Want your blog to stand out from the crowd? But wondering why it is not even getting noticed?
Whether you are a newbie blogger or have been blogging for a while now, you must keep in mind that it takes continuous effort to improve your work and build a relationship to create a successful blog.
Here I have listed 15 such blogging tips that will help you to create a better blog for your readers. Make sure you not only learn all these basic blogging tips but also follow them in a consistent approach.
Blogging Tips and Tricks for the Beginners in Blogging
1. Decide Your Blogging Niche
According to my knowledge, what niche you are choosing is of utmost importance. Before you start a blog, understand your need for a blog – whether you want to blog for money or just share your knowledge on any particular topic or showcase your writing skills.
If you are not sure about your niche of blogging, then chances are there that you will lose interest after some time. So do your homework properly to find out the right niche for you.
2. Design Your Blog Properly
Your blog is the home cum office for you. And I don’t think you would like to portray it as a scattered & clumsy place. So consider spending some money & effort to design it properly.
You may also choose some free themes to start blogging with, but as we all know, premium themes are worth the value they come up with.
Choose a perfect theme according to your blogging niche. Also make sure to optimize the theme header, sidebar, and footer area. To give it a perfect look, you need to organize your blog labels with recent posts, categories, social media icons, author boxes, email subscription boxes, etc. in the right manner.
3. Add About & Privacy Page
Whether you want to monetize your blog with Google AdSense or not, the About & Privacy page is a very important factor for any blog. Write all the details about you and your site like who are you, and what your site is all about, on the About page on your site.
Similarly, the Privacy Page is also another important page of your blog. You need to mention to your readers why you collect their data (like email ID, name, phone number, etc.) and what you will do with that to make them feel that the subscribers are safe on your site.
You may add the About and Privacy pages on your site header navigation bar or in the footer, as per your blog design.
4. Proper Keyword Research
Doing proper keyword research is the most important SEO factor. So take time to find out the LSI & long-tail keywords for your targeted keyword.
You can use the Google keyword planner to find some long-tail keywords. Though there are other free & paid tools available for keyword research, Keyword Planner remains the best for beginners.
Make sure to use your targeted keyword in the title, permalink, at the beginning & end of the article. Also, put those long-tail & LSI keywords throughout the article in a natural way.
5. Don't be a CopyCat
But if you are thinking of copying articles from others' blogs & giving an attribute (read LinkBack) to them, then drop this idea right now. This practice might have helped you to rank in the earlier days, but not anymore.
Also whatever you write, try to create it in your own style. People always welcome new & unique content. So try to offer something in your own flavor.
6. Write a Catchy Title
The headline or title is the first thing any visitor will see in your article. So if they don’t like the article heading, chances are higher that they will immediately leave your site.
Some eye-catching headlines with emotions, humor, etc. compel the visitors to click and read through the article. You can make a rough title for your article at the first stage and once you complete writing, try to make it more interesting & catchy.
7. Understand the Importance of White Space
I don’t think anyone loves to read a big cluster of sentences. Not you either, right?
Improper usage of white spaces makes the content too difficult to read. So for ease of eyes & smooth reading, try to use short paragraphs and sentences in your blog post. Shorter paragraphs with a clear & logical message make it easy to read and understand.
It is recommended that you make the paragraphs with a maximum of 3-4 sentences which makes the overall feeling of the article lighter.
8. Write Quality Content
Every day, a huge number of new blogs are getting started. So there are enough chances that your blog will soon disappear into the crowd. This is the time you must give preference to quality over quantity.
Many newbie bloggers think that they have to post daily, whatever the content is. But this is not true. There is no harm if you can post every day. However, what really matters is quality.
Try to give your readers the value they are looking for and you can expect a great share of returning visitors.
9. Update Consistently
Consistency is another factor, most of the new bloggers lack. As I said in my earlier point, it is not mandatory to post daily. You may be comfortable with posting twice or thrice a week.
But whatever it is, try to make it a routine and be strict about it. Try to capture ideas whenever & wherever possible and make a rough piece whenever you are free. Later you can convert them into a powerful blog post.
10. Take Your Images Seriously
This is the age of visual media. So Images become an integral part of your blog post.
Gone are the days, when you could just embed some stock images in your article. Try to prepare a meaningful image as per your write-up. You may use tools like Canva, or Pixabay to create great images.
Also, make your images SEO-friendly using the alt tag and title tag. This helps you to get some search engine traffic through the images.
11. Create a Good Linking Structure
A good linking structure is highly effective for search engine optimization. Linking related blog posts using the right anchor text helps you to decrease the bounce rate of your site while generating more page views per visitor. You can also put it in the “You May Also Like” format in the middle of a post.
Another great way to decrease the bounce rate is to display related posts at the end of each and every post. When the readers finish reading a piece of content, they look for what next they can do on your site. By adding related content at the end of the posts, you can help them to browse more articles on your blog.
You can either do it manually or install a related post plugin to make your job easy. However, make sure that you do not overdo this, otherwise, you may annoy your visitors.
12. Give Some Time to Social Share
You are writing some great quality articles. But the question is how many people are reading them?
Ranking higher is definitely the key to getting readers. But unless you share them, your article won’t be able to get the exposure they are intended to get.
So after you publish your article, take some time to promote it on social networking sites. Social media is a great platform to spread to audiences on a large scale.
Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Flipboard, Tumblr, Reddit, Dig, and Delicious are some of the effective mediums to get more readers for your post. But try to limit it to some extent, otherwise, you will end up spending more time than required.
13. Start Engaging
Engaging with other blogs in your niche not only helps you to increase your blog traffic but also helps to build healthy relationships with fellow bloggers.
Though there are many ways to blog engagement, personally I think Commenting is the best and easiest approach to do so. In that way, you will be able to gradually build your own network. And how can we forget that this is also a great way to connect with the readers you might be missing out on.
Another great option is to join a forum or blog community where your target audience hangs out. Blog communities like Vocal and Medium are great places to engage with some great bloggers in your niche. You can try to answer some people’s queries & at the same time capture some great blog post ideas.
14. Use Google Analytics
If you want to blog seriously, then you must keep track of your blog statistics. Google Analytics is the best tool to track your site's traffic. So, consider installing Google Analytics on your site from day one.
But at the same time don’t get obsessed with numbers too early. Give some time to your blog before you can judge the traffic trends.
15. Build Your Email List
Building a satisfactory subscription list is what every blogger might want. More subscribers equals better success rates. Email subscriber services like Follow.it, Aweber, MailChimp, etc. can give you great results.
You can put a subscription box on your sidebar to capture the email IDs of your targeted audiences. You can also have a Subscription Form at the end of every post. Along with growing your e-mail list, it will also help you to recycle your traffic.
It is definitely tough at the beginning stage, but this email list is what you need for your desired traffic. So, keep trying J
Conclusion
These are 15 blogging tips that according to me are must-follow for any newbie blogger. But we all know every blogger hits this blogosphere in their own unique way. So it is very much possible that you have 15 of your own. I would love to hear about the experience of your first blogging days. So, please feel free to add to this list in the comments below.
Manidipa Bhaumik is a passionate & dedicated blogger who loves to go in-depth on any given topic. She is the co-founder of WPBlogging360 & loves to share her knowledge on WordPress, Hosting, Themes, and Blogging tutorials & guides.
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