Before you start your blog it is imperative that you determine the goal you want to achieve by publishing your work. Are you blogging for a cause to inspire change (many influential personalities such as celebrities make one time posts in support of causes) or is it to monetise for a business? While the former goal can also create an income for a blogger, the latter that is running a blog as a business might involve following a stricter publishing routine.
A good work ethic will go a long way in helping you build a successful business.
Consistency and Quality
Consistency is one of the most important tactics that you can master when it comes to successfully realising your goal. Posting quality content is also as important. Both of these combined can get your followers to be hooked on your content and build loyalty as they keep coming back to view your content. Therefore, it is highly significant that a calendar is maintained with scheduled posts, marking all the timelines and deadlines and consistent posts are made. To improve the quality of the posts, planning is of utmost importance.
How to schedule your time?
Online tools such as Google Calendar and Acuity Scheduling help you schedule your timetable through calendars. Some of these tools also allow you to set reminders to remind you of any deadlines approaching. For Bloggers who advertise their work on social media, social media management tools such as Eclincher, can be helpful in scheduling posts ahead of time. The users get a chance to prepare their posts in advance and schedule the time that they would want the post to be published at on any social media platform. Some tools may also give you insights into your engagement which can further help you in planning.
It is also important to recognise your niche before you start creating content.
How to find your niche
Two ways of finding your niche is by checking market demand for a particular genre and gauging your interest in it.
Market Demand for a Genre/Topic
Using a search engine, such as Google, might be the best way of searching for potential competitors for a genre. Through these competitor’s website analytics you may then find out the top rated keywords that will get you the highest number of audience. Websites such as Moz.com can help you in this analysis.
Additionally, Google AdWords might be the best way of calculating market demand as it gives you information on the exact number of people searching for a keyword/genre.
Once the niche is determined, the next step is to create content, publish it and create an audience. Then there are ways on how to increase engagement on your blog?
Personal/Business Interest
Blogging with respect to a blogger’s/business’s own interest might always help them in creating genuine and good quality content. If a blogger is not bored of the content that they are posting, the audience most likely also would not be. In addition to retention of content quality, more benefits of this approach come in the form of time-saving and retention of the blogger’s own interest in creating content.
According to Alex from VM Interactive, blogger’s having the same interests as the topics of their blogs may use their knowledge combined with moderate research to create content rather than putting long hours studying every topic. It might also prove to be helpful in building up a blogger’s motivation as the chances of getting bored and hence missing deadlines reduce.
How to attract followers?
The best way of increasing the traffic on a website is through search engine optimisation. Search engine optimisation determines your rankings on a search engine so every time someone searches for a keyword on Google, a blogger’s goal should be to appear in the first 3-5 results. This will increase the probability that the individual searching for a specific keyword clicks on your blog.
How can your blog rank well?
Paid Advertisements – advertisement platforms such as Google Ads help you appear on the top of search results hence increasing the likelihood of an increase in traffic. However, this option might not be cost effective for a new blogger. Social media advertisement is a relatively cheaper option.
Influencer Marketing – reaching out to fellow bloggers and asking them to write about your work might also help in increasing your website visits. Endorsement by social media influencers can also help create backlinks. Backlinks help you rank well as a website.
Social Media – social media can help new bloggers in reaching out to potential/existing followers directly as they appear on their newsfeed. If the content resonates with and catches the interest of the audience, it can help gain/retain social media engagement and hence website traffic at a reasonably low cost.
