HOW TO BUILD A BETTER BLOG

Amy Aed — Tue, 27 Mar 2018 11:20:39 +0000

Over 1.97 million blog posts are published per day. With a market so over-saturated, at least you have two things going for you – good writing and good photos, right? Wrong. If you ignore any chance to upgrade and grow your blog then how is anyone other than your nan and best friend going to read it? Luckily for y’all, after months of research I’ve compiled a comprehensive list on how to build a better blog. You can thank me later (preferably in a massive link on your mega-famous blog).

REFER TO A BLOG PLAN

These first three points stand to help organise a game plan. To begin with, ask yourself the following questions: Why did you set about creating this blog? What do you want to accomplish on a daily basis? What do you owe your readers, and how do they benefit from reading? What’s your niche and USP? Once you’ve got solid answers, you’ll know exactly where you want to take your blog.

RESEARCH OTHER BLOGS

Following that, research 5+ leading blogs similar to your niche and note what they do successfully, and then what you would change to improve them. Then research 5+ blogs with a similar following to yours and compare to the first few you looked at – why are these not as successful, and what does this tell you about your own?

SET MILESTONES AND LONG-TERM PLANS

The final aspect of your game plan should include objectives in regards to growth and income, setting goals such as “I would like to earn £20 the first week, £200 the second, and then £2,000 by the end of a six month period” gives you a clearer vision. Long term-plans such as “I would like my posts to feature in Forbes online” or “I want my brand to be recognisable” should also be noted. Start thinking about how you can achieve these.

FOLLOW THE 80:20 RULE

Once you’ve got a solid game plan, then you should really focus on the posts themselves. A typical rule is that you spend 20% of your time creating a blog post (writing the text, taking the photographs), and the other 80% promoting it through social media and marketing.

LEARN SEO

I found a helpful guide by Google that covers the basics of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) that I found quite helpful to begin with. To make sure your posts score as highly as possible in internet rankings, learning and mastering SEO is a must.

CONSISTENT BRANDING

Using consistent tone and design, making sure that they all complement each other, you can really start to build a brand. Good branding is when you can instantly recognise the blog and post as your own.

MAKE POSTS SCANNABLE

Whilst I know we’d all love everyone to spend hours pouring their heart and soul into reading each post we’ve spent days/ weeks/ months on, you need to make sure that the average reader can scan the main points in your post. When you read articles such as Best Last-Minute Getaways for a Solo Traveller, I can bet that you focus on the headlines, as the paragraphs just expand on information you’ve already got. Using headlines, links to valuable outside sources and your own best posts (double-checking they function properly), and short, snappy sentences, you’re making sure that the reader gets the information they want in the quickest time, whilst offering quality content.

MAKE SURE THE DESIGN WORKS ON MOBILE DEVICES

Considering the sheer amount of readers that will view your site via a mobile or tablet device, making sure that it is responsive and works across all forms is really important. Before going online, make sure that your blog passes the Google Mobile Test, and then double-check via an emulator (I use Browserling).

CREATE AND STICK TO A POSTING SCHEDULE

After researching the best days and times to post according to your readership (again I use Jetpack for this), creating a suitable posting schedule that you will stick to is the next most important thing. Your readers will come to expect a new post on a certain day, so post regularly and relevantly.

MAKE IT EASY TO READ

Using a basic font with text size 12px is standard, as does making sure each post passes the Flesch Ease Reading Test (I use Yoast SEO Plugin to do this). Make your site easy to navigate and read, constantly renovating older posts and information.

USE CTAS

Learn and optimise behind-the-scenes marketing through the use of CTA (Call-To-Action) – primarily sidebar CTAs, bottom-of-the-post smart CTAs, and Connect on Social Media CTAs. I found a good post on this here.

SHARE AUTOMATICALLY

Using a Plugin such as Jetpack Publicize to share each new post automatically saves you the time and effort of doing it yourself – and in a handy way, with images and snippets.

MONETISE YOUR SITE

Learning how to monetise your site through the use of affiliate links and adverts is useful, but considering other options in regards to utilising your site is also important. Consider ideas such as: selling sponsored blog posts, Flipping sites using companies like Flippa, running a paid Restricted Members Only page or private forum, running a donation page, and selling products such as ebooks, online courses, seminars, graphics, coaching, and physical products with E-Commerce or Etsy.

ENGAGE WITH READERS

Encourage engagement by ending posts with a line like “let me know in the comments below”, and then respond to comments with quality replies. Focus on making your blog a community in itself.

FREEBIES

On the other end of the scale you could offering lots of high-quality downloads and resources for free, in order to draw in an audience. By offering something that helps or entertains readers that they can’t get anywhere else, you’re helping to build your USP.

ORGANISE EXPENSES AND INCOME

Using a Spreadsheet, work out how much you are investing into your blog and then how much income you are making back out of it. Spending money to make money is a term widely applicable to blogging – be it through a high-quality computer system or a new camera lens or adverts on Instagram. This helps you record when you start to break even and see growth each month.

MAINTAIN YOUR EMAIL LIST

By having an email subscription page you guarantee that at least a small percentage of readers will get notifications or newsletters relating to your blog, leading to a return audience. Saying this, regardless of whether or not you want to set up an email list, you should always have the option for readers to subscribe via RSS feed.

TRACK AND MAINTAIN SOCIAL MEDIA

Your online presence stretches far further beyond WordPress or Blogger, and you can broaden it by actively engaging on sites such as Facebook and Twitter, joining groups and communities. Then make it easy for readers to find your social media accounts through the use of buttons on your blog, and make it easy for them to then share your posts on their own social media. Using Analytics to track your hits is useful.

GET A NOTEBOOK

To plan posts and keep notes. My own notebook is filled with post ideas, along with daily to-do lists and things I constantly want to be focusing on. It’s also good to record your blog plan and mission statements in said notebook.

PROMOTE OFFLINE

Vastly underestimated, promoting your content offline as well as online is a sure way to bring in more readers. Be it via newspaper ads, partnerships, related fairs, business cards, speaking events, or simply just word-of-mouth, getting people talking about your work in the real world is one of the best forms of marketing.

CONSTANTLY BE EAGER TO LEARN AND ENGAGE

Be it by reading informative/ similar posts, or going out of your way to contact blogs you like (through an “I love your posts” or “can I feature on your blog with valuable content in the forms of interviews or articles?”), constantly learning and spending time engaging makes you a better blogger. It improves internet presence, brand, and gives you the opportunity to understand more about more successful blogs and how they work.

BE INTERESTING AND INTERESTED!

My final point is that whilst you should be regularly uploading content that interests your readers, you should also be interested in it yourself. By enjoying creating content and loving what you do, not only will your blog be better for it but you will also have a great time yourself.

If y’all find any of these tips helpful, or could suggest any others, let me know in the comments below!

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