We’ve all come across those stories about a blogger that makes £100,000 a month from their blog, or a blogger that started a blog and then sold it on for six gajillion rupees or whatever, and we’ve found ourselves wanting to be these people. Of course, we have. They have a blog, how easy is that. You start a blog, write on that blog and then become rich (and maybe even famous). Simple, huh? Well, no. Not really.
Yes, it is totally doable, but it takes dedication, determination, passion, persistence and, at the top of the list, a mentality that says you are serious about blogging. Chances are, your blogging is going to be terrible, to begin with, but that is part of the journey to greatness. The question is, how do you speed up this journey?
Well, here are my top tips for anyone that wants to be a successful blogger:
Don’t Stop Reading
If you want to become a respected voice - an expert - then you need to do as much reading as you possibly can. You need to read up on the area in which you will be blogging and keep up with current trends and opinions. But you need to go further than this too. Running a blog is like running a business (that’s the long game, right?) and that means you need to know about marketing techniques, business strategies, and start buying self-development books as well as Twilight, or whatever you’re secretly into.The more you can do to grow your confidence as a blogger the better. If you want to be an expert then you need to read what the experts are saying, learn what works for you and then learn how to apply these to your blog.
Know Your Niche
This isn’t 2007 anymore. You can’t get away with having a general blog that covers all things at all times and that is because the competition has exploded. Everyone has blogs nowadays, some of which have been around since 2007, which means they have the upper hand, especially on Google.
That’s why you should narrow your niche and really focus your topic. If you’re interested in online gambling, then start out with a blog that acts as an online bingo review. If you want to become a travel blogger, then narrow this down to how to travel on £5 a day, or RV travel, or a specific location. The more focused you are the more of an expert you will become, the voice for those interested in that subject.
Shake It Up
If you want your blog to have real value as a resource then you need to offer something that other’s don’t, and that is thinking differently. When you write, try and have a point of view that is different. Present what you are saying in a way that hasn’t been done before.
To do this, look at what your competitors are doing. If they are all about long informational texts, then use video and short snappy cliff notes. If they write in a serious way then make your posts funny and lighthearted. If they are using stand alone blog posts, then why not make a story out of yours, a journey that people will want to keep coming back to. Innovation is the key to quick success.
Investment Is The Only Way
Thomas Jefferson said the man who stops advertising to save money is like the man who stops the clock to save time. You have got to spend money on your blog. Don’t view this as a negative thing, though. It is an investment and a wise one at that. It is worth spending money on a designer instead of pinching pennies and having a shabbier design instead.
A little bit of money can go a long way on this front. All of the money you spend will improve the experience your views get and that is what will keep them coming back. So spend a few hundred quid here and there, look at it as an investment that you will recoup, and maybe quicker than you realized too.
Come Up With A Product
We mentioned it above, but you have to think of your blog as a business and all businesses sell something - a product or service - and so should you. It could be a Kindle book you have written, t-shirts, bits of art, a course in something, tours of a place or even other people’s products through affiliate marketing. Whatever it is, just make sure you have this something in your arsenal.
The reason for this is, well, it keeps you independent and that is attractive to a reader. It will keep you independent from sponsors and advertisers and brand deals and even competitors, and also act as a way for you to scale up yourself. Your website, your revenue.
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It hasn't been the busiest month for video game releases so I thought I'd go back and play through a couple of my favourites from the year so far. Two massive sequels to highly respective titles - let's see if they matched up to the hype..
Gears of War 4
The Gears of War series is a massive deal for Microsoft. The launch exclusive for the XBOX 360 way back in 2006 has now reached its 4th iteration but continues to innovate the shooter genre more than we ever thought it could have done. The series was always a big reason to own the Microsoft console, and luckily it still is.The real struggle any returning player is going to find is in relation to the new characters. The original Gears Of War crew stood out because of how ridiculous they were. Here, our new cast are a little too generic to compare. They develop before all is said and done but none are as memorable as Delta Squad.
Ultimately, not much has changed, but that’s exactly why it’s so good. It’s been over three years since Gears Of War: Judgment, so jumping back in is like reacquainting yourself with an old friend. There are new modes – such as Dodgeball where you kill members of the opposition to revive deceased members of your own squad – but the real joy comes in how unique it still feels.
You can pick up Gears of War 4 on Amazon here.
Halo Wars 2
As I said It's been a month of playing sequels and this is no exception. Halo Wars 2 is yet another example of a shining beacon from selection the Microsoft exclusives available for Xbox One. The Halo series has always ben at the cornerstone of what Microsoft stands for when it comes to top quality multiplayer shooters, but this RTS (real time strategy) approach to the series will be a welcome change for many.If there’s one thing Halo Wars 2 gets emphatically right it’s the Halo content. You can feel it in the music and the front-end menus, the lengthy cut-scenes and the near-constant referencing of background bloodshed. If you’re looking for the sense that you’re fighting climactic battles straight from the Halo playbook, only from the perspective of a commander controlling units from the sky, it has you covered.
There’s some smart thinking going on behind the basics, too. As you play you can build up a range of Leader abilities, enabling you to heal or repair units or call down missile strikes, mines, turrets and ODST troopers. Upgrading skills makes them even more powerful, and using them wisely can be a game-changer, turning the tide of battle when you need it most.
Halo Wars 2 suffers a little from its console limitations, but it’s a solid RTS with a strong campaign and a good overall feel for the Halo universe.
You can pick up Halo Wars 2 on Amazon here.
So you've created your very own blog (congratulations!) and have started frequently posting new content that you're super passionate about. Good start. The eternal struggle I had when I first started blogging just less than a year ago now was how to grow my audience and maintain that growth as the weeks go by without having to rely on things like paying for advertising space on blogs that were a similar niche to mine but had a much larger following. Organic growth is always best.
There's tons of guides online that'll tell you they can show you how to make $1,000 in your first month of blogging or get to 1m Instagram followers in less than a week.. but seriously it's just not possible, well not legally anyway. I thought I'd pull together my top tips on growing your blog organically and how to get away from hiding behind your laptop and actually actively promote your blog - scary i know!
I've written a couple of blogging advice posts already which you can check out below so give them a read and let me know if there's any other tips that would be helpful, although maybe yano finish reading this one first?
- Creating Content You're Proud Of
- Growing Your Domain Authority
- Staying Motivated & Overcoming Bloggers Block
- Reasons To Start A Blog Today
- Considerations Before Launching Your Blog
- 10 Ideas to Boost Your Blog Today
#1 | Reach out & engage with the community
Bloggers don't bite! There's no better way to organically grow your blog than simply engaging with other bloggers and content creators and getting their thoughts, feedback and criticism on your content. There are Twitter chats every day of the week to get involved in and start sharing your latest posts. This will help gain not only visitors to your blog but hopefully lifelong readers and subscribers too.
Blogger events can also be a fantastic face to face alternative to virtual chats, and usually end up being much more productive. Most of them centre around London but ask around and see if there are any taking place on your area, or if not why not create one yourself? They are the perfect way to meet local content creators and come up with new collaborations.
#2 | Think about post titles - SEO is key
I am absolutely no expert when it comes to SEO, but I do know that the choice of title really helps. Posts with titles such as '5 things/ways/......' are always good. They're more likely to come up on search engines. I mean, I definitely don't stick to this all the time, because you've gotta keep it personal too! It sounds obvious but always try and make your title clear to the reader what they might be about to click through to on your blog.
For example, if I was writing a post about the technology I use everyday, I wouldn't want to just say "Never leave the house without your iPhone". This certainly sounds interesting, which might get you a few clicks, but doesn't actually explain the post of the post. Something like "The tech I use everyday" is much shorter and to the point, but also does a better job of explaining the subject of the content your readers are about to see.
When creating, and uploading a blog post, keywords should always be in the forefront of your mind. Without your vital keywords in your content, search engines won’t be able to see what your post is about and then can’t show it in their search results. If you take anything away from this incredibly long blog post it has to be about the importance of keywords.
Before I start a blog post, I always do a little keyword analysis. It doesn’t have to take forever, and it doesn’t have to be long winded. I think about the post that I am going to write, and I start using search engines to look for certain words or phrases to see what results come up and if it is a keyword that I want to implement into my post. Then I will write my post. I won’t think about keywords for the time being, I will just write my post as I want it to read so that I know it has a good flow to it.
Then when it is in the proofing stage I will go through and implement keywords where I think it needs them. You do have to be careful though not to put too many keywords into your post. If your content doesn’t flow and it is choppy due to the overuse of keywords this can go against you in regard to SEO. Everything in moderation is key and make sure that it reads nice and smoothly when you are finished.
#3 | Create eye-catching content
I don't know about you, but the first thing that entices me into reading a blog post, is the photography. I think its good to keep the photography clean, and simple. Well, this is if you're photographing products of course. A busy background can often distract the eye from the product you're talking about, so keeping it simple(ish) is always a good idea!
I often visit sites such as Unsplash to get stock photography that's free to use. This way even if you're not a dab hand and taking photos you can still create super engaging content that will be more likely to get people clicking on, whether that be through Bloglovin, Instagram, Twitter or others.
I often visit sites such as Unsplash to get stock photography that's free to use. This way even if you're not a dab hand and taking photos you can still create super engaging content that will be more likely to get people clicking on, whether that be through Bloglovin, Instagram, Twitter or others.
#4 | Don't be afraid of social media
My next point on this guide is based around the myth of too much self-promotion. When you first start out it can often be daunting to keep tweeting about your latest post and flooding instagram with all your fancy new flat lays, but the truth is you just have to keep at it if you want to get a serious following. Determination is the most important thing when it comes to starting out. For the first few weeks or even months you won't get any followers and barely and readers. But that's just it, you shouldn't be writing your blog for sole purpose of quitting your job and making big bucks blogging all day because let's face it it's just not going to happen that way. Blog for yourself first - always be selfish when it comes to the content you create.
I've gone off track slightly...but you get the point. There's so much social media has to offer when it comes to promoting your blog. Heres just a couple of pointers:
- Comment on at least 5 blog posts per day with a link back to your site.
- Use hashtags that fit your blog's niche like #BBLOGGERS or #LBLOGGERS.
- Post regularly on Instagram and engage with the users that like or comment.
- Link back to your blog in the bios of all your social media - make it ridiculously easy for people to find your blog.
So that's my short and sweet guide to growing your blog organically. There are various ways to to pay for more traffic and more followers, which I can cover in another post but really the best route to a successful blog is creating content that you enjoy and sharing it with others that feel the same.
#5 | Invest time on your header & logo
When somebody clicks onto your blog, the first thing that their eyes see most of the time is your header or logo. What you need to do with that header is make sure that it is good enough to entice people in and want to stay on your page. It needs to clearly show what your website or blog is about and be easy to understand. Anything that is too intense and crowded can often turn people away.
When people click onto your site and then go straight back off this is classed as a bounce, when your website hits a certain percentage of bounces Google will start to think of your website as spam and will try to refrain from showing it on their search results. A normal percentage bounce rate is around 40%, any more than that and you are in the red zone of what is acceptable. When designing your header, you just need to have in the forefront of your mind, does this represent my blog? Does this represent who I am as a person and a blogger? And, is this easy to understand and does it get my message across?
#6 | Consistency is key
To hold your audience and keep them interested and wanting to come back you need to be consistent on your blog. If they like what they read but you don’t post for months at a time they aren’t going to spend their time keep coming back to see if you have finally uploaded, they will just go elsewhere to see what somebody else has to say and you have lost yourself a reader. Make sure that you think of a schedule in your mind and try to stick to it. It doesn’t have to be set in stone but just a rough guide to keep you on the right track.
I write and upload a blog post every alternate day or at a push, every third day, this is manageable for me and I find it really easy to do. This way, I can upload on time every day without too much pressure and my readers know where they stand because majority of the time there will always be something new for them to take a look at.
Also, when you upload on a regular basis it also helps to boost your site up the search engine rankings. Platforms will notice that you are consistent, and they will link that to being a source of reliability so they are more likely to show you on their search results. You don’t have to upload all of the time but just be consistent in your uploads and try and stick to a noticeable plan.
#7 | The speed of your blog
We all know how annoying it is when you click onto a website and it takes forever and a day to load up. It literally does my head in and if I click onto a website and it isn’t fast responsive I will click back off because realistically who has the time to watch a website load for what seems like forever? Always check that your website can handle what you are uploading. For example, if you are uploading a post which is very heavy in images make sure that they aren’t too large. Yes, we want the images to be high quality, but you can keep the quality and have a reduced file size. It just allows people's computers, phones and tablets to be able to handle the amount of data that you are trying to show on their screen.
If your site does take a long time or it even gets to the point where the screen times out because it takes that long, it can be really negative for your all-important quality score. The little Google-bots that scan your site will notice how long it takes to completely load and this will impact your position on the search rankings because Google don’t want to show anything that will look negative on them. At the end of the day by Google having us high on the search rankings it is basically them promoting us for free, so they need to make sure that what they are pushing is good stuff.
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