Being fun, creative and, in theory, easy to do, blogging is already established as a dream job of our generation. Practically, being a successful blogger seeks a lot of your time and it never leaves much space for creative blocks. Even if circumstances allow you to fully commit to your followers and you have no shortage of inspiration, luring more readers and growing your blog is not exactly a simplest venture. Be that as it may, in order to enthuse, engage and influence, you’ll need your blog traffic to have constant growth. Here’s how you can accomplish this ambitious goal.
Presence Seeks Uniqueness
In a modern world run by merry millennials, developing a strong online presence requires a sort of identity that an audience can identify with, get inspired by and remain frequently amused in the process. The blogging market, as you now, is a saturated one, which means that the competition is lurking behind every corner. If your readers are not particularly pleased with you, they will promptly replace you with someone else – all it takes for loyalty to weaken is one click.
All of this means that your approach will need to be innovative, original and quirky, but not only that. Content, which is the very essence of blogging, is of little significance if not presented in an attractive fashion and wrapped up in a gorgeously designed ribbon. Before even you start publishing, you should devote some of your time to devising your branding strategy.
This includes answers to several important questions like: Who I am in the blogging world? What have I got to offer that’s different? How do I want to be perceived? What audience should I lean towards? Once this becomes perfectly clear, you can start building and marketing your blog accordingly. Think carefully about your blog name, keep your style in tune with your content and start spreading the word around.
Polish Your Content
Once you’ve gathered a nice number of followers – and they will undoubtedly come with your family and friends – you’ll need to start upping your game a bit. If you’re aiming for the top, professionalism should be your main concern. You’ll need to completely devote all of your creative efforts to this goal and stay consistent in doing so. Your branding strategy will come to its first test in this step, but what you’ll really need to commit yourself to is the quality of your content.
Blog topics are various and your approach will differ depending on your chosen niche. Whether you’re running a photography or writing blog, your content will have to be polished and ready for publishing.
After catching the first wave and expressing some of your thoughts to your followers, don’t stop. In order to stay consistent and publish regularly, you’ll have to think about new material while working on the current projects. If you are writing, be sure to proofread every word in order to notice and edit potential spelling and grammar mistakes, as well as typos – if made public, these occasional slips will make you look like an amateur and this will encourage your readers move on to another tab in their browser.
Think Like Your Audience Does
However masterful your writing skills may be, you’ll need to get a bit more into market research as well. As boring as it might sound, understanding your readers’ behavior, their needs and preferences, and the competition that will try to win them over is crucial for achieving the success you’re striving towards.
There are a couple of things you can do as a non-expert for improved audience targeting, and locating your readers through social media is always a good way to start. Popular channels offer plenty of opportunities for narrowing your search down through filters, thus allowing you to reach those interested in a specific niche or topic and advertise your blog directly to them.
Another alternative is to track your competition and start following them on social media. Since you’re in the same niche, your audience is most likely the same as well, and you can easily get a grasp of your average reader’s profile by examining theirs. This profile should and will affect your branding and marketing techniques, your blog’s virtual presentation and style, as well as your content itself.
Mingle
As can easily be deduced from the previous steps, mingling around social media is of the utmost significance for connecting with your readers and growing your traffic. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are the holy trinity of the online world, and they are followed by Pinterest and Snapchat. All of these platforms will serve you well as a way of getting to know your audience, but also as a highly suitable environment for introducing yourself to the blogging community.
So far, image-oriented networks such are Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat have significantly improved their potential for sharing non-visual content as well, and their popularity allows writers to slightly alter their marketing approach and pitch their blogs to wider audiences. A post as simple as an engaging pic, followed up by an inviting caption, can be just intriguing enough to make your potential reader click on the link and visit your blog. Facebook and Twitter are even more advantageous for content sharing, which is something you should definitely start leveraging.
Infiltrate the Community
Social media is a perfect place not only for engaging with the receiving end – once your presence is established on these platforms, you’ll have an opportunity of connecting with your fellow writers as well. Even though the competition is fierce, most successful bloggers don’t have anything to lose, and they will gladly recommend your posts to their followers.
Research some of the influencers from your niche and approach them with a simple request – not only can they help spread the word around, but you can stumble upon new and interesting collaboration ideas and become a part of the community. Having your blog’s name written just below theirs is one of the best ways of making it perfectly clear that you’re here to stay and have every asset to support that.
Lend Your Writing Skills
If your success rates have started to sink, the time is probably right to start considering guest blogging. After all, your blogging skills and creativity of approach mean little if there’s no one to follow them – instead of sitting idle or wasting your precious time creating content that only a few of your devoted fans will see, start posting on other blogs from your niche.
Choose the ones your audience is most likely already familiar with and read frequently, and try your best to stand out. Every second reader has a habit of checking the writer’s profile after reading an inspiring blog post, and every third will actually go to your own blog and continue to visit it regularly.
Even if your blog has already started to fill up with readers impatient to hear more of your thoughts, this certainly doesn’t mean you can let your guard down. Loyalty goes both ways, and you’ll need to make your current readers feel appreciated by engaging with them, answering their demands and keeping up the good work.
If feeling left out, they will easily stop visiting. Keep your posts regular and consistent, but never stop improving. Constantly bettering your offer is the single most important way of keeping your readers happy and the most effective technique for steadily growing your audience.
The author is highly qualified and writes blog posts weekly.
