Blogging is writing content online on a web page that is dedicated to a particular subject or niche. Blogging began more than a decade ago and today there are millions of blogs online. People write blogs every day and there is intense competition in the blogging world. This means that it is difficult to make a blog popular and also make it a monetary success. The blog needs to be marketed, it needs to get regular loyal readers and it must be constantly appealing to make it a success over the long run. There are certain ways in which the blogger can boost the chances of success for the blog and the following are details
Ways to Make the Blog a Success
Picking the Right Blog Niche
One of the most important aspects of the blog is the subject of the blog. There has to be a clear focus and the audiences should know the niche of the blog in an extremely clear way. New bloggers should spend some time to choose the right niche for the blog as they are likely to spend a lot of time with the subject in the future. Niche means a specialized and profitable corner of the market. This means picking a subject that has market demand. The niche subject can be one that is a personal passion or interest of the blogger and a subject in which they have a lot of knowledge which they can share with their audiences. Examples of niche subjects include finance, fitness, fashion, parenting, interior décor, web designing, politics or any other subject which is a passion or interest for the blogger.
Promoting and Marketing the Blog
A blog can be a hobby and can be a commercial enterprise that earns money for the blogger. Any commercial enterprise in today’s competitive world needs to be properly promoted and marketed to attract new readers and maintain the loyalty of existing followers or readers of the blog. There are many ways in which a blog can be marketed to target audiences. This includes sharing the blog link on social media, getting friends and family to market the blog with word of mouth publicity and in some cases even using traditional advertising and promotional techniques to promote a blog. Getting people to comment on the blog and interact with the blogger through the comment sections builds a loyal following. A blogger has to do a certain degree of self-promotion to get the blog to become more known and successful.
Analyze the Reasons for Success – What Works & What Does Not
Like any other business or enterprise, blogging involves a creative element and a business component. No blogger gets instant success and usually it takes time to understand what works on a blog and what does not. Blogger has to understand what kind of monetizing works on the blog. They have to make decisions about putting ads on the blog, increase the visibility of the blog by getting guests to write on the blog, and interact with viewers to understand what works. Conducting mini-surveys, polls and getting feedback from viewers gives the bloggers an idea about what type of blog posts work and which topics are boring. Always look to increase traffic and use online tools to study the web site’s statistics to improve its performance online.
The “Above the Fold” test
Above the Fold traditionally was a concept meant for newspapers and it was generally about the stories printed above the fold of the newspaper front page. The same concept applies to blogs. Blog posts can be small one page posts or they can be a post that gives information over multiple web pages. The “Above the Fold” rule is a rule on blogs which helps the blog become more successful. This rule means that the first initial paragraphs in the blog that appear on the first page must be able to attract the attention of the readers. The readers must get a focused idea about the topic and about the blogger in the first part of the blog itself. There are apps online that help bloggers conduct the “above the fold” test.
Attract and Maintain a Loyal Audience
There is a concept in blogging which is called making the blog sticky. This means that the blog must be something that people regularly follow and wait for the new blog post to arrive on the blog. A sticky blog is a blog that attracts and maintains a loyal audience and not something someone occasionally or randomly reads online. For a blog to become successful, it is important to make it attractive, give plenty of information, put useful links on the webpage and make the content interesting to read.
New Information – Broaden Niche
For a blog to become successful online it must have a focused niche as mentioned above. Picking a niche in which there is plenty of information that can be shared online is always a sensible choice. Also to remain relevant, the blog must continuously reinvent and broaden itself. This means that if the information becomes scarce in a focused niche it is a good idea to keep the subject the same but broaden the niche. The scope of the blog can also be broadened and the blog can be shared on social media, newsletters can be sent out, the blog can start a podcast series, and it can also release videos.
Maintain the Quality of the Content
Last but not the least; one of the main ways in which a blog can succeed is if the content of the blog is fabulous. There is a saying online “content is king” and always the content of the blog plays a central role in the success of the blog. If the content is regularly updated, engaging and provides useful information, the blog is likely to succeed. The content is usually based on the need in the market for the content and bloggers must write blogs according to the demand in the online market.
Blogs are a great way to express an opinion, start a good hobby or simply earn money online and the above mentioned are the ways how the blogger can be successful online.
