Successful Blogging Tips & Tricks For Beginners

Want to create a successful blog but not sure how?

Creating a successful blog takes quite a lot of planning, research, and strategy. Most of all it requires a certain amount of experience & expertise. To create a successful blog, you should be qknowledgeable in the field in which you intend to write. If you genuinely love writing and have useful information to share, then this is a great medium to capture a mass following and new subscribers.

Does design matter?

While design is somewhat important, the written content should always be the main focus in a blog, along with data & fresh media. Utilising visual data such as charts, or data tables helps users understand in visual terms. This helps to break up long sections of text. You can use Gutenberg to create many types of blocks. Using credit links to other articles or official websites can also be useful for statistical purposes. Statistical information is useful for both readers & the web. Images & video should be original wherever possible.

When it comes to design, your design should allow you to express your creativity in an attractive format, while also making your blog easy to navigate. Your blog, or blog site, should be clutter-free and allow the reader to focus on the writer or media content, distraction-free. The template and customisation should encourage readers to read more pages, and hopefully to follow you through a newsletter subscription service, social media, or both. You may want to extend discussion comments, add a forum, notice board, or store. You might wish to insert an Instagram feed to your blog. Create & share memories with your valued audience.

WordPress Blogging

Many people use WordPress as a go to tool for creating new blogs, and marketing blogs, or affiliate blogs. People have many ideas they want to blog about, such as healthy food & nutrition, recipes, beauty, gadgets, and so forth. There are thousands of themes, and people are buying domains, and WordPress themes like hot cakes. There are many free themes you can use. And ways to collect free themes from Premium Theme Memberships.

Free & Premium WP Themes are available*. Premium blogging themes & templates can cost anywhere between $19-$129. Your choice may be based on budget, the size of the blog, who else is working on the blog, and what goals you have for the blog. Having a premium theme gives you more control and an added layer of security. I recommend using a premium theme and installing or creating a child theme from the parent theme.

AI Blogging

It’s now possible, and perhaps easier to blog using AI blog creation. You can read more about AI builders here.

How to plan & research a blog

Make some notes about the top topics you’re knowledgable, trained, or have vast experience in. This could be academic, or personal. Or you may just love to review products. Start with a niche market, then filter down and list the relevance, potential readers, tone, and competitors. You should ALWAYS do market research before you start any business or blog. Ask people what they like to read or learn about. Speak to people from all walks of life, and get a feel for what’s possible or trending.

Which types of people (target market audience) do you hope to reach? How relevant are the articles you write for them? Will they understand the subject matter, or the subject content? Do you need to describe it or create a video? Who are your competitors? What do they offer their readers? What do you offer your readers? How can you better support your readers? What is needed? Which keywords are most searched? Keyword research really helps. Your unique content matters, but only if it’s really useful, relevant & valuable to others.

Getting it right

Be authentic (be you), but don’t go overboard with it. Being genuine should be fun, appropriate, and palatable. Aim for value rather than something that’s all about you. As you write your content or create videos, become the observer, and not the writer. Read your content back to yourself, and make sure everything makes good sense. Was that a good read? Could it do with an edit or two?

Try not to be too self-critical. Life goes on regardless of your blog or video. This can easily happen when we feel passionate or excited in our creative projects. You can always take a break. And try to keep a distance and observing focus on whatever it is you craft, or create. A certain level of creative detachment is necessary for a balanced and honest view. My advice to anyone who is involved in creative endeavours is, don’t to spend too long over-focusing on any one thing. It’s easy to distort a masterpiece. Instead, note the original idea, and work with a frame in mind. You can then revisit and edit until it looks perfect. Productivity is the name of the game. You’ll want to aim for both quality & quantity. Use a grammar checker before you hit publish.

Structure is another aspect of blogging you need to consider. Whether it’s a review blog, Amazon products blog, or artistic blog, using a top menu, footer menu, categories, tags, meta descriptions, a clear taxonomy & site map will be good for search engines, and viewers. Always fill out description boxes and add tags, especially local tags; towns, places, names, brands, companies, apps, software, and other mentions you can think of.

What makes a blog stand out?

Fun & Interaction! I mentioned “fun” a couple of times. And you can include the odd joke, funny meme, or photo, or just be fun in your post. You should involve your viewers, ask questions, create polls, invite guest bloggers, do a podcast, or interview. Make sure that you build a team of returning guests and returning audience to your blog. Is it something that people are burning with a desire to know? Is it something really useful, or invaluable? Do many people agree, or feel the same way? Is it news, a reaction to trending topics? Or a new toy or cool product?

Let people know you’re always up to date, modern, and knowledgeable about the future. You have the lead when it comes to future insights & trends. You’re on par with your professional peers, sharing valuable opinions. That’s going to make a lot of difference. Showing your expertise and knowledge, whilst also being witty.

Allow people to get to know you. Show your face, and share some of your experiences. Don’t view your audience as customers & clients, view them as friends. By viewing others in a closer & friendlier manner, you invite them in to engage, and feel with you. People often feel a little lonely scrolling the internet at home. Content writers and business owners are also often stuck at home or in the office. Blogging should help to connect people and brighten everyone’s day!

Does image matter?

Yes & No. You want to portray your true character and stay true to yourself. But don’t be afraid to be an authority. The majority of your work, photos, and videos should be neat & tidy. There’s no reason to produce sloppy work (or images). If you can get a professional photo taken, I would go with that to begin with. You may use a formal or informal profile pic or headshot. This helps your audience know that you are a person or public figure, or a professional person, and not just a wanna be geek. Making an effort with your blog shows that there’s value in there. Readers will be more invested in learning more about you and what you do. They’ll likely view you as an authority in that field. Do you want to become a professional blogger? Be one.

If you’re of a young age, dress modestly, and focus on your content. If you’re older, be as cute as you want to be. Accentuate your better attributes, your smile, style, or wisdom. Brains are always better than looks. Official clothes are timeless. Fashionable clothes are something you can update, often experiment with, and have fun. Do you often get your photo taken? Do you prefer to use iPhone & filters/editors? Is Fashion or beauty related to your niche? Do you have time to edit photos? Or will you hire a photo editor? Or get image consultation? Or can you become the ideal pro blogger you want to become? Visualising your career as a blogger, writer, author, consultant, or expert will help make your dream come true. You’ll also become a better blogger.

Be prepared to do everything yourself

To research, plan, search keywords, write an informative article, produce a creative image, include official data or credits, and be witty about it all at the same time can seem like an awful lot to do. But hopefully, I’ve shared the most valuable points I can think of that will help get your blog up to a flying start. Data helps. If you can use some analytics to monitor your progress and find out what you do right, you can replicate successful posts. In time, you’ll learn how. Save & reread this guide, because you won’t find all this info in any other blogging guide.

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