Stick to These Simple Rules to Improve Your Blog

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” – Benjamin Franklin

What better place to get tips about running a blog than from a blog?

Admittedly, we don’t have the best blog, but we’d like to think it’s pretty good. We put together a list of our favorite tips and tricks for maintaining a blog. Get reading to see how you should approach your own writing!

1. Write Like You Talk

When writing for your blog, write like you’re talking to your friends. Don’t make your writing stiff and impersonal or it will become hard to read – implement your personality. Your readers are there to listen to what you have to say, and monotonous tone in your writing is not how you’ll keep them engaged. Include jokes, personal anecdotes, coin a catch phrase – your personality is your brand, and that’s how you’ll keep your writing unique, fresh, and your own.

2. Write Your Ideas and Thoughts

In line with writing how you would talk, you have your own point of view, your own ideas, your own thoughts in your head. This is your blog – write how you feel! Blogging is a way to let your creativity flow, so don’t stunt it by trying to write to appeal to others.

Sharing your own perspective may lead to others who share your thoughts finding your blog and greatly appreciating you using your voice and writing to express an opinion they also have. This is a great way to build a following. While some people may not agree with you, it’s not about them. Your blog is exactly that – yours!

3. Share Your Knowledge

Not sure what to write about? Write what you know. Anything you have a passion for is perfect for blogging about. Like music? Fashion? Traveling? Write about your favorite music artists, share your personal style, post pictures of your favorite places – anything goes! Write about what you studied in school, write about your hometown, put together a list of your favorite personal recipes. Not having to research your own writing will make it so much easier.

4. Be Consistent

Come up with a theme and a posting schedule so your readers know what to expect. Setting deadlines and time limits for yourself will help you stay active and dedicated to your writing. While you don’t always need to write about the same thing, staying in the same topic or range of topics will help differentiate your blog and help you gather readers who are interested in what you commonly write about. This way, you’ll gather loyal fans of your writing and never have to think too hard about what to post.

5. Keep it Short and Sweet

Let’s be honest for a second – nobody out there is trying to read an article longer than one page. To keep your readers engaged, the amount of time it should take to read a blog post is around three minutes. Any longer and concentration starts to stray. Keep your posts between 300 and 1000 words.

(The occasional outsider is okay. Just make sure you aren’t writing a novel every time you go to blog about something).

6. Network

Make friends with other bloggers! Interact with your readers! Guest post on other blogs and sites! Get your name heard and your content seen! Research blogs that post similar things to yours and get in touch with the author(s). Bloggers supporting other bloggers is a major key to helping your following grow, and it’s mutually beneficial! Make as many friends as you can!

Talking with your readers (responding to comments, sending out surveys, listening to feedback) is another way to keep them engaged. If you’re approachable, you’re more likeable!

Writing articles for other blogs gets your name and writing in the view of readers that have maybe never seen you around – this is always a good thing. More people reading your content means more people coming back for more!

7. Have Creative Headlines

“10 Blogging Tips” is a lot less interesting than “10 Blogging Tips That Will Change Your Life.” Keep this in mind when coming up with titles for your blogposts. The headline is the first thing a viewer sees. If the headline isn’t good, chances are the reader isn’t going to read the article. First impressions are the most important!

8. Have an Email List

Let people subscribe to your blog and send your readers updates with new posts and blog features. Show your thanks by holding email-list-centric giveaways. Giving preference and showing your supporters that you appreciate them will keep them around, and if they like you enough, they’ll spread the word about you!

9. Listen to Your Audience

While it’s important to stay true to your ideals, getting feedback and ideas from your readers is never a bad thing. If someone comments that they’d like to see something and you have interest in it, write about it! Or if you’re consistently getting positive feedback on certain writing styles or types of posts and topics, focus on those. Your blog is what you make it, but allowing your readers to have some input will improve your blog and allow them to know they’re valued.

10. Be Patient

If you’re a new blogger or a blogger not getting the response you were looking forward to or expecting, just relax. It takes time, hard work, and perseverance to run a blog. Readers will come. Ask the readers you have what they like and don’t like about your blog and make modifications accordingly.

Not concerned with having an audience? All the power to you! Your blog is supposed to be your outlet. Keep it to yourself or do research on what you need to do to get your blog the attention you desire – what else are our tips for?

If your blog is perfect in your eyes, then you’re right. Think it needs some work? You’re right, too. As we keep saying, your blog is your blog. Make it what you like! We’re just here to give you suggestions you may find useful!