry too much about the length. A typical blog post should be between five hundred and two thousand words. If you write over two thousand words readers will not stick around to read it all.

If you go shorter than five hundred words not only do your posts look puny and useless to readers but search engines will not pick up on them as frequently which means fewer readers to work with in the first place. Keeping your posts short but high quality will assure you the most return for your effort.

6. Update a lot

Speaking of frequent blog posts, you should update your blog at least once per day. I know that may be a lot for some blog topics but updating frequently raises your blog’s rankings in search engines and gets you more exposure.

By constantly keeping your blog at the top of news feeds and readers you can keep your blog in your target marker’s mind and increase your exposure to new readers also. New is always better in the online world so make an effort to update your blog as much as possible.

7. Make it readable

Another aspect of blogs that I have noticed many times is that the blog itself is not readable. How can you expect more traffic if your blog looks like word vomit on a page? Instead of making your blog’s appearance an afterthought or counting on a computer program to tell you what your blog should look like take a look at your blog yourself.

Is it something you would read? Do ads cover up the text? Is the background the same color as the text making it impossible to read? Do the colors clash hurting your eyes? Is it boring and dull or so bright and busy that you can’t tell where to start? Address these issues in your blog by cresting a user friendly space for readers.

8. Make it usable

Speaking of user friendly once you address the looks of the blog make sure everything works right. I can’t tell you how often I have run from a blog because it just did not work. The links were broken, the images did not load, the blog took so long to load it was ridiculous and so on.

Make sure your blog is easy to use and give readers the ability to easily move from one post to another within your blog. The more internal movement you allow the longer they will stay and the better off your blog will be.

9. Add images

When it comes to a blogs appeal the visual is the first thing readers get. Is your blog nothing but text? How boring! Add some images, graphics, or videos to make your blog posts stand out above the rest.

Many people find images so appealing they will stop to read the text that goes along with it. Even image searches can bring in new readers to your blog so images and videos are well worth adding. You can find free stock photos on sites like FreeDigitalPhotos.net or import videos from YouTube.

You can also make your own videos or images using screen captures or web cameras.

10. Become a part of the community

Last but not least you should become a part of your community. That can mean your blogging community, your local community, or even your national or worldwide community. Things like natural disasters and food aid are great places to start in giving your time and resources.

Maybe you can write an article for their website or volunteer your web skills to help them to update their blog. You can donate money, time or services to a variety of organizations and get a link to your website or image badge in exchange.

That way you can get in new readers and broaden your exposure to their readers or fellow volunteers. In the blogging community you can comment on your fellow blogger’s post and give insightful advice or commentary. You can also offer your help or even do guest post for them in exchange for a link on their site.

Through this you get exposure to their audience and some may come to your site just based on how well you write your comments.

There are many more ways that you can improve your blog without having to jump through hoops or spend lots of money. These are just ten simple ways to take a second look at your blog and make sure it is running the way you want it too.

Do not forget that your target market is people not computers. Try to stay human and give people what they really need: quality content that matters to them. After that everything else is easy.