11 Tips to Take Your Blogging to the Next Level

Starting a blog is as simple as it can be nowadays, regardless of which platform you choose. However, if you are truly serious about reaching a wide audience or running a successful online business, things are a bit different.

You will need to roll up your sleeves and put in the time and effort to make your blog stand out in the crowd.

And just to be sure, we are talking about a crowd of 440 million blogs. So, let’s get to the point, shall we?

Here are 11 tips that will help elevate your blogging game in no time.

1. Pick Your Niche

While it’s certainly tempting to start blogging right away, you’ll need to do your homework beforehand.

We’ve already mentioned the kind of competition you will be up against, so make to research which niches are profitable.

Also, you will have to discover who your target audience is, and tailor your content to reflect that.

For example, if you are trying to sell gadgets, your target audience would probably be young males. Delivering the right type of content to the right people will save you time and money.

2. Choose Your Blogging Platform

While it’s incredibly easy to set up an account on Blogger or Tumblr and publish your first post in a matter of seconds, perhaps it wouldn’t be the most optimal solution. Neither one allows you to run a self-hosted website, and on top of that, it’s nearly impossible to earn money on Tumblr.

On the other hand, WordPress powers 26% of all websites online, and allows you to choose between WordPress.org and WordPress.com, which is the self-hosted version.

It has the largest selection of themes and plugins, which enable you to get the functionality of your blog just right.

Alternatively, you might want to look into Wix as well, although it is less user-friendly then WordPress.

3. Make Sure Your Blog as User-Friendly as Possible

User experience is more important than ever, especially because of the popularity of mobile devices. This means you cannot have your audience jumping through hoops by making them click endlessly and filling out forms.

Avoid complicated and unorthodox designs and stick with something simple and streamlined. That way, you will make it easier for your audience and shine a spotlight on your content, which is what they came for in the first place.

4. Rely on Tools to Save Time

Being really invested in your blog is a great thing, but you will soon find out that you won’t be able to do everything yourself.

Once it starts making money, you will need to hire outside help. But until then, there are plenty of tools at your disposal to make your blogging efforts easier.

Tools like Grammarly can help you make sure that your content is error-free until you can hire an actual human editor.

Also, if you are looking to enhance your posts with some eye-catching visuals, Canva will enable you to create incredible designs and infographics.

5. Make Sure to Link to Your Other Blog Posts

Internal links can help you boost the ranking of your blog, since Google doesn’t rank websites, but individual pages. These links also help you reduce with bounce rate and increase page views.

On top of that, internal links are a great way to improve your blog’s navigation and as a result, the overall user experience.

Plus, you want them hanging around your blog for as long as possible.

6. Enable Comments

While there are plenty of ways in which you can measure the engagement of your visitors, the most obvious indicators are comments, likes, and replies. You should aim for as many of those as possible, which means you need to decide on the best comment platform for your blog.

The most popular ones are certainly Facebook and Disqus. The former is great because it does away with trolls, since real identities are used, while the latter is easy to implement and is used by over 75% of all blogs out there.

7. Leverage the Power of Social Media

Since we have mentioned Facebook, all those comments have the potential to go viral on social media, because they will be shown on your Facebook stream.

To expand your following, share your posts on Facebook, tweet several times a day, and put social media buttons on each page of the blog.

8. Motivate Your Audience to Take Action

How exactly are you going to do that? With limited offers and/or free stuff.

You can give out free subscriptions, trial versions of your software, or coupons. But, make sure to motivate those users which have read your content and reached the call action buttons. And especially those which have decided to subscribe and register.

9. Use Analytics Software

In order to reduce the amount of guesswork, you should start using analytics software, which will provide you with valuable insights into your target audience.

The most powerful solution is Google Analytics, but you shouldn’t neglect Facebook Page Insights and Twitter Analytics either, since you will be focusing on your social media presence as well.

10. Perform Tests

When you purchase a product, the first thing you would do is test it to see if it works as described by the manufacturer. Your blog is no different. You need to make sure that your pages, text, and media are being displayed correctly.

Also, make sure to test things like calls to action.

If they aren’t driving people to your blog or your online store, then you need to figure out what’s missing and come up with a different approach that will engage them better.

11. Monitor Your Brand Mentions

Keeping track of your branding can be done easily with the right tools.

We recommend Social Mention, which looks out for brand mentions on over 100 different social media platforms.

Also, you can opt for Brand Watch, which keeps an eye on brand mentions on over 70 million sources.

Summary

That’s pretty much everything you will need to know in order to start off on the right foot when it comes to blogging. Although it may seem like much if you are a complete beginner, you will be able to implement all these tips in no time. Good luck!

About The Author

Audrey Pilcher is a passionate blogger and marketer at College Paper. Her areas of interests are very wide, but mostly she writes about content marketing and innovative business technologies. Her aim is to engage people to self-growth and staying motivated.