Blogging Tips for Beginners

Some years ago, when blogging had started gaining popularity, I was one of the many people who decided to try my hand at it. Though I posted a few articles and poems, I soon lost interest in it. One of the reasons for this was that no one actually visited my blog. The frequency of my own visits turned from everyday to once in a week, gradually leading to none, so much so that I even forgot my user name and password. After some time, I again tried to start my blog but never actually succeeded in it.

Later, I realized that the reason for these failed endeavors in starting a blog and attracting readership was my ignorance about the important things that are needed to make a blog successful. Hence, this is an attempt to help people who are new to the world of blogging, to understand its purpose and the important things that have to be done to achieve what they want.

What is Blogging?

A blog is a personalized space on the Internet, created by an individual for his own personal or professional needs and is read by other people. Many people start their blog to express their personal thoughts, views, opinions, etc. about different matters by publishing poems, stories, articles, etc. Though blogs were introduced with this purpose, soon they were used for business purposes too. Nowadays, people have even started blogging for money-making purposes.

Valuable Tips for Beginners

Have a Purpose: Most people fail to create a successful blog, because they do not have a definite goal to start one. Hence, once you have decided to start a blog, first sit down and decide why you want to start it. The reason can be just to share some ideas and thoughts, to promote your business, sell certain products, etc. Whatever the reason is, once you have decided the purpose, decide on what you want to gain or where you want to see your blog after a few months, a year or so. This is crucial, because your next steps will depend on the planning you have done during this stage.

Target Your Audience: The purpose of your blog will decide the type of audience that you are targeting. For instance, if you are setting a blog on dating, your target audience will include teenagers, as well as adults. This will also influence the type of design you choose for your blog. If the topic of your blog is about dating and relationships, the design can be something colorful and lively. On the other hand, if your blog is for business purposes, it should have a professional look.

Have Consistency: Though it is good to try new and innovative things in your blog, do not do something that totally changes its image. For instance, if your blog is about traveling, it is most likely that your readers will be those who love traveling. However, if you suddenly use it for promoting some kind of a product, it may cause confusion among your readers. Therefore, try your best to maintain the consistency of your blog.

Update Regularly: If you want your readers to visit your blog regularly and gain popularity, one of the very important things is to update your blog regularly. Publish new articles and write ups after every few days to keep your readers interested and informed. However, publishing meaningless posts, just for the sake of it, should be avoided, because this may take the readers away from your blog. It is important to write about things that you know about and avoid publishing articles, just because it is something that is being written about.

Attract Audience: One way to attract readers to your blog is to encourage them to leave comments detailing what they feel about your blog or about your article. You can also ask them to post questions, give their opinions, etc. on what you have written. This not only leads to two-way interaction between you and the reader, but also makes them realize that you really appreciate their participation. This is extremely crucial for you to gain a loyal readership.

Market your Blog: Just creating a blog, designing it well and publishing quality articles on it will not attract readers. You have to take some efforts to actually market your blog for people to visit it. You can do this through social networking sites, like LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Another way of doing this is by commenting on other like-minded bloggers’ articles and linking your blog to it, if you have to say something similar.

Blog Monetization
People who want to earn money by blogging have several options to choose from. If you have your own business, you can write about your products and create facilities for people to buy them online. Another idea is to select a subject that you like to write about. There are several companies who pay people to write about their products in their blog. For instance, if you are hired by a jewelry brand, you will have to write about the kind of jewelry they make and also publish reviews about them. One more way of making money through blogging is by posting ads on your blog.

Avoid sharing any personal information on the blog, like your birth date, phone number, email address, provocative pictures, etc., as this can lead to several problems. Your blog is a reflection of your personality and hence rather than doing what is popular, publish things that you believe in. I give you my best wishes for your journey into the exciting world of blogging.