Blog Writing – Best Practices In 2020
Blogging has been a form of self-expression for as long as we can remember. From columns in news articles to published pamphlets expressing our own thoughts and feelings – humans have an innate need to self-express and blogging is just another way for us to do it. Blogging can be therapeutic. For some, it’s an outlet, for others an opportunity to allow their creative juices flow. It is also a way, for some, to generate income – it’s a lucrative hobby with the potential of becoming a job.
In this article, we’re going to discuss some of the best blogging practices, as well as help you in understanding guest blogging concept in 2020 and how you can utilize these practices to become one of the best blog writers online.
Blogging Basics
Starting up a blog and going straight to the heart of it is certainly one strategy. It isn’t an intelligent one, though. Running in with no plan, especially when it comes to blogging, is about the worst way you could go about nurturing your blogging platform. If you want to get far, make a plan of action. Here are a few basic questions you should keep in mind while you flesh out the basics of what your blog is going to offer:
- What is your blog going to be about? (e.g. travel, food, book/movie reviews, etc)
- Who is your audience?
- What is your objective? (i.e. business or pleasure)
- How invested do you want to become? (Is it a hobby or do you want it to become a source of income/supplement your income/business?)
- Can you deal with negative comments? (Internet trolls exist, can you deal with them?)
- What makes your blog unique?
Once you are able to answer these properly, we can go on and discuss five of the top principles you should follow if you want to nurture your budding blog platform.
Top Six Principles
Calling them principles is a bit misleading – but they are far more essential than simple ‘tips and tricks’. Whether you’re creating the blog to help rank your business website through blog writing or to share your travel adventures, these principles are going to help you.
1. Data, Data, Data
Popular blogs these days all share similar features that helped them gain the kind of traffic that they have. You can find out those features by scanning the numbers and seeing where they went right and where they went wrong so you can implement it to your advantage. These can include prevalent topics, specific keywords – stuff that is going to have people clicking on your blog instead of refreshing their Instagram feed for the tenth time in a row. Research is key.
2. Engagement
This doesn’t require a lot of mental gymnastics to figure out – in fact, its basic psychology. If you have more of an emotional connection to someone or something – for example, a blogger – you’re more likely to want to revisit it. How do you foster an emotional connection? By engaging with your audience. Ask them for their opinion; respond to questions or comments – be friendly and open and let them know you care. Because if you care, they’ll care too.
3. Keep Your Content Flowing
This can be difficult at times. We all have days where we feel uninspired and unable to write anything. This is normal and everyone goes through it – writers block affects even the best of us. What can become dangerous to your blog is long periods of radio silence. People like routine – if you have a haphazard posting schedule with long breaks in between, people won’t want to make the emotional investment of going through your blogs. One tip I can offer is that, on good days, write some extra pieces to keep as ‘rainy day’ work, so even if you’re hit with a nasty bout of writer’s block, you can keep to your schedule.
4. Make Your Page Exciting
Your blog page is the gateway that all your potential readers will judge before they even decide if they want to spend the time reading what you’ve written. Make your page exciting – catchy phrases, beautiful pictures, snappy snippets of texts that will have your potential readers become certain readers. You can look up royalty free images or you can give your blog posts an even more personal touch by taking pictures yourself and adding them to help spice up your content. Humans are visual creatures and aesthetic pictures can really help drive your words home.
5. Platform Awareness
People these days use their phones for everything – reading including. It’s easy, it’s convenient and we always have our phones with us. This is why it’s important that you keep an eye on how flexible your content is for various platforms. Because some readers will be using their laptops while others flip through their tablets and still others use their phones. Finding balance is key and once you do, this will ensure that, no matter what platform your readers use, they’ll enjoy themselves to their fullest.
6. Topics
Picking topics that are relevant is a no-brainer, and unless you’re planning on hosting a blog that discusses cold-cases or surmises past events, stick to things that people are currently interested in. Your topics can also be ones that are constantly relevant. Be it a blog on how to create the perfect email marketing copy to drive sales because people always need business and marketing help or celebrity gossip. Knowing your topics is essential which is why you need to focus on things you know well.
Blog writing doesn’t only help you – some blogs can put a smile on people’s faces, it helps them pass the time, it helps them learn and grow. And as a parting piece of advice – whatever you plan to do with your blog, and whatever direction you plan on taking it, keep in mind that you should write your blog with your audience in mind. Because in the end, it’s them who’ll read your blog and part with something to chew on – and if that thing could be positive, wouldn’t that make things just a little bit better?
So whether you’re looking to support your business with your blog or have your blog become your business, I hope this article has helped you in figuring out the first few steps in starting your journey. It can be difficult coming up with original content and finding your niche, but once you do, you can settle in with the peace of mind that you’ve found your groove and can keep at it.
When you become more adept at writing, and more specifically blog writing, you can even end up offering blog post writing services to customers or businesses that require it. And who knows, you could even end up becoming one of the best blog writing services if you keep at it long enough and establish yourself.
Happy Blogging!
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