Blogging can be hard work, especially if you want to make your content stand out in the crowd. Alongside this, blogging has now become an art form, and if you’re only just stepping into the arena, then it can seem like a real battle trying to get your voice heard.
The aim of this guide is to outline the stages of becoming a successful blogger by giving you tips and tricks to fight your way to the top. Don’t worry if you’ve never blogged before, by the end of this article, you will know enough to have a head start.
Getting Started
The first thing you need before you even think about getting started is a weapon and in the blogging words are the deadliest tool. Therefore, if you start off unprepared in your writing ability, don’t be surprised when you fail.
Fortunately, writing, like fighting, is a skill which can be learned and then honed with practice. Before starting out on your journey, be prepared for the battle ahead and know that there are no limits to how much you can improve.
Are you ready to test your skills?
Here is a quick list of the things you’ll need before you start writing:
- A Niche: What makes your products different and what problems do they solve? It’s always better to target a small area of the market and attack it with all of your power than to try to target the masses. If you spread your audience too widely then no one will buy your products as they will be able to find more specialist help to suit their needs.
- Demographic: Who will you be selling to? Think about age, sex, lifestyle, hobbies, social status etc. Try to make an image of your ideal customer and then always target them.
- A Plan: Make sure you have ideas for the future of the blog. You should set yourself goals and know where you want to be in a few years time.
- A House Style: If you constantly change your writing style then you will alienate those who were there from the beginning. If you’ve decided to use a formal style, then don’t deviate from it further down the line, unless of course your blog really isn’t working. However, if you find people aren’t reading your content and are not motivated to buy, quite often there will be other mitigating factors as to why your blog is unsuccessful.
If you have all of these aspects laid out then it’s time to start thinking about writing.
The Journey Begins
Depending on your target audience, you will have drawn up an idea for a house style. A blog should be your personal account, however, online, you can be whoever you want to be. One thing to watch out for though is consistency. You will find as time goes by, you improve, and that’s fine, however, you shouldn’t radically alter your tone. Slippages between articles from formal to informal and vice versa will leave your audience unsure of who you are, and creating a personal bond between writer and reader can be a powerful selling tool. Therefore you should pick a style and stick to it.
Opening up a comments section is also a good idea, as it will enable you to interact with your readership and give an added layer of trust. In the early stages you should attempt to answer all of the questions your readers have, and if there is something you don’t know then you can find out and answer it in your next post.
Comments sections also give you the added bonus of being a great place to pick up ideas for new content. You should always read them carefully to find out what your audience wants and to see what works and what doesn’t.
Telling the Tale
Your market experience is your journey, warts and all, and giving an honest account of your failures and your successes will make you more relatable and also make your blog far more useful to your audience. Remember, everyone makes mistakes and if you can relate yours to your audience, not only will you appear more human, you will create a much better narrative and give out more useful advice.
Hook Your Readers with an Eye-Catching Headline
The first thing your readers will see are your headlines, therefore it is important that they stand out. Not only this, but they should also be your guide throughout the rest of the article.
Your headlines are the roadmaps through which you guide yourself when writing and your readers when reading. They should tell people exactly what they ought to expect from the rest of your article. If you use clickbait headlines with unrelated content, then people will lose trust in what you are telling them, so be clear and concise and try not to exaggerate the content within.
Creating Content
If you’re blogging to a niche group then the chances are you are something of an expert in the area that you’re targeting. If not, then you can be an expert at trying and testing new things until you have acquired the knowledge you need to talk with authority.
Remember, your blog is your journey and anything you find out en route is useful, so don’t be afraid to include it. If you try something out and it fails, then explain to your audience why it failed. For example, if you’re trying to teach people how to build a bookcase and you realise you didn’t have a certain tool, then sell them the tool and tell them why. Similarly, if you used something that was useless, tell your audience why it was useless and upsell a product which works.
How you blog is also up to you, maybe you don’t want it to be too personal, in which case you can create content which is purely objective. This will be far more difficult in the long run and you will have to look out for other blogs which are working and use their ideas to generate your own content.
This can sometimes be tricky because there is always the desire to produce something original. However, in order to ensure that your readers enjoy your content it is far better to produce something completely unoriginal. Why? Because it’s less time consuming and the stuff which is tried and tested usually sells far better.
Be Relevant
If you have chosen a niche, then stick to it, just as with every other aspect. If you have time and wish to market other products, then you can use your original blog as a blueprint for a second. However, making regular content for two blogs and marketing online can be tricky, therefore, if you find you have the necessary earnings and you think it will be financially viable, you could hire a content creator to manage one of your two blogs.
Provided you have a clear enough idea of what you want then finding someone who can do the job to your liking shouldn’t be too difficult. You can start by looking for workers on freelancing sites such as Upwork or Fiverr.
Don’t Always Try to Sell
If you’re too pushy and aggressive in your approach then you will not generate loyalty. However, if you try to educate your audience and give them advice, then they will be far more likely to follow it and buy the products you advertise. Most of the best affiliates give their honest opinions and have a real interest in the products they advertise. Remember, if you are doing something you love then you’ll never have to work a day in your life. The same is true for affiliate marketing, so make sure, before starting out, that your chosen niche is in an area in which you have a genuine interest. It will show through in your writing and your audience will be far more engaged and likely to convert.
Have Fun
If you don’t love what you’re doing, then neither will your readers. Don’t worry, you don’t have like writing, but if you don’t then you ought to find someone who does. There are a lot of great content writers out there looking for work and they can really boost your business.
For more advice on how to get your creative content making those all-important conversions, then don’t forget to check us out on social media and subscribe to our newsletter below to get the latest updates straight into your inbox.