4 Tips on Blogging
If you're a regular internet user, you've no doubt come across a fair amout of blogs in your time. Whether you use blogs as a source of news and information, subscribe to them to keep in touch with your favorite influential people and friends, or simply read popular blogs for light entertainment, you must understand how powerful and influential the average blog can be. With millions of blogs out there, there's no shortage of information on tap, and with the massive rewards that can come with a popular blog, applying yourself to your blog and making sure that you attract an audience can lead to some huge benefits and financial rewards. These four tips are crafted to make sure that you succeed as a blogger, and use our knowledge and experience to your advantage.
#1 - Don't rush to the point straight out of the bat.
There's a common writing strategy in Hollywood: don't use all your content right off the bat. When writers are penning top comedies and great scripts, they always keep the sequel in mind. For bloggers, this is even more important. A good blog updates at least a couple of times per week, and by using up all your content in the first few posts you prevent those coming posts from being any good. Post your content wisely, and don't rush things at the beginning just to get your word out there.
#2 - Work out your optimum posting time, and stick to it.
This is a handy tip from uber-blogger Tim Ferriss. By working out the time when most of your audience is online, you make sure that your posts are always highly read and commented on by the right people. Use analytics services to make sure that you're posting at the right times, and optimize your posting time and frequency to make sure that you're getting your message out there at the best times, every time.
#3 - There's nothing as important as a great headline.
What is it that gets us reading the newspapers? The headlines. Blogs are dramatically different from newspapers in many ways, but this is one aspect that they very closely share in common. Make sure your headlines are catchy, to the point, and clear. Very few things are as annoying as being deceived by a poor headline, and making sure your content is related to the headline is very important for making sure that your readers stay long enough to digest the whole article.
#4 - Write for the audience you want, not the audience you have.
Want a more intellectual audience? Write on topics that attract that kind of audience. In order to get the audience that you want, you need to appeal to both yourself and the type of people that you want to listen to you. Write on topics that you want to talk about, and over time you'll develop an audience that's happy to discuss them with you on your blog.
#1 - Don't rush to the point straight out of the bat.
There's a common writing strategy in Hollywood: don't use all your content right off the bat. When writers are penning top comedies and great scripts, they always keep the sequel in mind. For bloggers, this is even more important. A good blog updates at least a couple of times per week, and by using up all your content in the first few posts you prevent those coming posts from being any good. Post your content wisely, and don't rush things at the beginning just to get your word out there.
#2 - Work out your optimum posting time, and stick to it.
This is a handy tip from uber-blogger Tim Ferriss. By working out the time when most of your audience is online, you make sure that your posts are always highly read and commented on by the right people. Use analytics services to make sure that you're posting at the right times, and optimize your posting time and frequency to make sure that you're getting your message out there at the best times, every time.
#3 - There's nothing as important as a great headline.
What is it that gets us reading the newspapers? The headlines. Blogs are dramatically different from newspapers in many ways, but this is one aspect that they very closely share in common. Make sure your headlines are catchy, to the point, and clear. Very few things are as annoying as being deceived by a poor headline, and making sure your content is related to the headline is very important for making sure that your readers stay long enough to digest the whole article.
#4 - Write for the audience you want, not the audience you have.
Want a more intellectual audience? Write on topics that attract that kind of audience. In order to get the audience that you want, you need to appeal to both yourself and the type of people that you want to listen to you. Write on topics that you want to talk about, and over time you'll develop an audience that's happy to discuss them with you on your blog.
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