Blog Tipz

Recently, I have been writing general tips for blogging, which can be applied to different types of bloggers and their blogs.  Generally, I have found this type of post easier and less time consuming while I discover what truly benefits both the readers and the entire blog the most.

Without further ado, I want to begin the topic by discussing several options that bloggers have for changing up or reinvigorating both themselves and their readers for further progress on their blogs.  What I am essentially trying to get across is the fact that you aren’t limited to anything concerning the way you want to post on your blog.

Discover the Underlying Problem(s)

What you think readers want and the way that you want to run your blog may be completely different, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with this.  There are dozens of options to combat the fact that you’re most likely simply using text and images, and posting on a daily basis.  Readers want to see a change when they discover your blog – a posting frequency is out of the norm or posts that greet them with an “outstanding” feeling.

A few of the main problems that I see with blogs is a lack of updates (somewhat true for this blog, too), poor navigation/archives, and content that isn’t up-to-par with what the blog owner should be producing.

Behind the Scenes

Before beginning to write your post, think about the best way(s) that you can use to better get across the idea that you want to convey.  Whether that be with video content, images in the form of diagrams, space fillers/content oriented, or other picture media, or simply following the all-text route, you aren’t limited to your choices.

If you feel that one method will better benefit all parties, you can modify your Cascading Style Sheet file/theme to allow that particular content format to be better displayed.  With most blogging platforms, you can style individual posts or pages a certain way – ideal for galleries or video posts, for example.

Types and Styles of Posts

What many bloggers fail to recognize is the wide range of options they have for taking their blog to a new level.  Here are a few suggestions to better improve your blog by varying your posts.

1. Link Post – These posts consist mostly of links, either to services or websites you enjoy or recommend or to blog posts and news stories.  Many visitors tend to ignore these posts unless you write a reason/review as to why you found the post/service interesting.  The best way to achieve an “I look forward to your link posts” is to find what works best for your blog and continue improving and tweaking it.  If your receive comments on your link posts from daily visitors, you’re doing something right.
2. Video Post – Not much explaining to do here.  The main role of these posts is to deliver the content through video with some text to complement what is shown in the video (possibly a transcript).  Video posts are great for people who already have some knowledge in video editing and have time to create video content on a consistent basis.  We’ve seen plenty of examples recently of bloggers who have added video daily to their posts.  On a side note, the video doesn’t have to be created by you, it can be another user’s review of a service.
3. Galleries – Thinking of better ways to display your family photos if you’re running a personal blog?  Use galleries (with CSS or built in to your blogging system) to add images in a more organized fashion.  Galleries can also be used for tutorials or walk-throughs of certain tasks.
4. Short(er) Posts – Adding variation to your posts exhibits to readers that you can be concise and right to the main point.  Plus, people who haven’t visited your blog may continue reading additional posts to see what other content you have.
5. Long(er) Posts – Longer posts can help draw in long-term readers, as they not only show readers that you are devoted to your blog and blogging, but hat you know what you are talking about.  These “resource”-type posts also help to build your blog in the beginning, drawing in visitors from search engines looking for certain tutorials or lists.

Migrating to Especial Topics

Just because your blog is about a topic in a particular niche, doesn’t meant that you can’t explore different areas of that subject.  For example, you may have chosen an extremely “wide” topic, such as marketing, in which you cover select stories and tips for marketing, in general.  If you find your readers wanting a certain type of marketing knowledge, you can begin writing a greater number of posts within that category.

Instead of simply adding a tag or category for these new subjects you are blogging about, create a new page, domain/subdomain for containing the information.  These tactics will help people looking for your blog or those wanting to go directly to that page.

Breaking Away from Bad Habits

Habits developed from the start of blogging or writing content online can be broken many times just as easily as they were begun – by sticking to the correct way or forcing yourself to employ the correct methods.

1. Not Posting on a Consistent Basis or Too Frequently – Begin a three week experiment to see how your subscriber count, comments, and traffic levels change.  On the first week, don’t do anything but continue posting normally.  Write more frequently on the second week, perhaps two or more posts per day.  Finally, on the third week, slow down your posting to two to three for the entire week.  When the experiment is through, analyze the stats for each week and see what was the most effective.  Posts during the experiment should be somewhat consistent, utilizing a similar style as you were already using.
2. Grammar-Ridden Posts – Spend more time proofreading and editing your posts, a somewhat simple idea, that can have dozens of positive impacts on your blog.
3. Content-Rich Posts – Readers would rather see one, well-developed post per week than ten posts that aren’t relevant to your blog.  Research and become the ace in your niche.

Conclusion

By far, the most important aspect of this post that everyone should take is that blogs evolve, and so do the people creating them.  Readers are looking for a refreshing look when they come to your blog, and if you fail to deliver this, your readership rates will plummet.

I would like to reiterate that you are free to do whatever you want on your blog, even if you face the risk of losing visitors.  Unless you are at risk of losing your full-time income generated from your blog, it is better to see what works for you best in the short and long-term.