6 Tips For Being Successful With Blogging

Do you own a blog that you know can be successful but is depressed at the moment? And you’ve all but made up your mind to let it idle till the hosting runs out and then you’ll pull the plug on it. You will do it with more than a twinge of guilt because you’re a repeat offender. This won’t be the first blog that you will be killing off. But it surely can be the last. Here are 6 tips for being successful with blogging.

1. Follow a consistent posting schedule. Perhaps the single biggest bane of bloggers around the world is being inconsistent. Inconsistency in blogging alienates and disappoints readers; you may have noticed how the number of RSS readers and social media followers grows when you’re regularly posting and how readership drops off if you fail to come up with posts consistently. This doesn’t have to be the case. Set a schedule and keep to it.
2. Keep the content focused. Focused content happens when you choose your niche and keywords wisely and then get down to creating content about it. It is not uncommon for bloggers to set up a blog for a niche and then lose focus, tempted by happening content in other niches. This sends out confusing signals to the search engines and readers. Become an expert in your niche and stay focused on solving the problems your audience faces. They will thank you for it.
3. Give credit. Give credit for images, videos, and curated content. Cite your sources. This is not only expected blogging etiquette but also essential to avoid getting reported for plagiarism and duplicate content. It’s also a great way to start establishing relationships and make it known that you’re a “we” person rather than an “I” person.
4. Proofread. Because if you don’t and language errors slip by going unnoticed then it will reflect poorly on you and readers may find it difficult to take your word seriously. It’s about trust and trust is essential to becoming an influential blogger in any niche.
5. Make blogging a top priority. Having a presence on Twitter, Facebook and other social networks is desirable, even essential but don’t let social media activities eat into your blogging time. Along similar lines, do not get preoccupied with analytics. Both social media and decoding analytics are addictive activities and important ones, but avoid putting the cart before the horse.
6. Keep your blog clean. Periodic cleaning of your blog is essential. It ensures a good reader experience, boosts blog security, and fine tunes it for optimal spidering by the search engines. Remove or edit dead and broken links, update plugins on WordPress, reassess the the page layout and determine if your social media buttons are in the most advantageous spot.

Three bonus tips

1. Learn and grow. However good a storyteller or informed a blogger you may be; avoid stagnation or risk oblivion. Engage others in your space to stay fresh and up to date, expand your knowledge, and discover other solutions your audience would find helpful.
2. Be relevant. Do not churn out meaningless content for the sake of posting. Quality trumps quantity and content created for readers beats dull SEO-optimized articles.
3. Become multimedia. Don’t remain stuck with the written word. Yes, this is a bad habit bordering on being criminal. Webinars, podcasts, videos, and images can help you connect with your audience, build trust, and drive traffic to your site.

Remember, successful folks do not necessarily do different things; they do the same old things differently. And if you study successful bloggers you’ll realize that the adage works perfectly for blogging as well. So shrug off the blogger fatigue and remind yourself of the choice; the pain of discipline or the pain of lasting regret about what could have been. The former is preferable because it is the key to success, financial security, and a tremendously successful blog.