How to Create and Run a Successful Blog
Like in everything in life – success is all about how you view it. For me, success is continuing to see my hard work grow and to watch it develop and change. I’ve loved watching my blog change and take direction over the last three years and right now I’d say I feel like it’s a success just because it isn’t stagnant. I really am like this in every part of my life – I love goals. I like to know that what I am working on will build a better resume, a better blog, or a more fulfilled life. And like in any job that I have, I love the idea of learning it inside-out.
When I started blogging I really knew nothing, I had no idea what I was doing or how to run a successful blog (whatever that was!) – I just knew it was fun.
But as I began to research and discover new things I would feel excited because there was so much to learn and there were so many interesting tools to use to create a successful blog. That’s another thing that makes me excited about a job or my blog – the process of learning.
To me, success and interest in any field require limitless boundaries of education. The day that I cannot learn any more about how to blog better, write more effectively, or photograph more beautiful will be the day I stop.
Today I wanted to share with you all a few things that have helped me grow my online community, improve my content, and run a successful blog. These are all easy things that you can apply to your own blog to help you grow and move forward as an online creator.
How to Start a Successful Blog
Be personal + authentic
When it comes to blogging no saying rings more true than “Be yourself, everyone else is taken!”. Your content and images need to reflect who you truly are for people to relate to them. When you’re taking photos or brainstorming ideas, it’s always important to keep authenticity at the forefront of your mind.Write in your natural tone and be sure not to attempt to mimic what another blogger is doing. That’s not to say you can’t take cues from other bloggers (especially when you’re new to blogging, sometimes it can help to study other blogs) but be sure to not take on another blogger’s personality or writing style.
When you’re new to blogging, it can be tough to show yourself through your writing. I recommend writing a few posts just in a word document for practice.
Try writing exactly how you speak, and then read the post out to yourself to see how the post flows: Does it sound natural? Is this how you’d say it to a friend? From here you can tweak your post while keeping your personality intact.
Share your tips
If you’ve been blogging for a while, chances are you’ve picked up a few tips along the way. If you have a tip that no one else is sharing then share it! Beat the rest of your market to the punch and share your knowledge. You’ll find that when you share content that can enhance a person’s life that people will flock to your content because you’re willing to share exclusive advice to truly help them. One thing I like to ask myself before hitting publish is: Is this content valuable? While not all of your content needs to be How To posts or Guides, it’s important to have a large portion of your content include valuable information. The thing is, while occasionally writing about your weekend or the delicious coffee you had can help create a bond with your readers, it won’t help improve their lives so they likely won’t return time and time again for that kind of post. Here are a few examples of how-to content: Let’s Talk About Keratosis Pilaris – and How I Have Treated Mine How to Add Custom Pin It Buttons to Your Blog | Free Downloadable Buttons How I Increased my Pinterest Views by 400K in 14 Days
The rule of 80 / 20
When it comes to your blog content vs. promotional content try for a ratio of 80/20. You want your posts to be genuine, and nothing will take away from that more than overly sponsored content. Post after post which highlight special deals or only showcase items sent to you can come off as disingenuous. While most bloggers and readers know that some sponsored content as sent items is simply just a part of blogging, you don’t want those to overwhelm your blog. The best thing to do for your blog and your readership is to be choosy when it comes to the sponsored content you write. When you begin to see growth in your blog’s traffic, you can become overwhelmed with sponsorship and free sent items collaborations but be sure to really review the company before jumping into working with them. Only take on projects that you truly love, are on brand, and will be useful to your readers. To summarize, just be sure to promote what you love, not just what pays.
Be Transparent
One thing that can ruin your reader relationship is by not being transparent when it comes to sponsored content or items sent to you. Have you ever read a blog post and thought hmm.. I wonder if this was sponsored? Well, don’t be that person.
Hiding sponsorship’s in your blog posts quickly dissolves the relationship you have with your readers.
Be sure to note in your blog post when something is sponsored, or has been sent to your free of charge, to let your readers know that you only take on partnerships that are authentic to you.
Being transparent and honest in your posts is fundamental to having your readers trust you and know that you’re a reliable source.
Improve Your Content
If there’s one tip to hold on to – it’s to constantly look for ways to improve your writing and content. Look into your website’s popular posts using google analytics to help guide your future posts. You want to really listen to what those stats are telling you because they are basically telling exactly what your readers want. The quickest way to build your traffic and grow your readership is by understanding what content your readership is most interested in. For example, if a Hair Tutorial you posted a few months back is one of your most popular posts, it still receives re-pins, and receives traffic from google – then take that as a hint to make more of those posts!
Educate Yourself on SEO
The trickiest part of blogging is SEO. But it’s worthwhile to take the time to understand it. Take a few hours a week to seek out information on how to improve your website’s SEO. You want your blog to receive traffic even when you’re unable to post and promote and the best way to achieve consistent traffic is by making your posts searchable using SEO. If you’re not sure where to start with SEO, don’t worry. There are tons of helpful resources online, such as: SEO Checklist for Beginners SEO Made Easy: A Complete beginners’ guide for bloggers How to Make Google Crawl Your Website And here’s a little tip in regards to finding other SEO guides: Save those posts! When I first began reading about SEO, I probably understood about half of what was written in those posts. So, I created a little folder on my web toolbar called “SEO” and there I stored all the posts that best spoke to me. The more I read, the more I saved, and the more I began to understand the SEO lingo in those posts. I found that when I went back to my saved posts, I was able to understand more and more.
Grow your Following (and engage them!)
A successful blog that shares useful content typically has a loyal readership. It’s a simple enough statement, but actually making it happen – well, that’s the tough part. To start, growing your readership is all about understanding your target audience – and focusing on it. One thing to keep in mind when you’re writing a blog post: Am I engaging my readers? Am I creating a discussion? Having a dialogue on your blog will encourage your readers to become most involved and engaged in your posts. Those posts will also draw new readers in and can turn a one-time visitor into a new reader.
Grow Your Traffic
Using social media, SEO, building a mail list and creating great content you’re sure to see an increase in your traffic over time. Specifically, though, your mail list is your key to success. A mail list is a wonderful tool as it means you can reach your audience directly. Services such as Mailchimp.com provide useful analytics to help guide your newsletters similar to how google analytics can guide you into creating popular posts. Unlike when a reader subscribes to your blog on Bloglovin, Facebook, Instagram, or twitter, there is not much promotion involved in sending a Newsletter. If someone has subscribed to your newsletter than chances are they want to hear from you. Your social media outlets are incredibly useful tools that shouldn’t be neglected, but you need to think of them like this: they are useful for quick convincing blurbs about your post, but they can easily be missed by a huge portion of your readership. A newsletter that goes right into a person’s e-mail inbox is a great way to reach your reader directly, and also a great way to remind them about your blog.
Use Excellent Photos
Let’s be honest, quality photos are always more eye-catching than blurry unfocused images. Pick your images wisely as they are what instantly represents your blog and your brand. Keep this in mind when you post photos on any of your social media outlets, too. You want your photos to show your personality, highlight your content, and create curiosity + buzz with your audience. The images you choose are also going to be what engages your readers on other visual networks such as Pinterest. Since Pinterest is one of my main sources of traffic, it’s very important that my pictures are attention-grabbing. I want my Pinterest audience to instantly feel that “I need to Pin” feeling when they see my photos and blog tips posts. If you’re on Bloglovin, then this is another source to consider when choosing your images – specifically the first image on your post. The first image on your post is what represents your post on Bloglovin. It automatically sets the tone for what a reader will find in that blog post, so you want to make sure the image really JUMPS out at the reader and conveys your message. Unlike on Pinterest where you get to pick and choose which images you share, Bloglovin’ chooses for you – so make sure that starting image is your best!
Answer the Questions People Ask
When you go on google or Pinterest, it’s easy to quickly find exactly what people are searching for, and tools like Google Trends assist with that even further. When you know what people are searching for, it’s time to build a post around it. The best posts out there are posts that solve a problem that multiple people are having. When you’re answering a question, make sure it’s well-written, easy to understand, visually engaging, and most of all – easy to share.
Listen to Readers
Your readers are your key to success. They provide you the information you need to create your best posts – but you need to be listening. I have heard many bloggers say that they don’t have time to read their comments, or they don’t have time to learn how to use Google analytics. Well, you’re doing your blog, yourself, and your readership a disservice by not taking the time to really understand your audience. Many bloggers (myself included) put pressure on themselves to post a certain amount of times per week, but the fact is if you posted less and gave yourself more time to understand your readership, you’d likely find that you’d be able to work less, streamline your content, and create posts of quality and value. So, read their comments, respond to their emails, and see which posts they are most engaged in. If your readers continue to ask a certain question then it’s high time to answer it. Watch as your blog becomes even more engaging to your following! Want more blogging tips and advice? Check these out next: How to Optimize Your Blog Post Images for Pinterest 10 Types of Blog Posts that Boost Traffic Photo Editing Apps to Improve your Instagram Feed
Hello! My name is Sabrina and I am currently a senior at the University of Arizona. I am very interested in starting a blog, but am not sure really what steps to take. I have been stalking your blog all evening (embarrassing I know) but I genuinely love your content. I am curious to know more about how you started your blog? Who is your domain through? And honestly I am on the hunt for more advice. I have been reading all kinds of stuff on how to start a blog but I just don’t know where to begin! Send help lol.