Blogging is like a full-time profession for many of us, and because of that we have a dedicated interest in our audiences. We are the place that they come for content and we have a responsibility to provide current, accurate reporting as far as content is concerned. Our opinions usually shape the final decisions of a number of our readers and because of that a lot of power rests in our hands. Creating captivating blog entries is always a challenging task, especially when you have a lot on your plate and little time to get it all done.
In order to be a successful blogger, you have to understand what success means to a blogger. For some it equates to a lot of clicks, but to others it means providing a source of information to our readers. We are tasked with presenting an unbiased view that is free from fear or favor when it comes to a particular topic and we should take our responsibilities as bloggers very seriously.
Success Tips To Help You Make Your Blogging ROI Increase
If you truly want to succeed and produce a blog that you can be proud of, here are a few things that are almost guaranteed to net you success.
Success Tip #1: Put Your Audience First
How many bloggers out there truly know their audience? How many of them are simply assuming what their audience wants and instead miss the attractive points that would draw the crowds? Understanding your audience is one of the most important things any blogger can do. By understanding what drives your audience, you locate the motivation behind their need for content and this allows you to better home in what they love to read. Putting your audience first means taking their likes and dislikes into account. Usually in niche blogs this is a simple matter because only an individual that follows the particular area of interest would be a reader on such a blog. When it comes to more open, wide-ranging blogs there is a lot more scope for you to be good (or bad) at presenting your ideas. Knowing your audience helps you to streamline your ideas to present it in a more palatable fashion to your readers, according to Copyblogger. Know what they read and what interests them and you’re well on your way to creating riveting content that will ensure that people take notice of what you say.
Success Tip #2: Be Unbiased In Your Representation Of Facts
Anonymity has made it easy for anyone to be a blogger and hide their real identity. It doesn’t do much to promote trustworthiness, however. When you produce a blog, what you write on it is a direct reflection of your own opinions and ideas. However, if you’re blogging about a factual piece of information then you should be careful to separate your ideas from what makes up the body of truth. Representing fact is important and the more accurate you are in presenting the fact uncolored by bias, the more your audience tends to trust you. Creating trust in an audience means that it is more likely that they will come back to you for news since in their opinion, you are a reliable location to get the truth. Opinion pieces are welcome since the aim of most blogging is to represent a blogger’s opinions on a particular issue. You must be careful to draw the line between opinion and fact since blurring those lines will lose you credibility in the eyes of your audience. Showing your audience two sides of the story before chiming in with your own take on the issue is a very good way to present an issue in a simple, unbiased way.
Success Tip #3: Don’t Get Complicated
One of the things that turns a lot of readers off from a blog is content that is simply padding. Overcomplicating an issue is a very common way to pad a word count, but it does your audience no favors. The more complex a piece of content is, the less likely that you’re going to get readers willing to sit through your filler text. Get right down the point and do it effectively and efficiently. It might be a lot easier to simple research a point in depth rather than trying to create meaningless phrases and words to make up a word count. Keeping it simple helps connect with your audience without alienating them. In some industry blogs, using jargon that is common within the industry does not count as being complicated. This exception is because such blogs are usually aimed at industry professionals that are already familiar with these terms. General Blogs should try to maintain a conversational tone without inserting obscure words and phrases. Doing so usually interrupts the flow of your conversation with the reader and could lead to them dismissing your entry as not worthy of their time.
Success Tip #4: A Picture Paints a Thousand Words
We’re no longer in the dark ages of the Internet where a single jpeg file could take as much as ten minutes to load on a dial up connection. Thanks to the wonders of easily available high speed internet, using eye-catching images is not only an option, it is recommended. Quite a lot of human beings have the ability to process graphic information far more readily than textual information. It’s the reason why memes are such a popular thing in internet culture today. Utilizing images capitalizes on this ability by giving your readers content in a breathtaking flurry of color and shape. Selecting the right image for your post is as important as writing the post itself and due care should be taken to choose an image that best represents what you want the reader to take away from this entry. Images are probably the best way to communicate simple ideas and you should utilize them in blog posts as often as you can in order to give your content a more attractive look.
Success Tip #5: Post Regularly and Consistently
Last but maybe most importantly, blogging isn’t a fly-by-night enterprise. It requires a lot of dedication and hard work before it even has a chance of being successful. Looking at how blogs have been developed over the last decade, it is obvious that in order to maintain your momentum and to keep readers coming back for more, your posts should be done on a regular schedule. Ideally, posting one blog a day is a good idea, although some people do cover more than one post, sometimes incorporating multiple posts of different types of content into one single day. Other bloggers only post once a week, but their content is rich and it leaves the readers on the edge, awaiting the next instalment. Creating regular blog posts not only gives you visibility, it shows that you are consistent. Nothing is more unnerving to a reader to find that a blog they have followed for a long time has simply ceased to exist. The longer you post for, the more confidence that readers have in following your posts over the long term. Blog readers tend to increase over time the longer you blog so it’s in your best interests to keep your posts coming regularly to grow your readership over time.
Success Tip #6: Networking is Essential
The advent of social media has made it much easier to share your blogs as well as to engage in conversation on them. Conversation on an entry is one of the most important driving factors in a blog. With social media intertwined with most blog hosting outlets, it is not a surprise that most bloggers have a social media outlet dedicated to sharing and promoting their blog entries. Many bloggers also ask questions within their entries so that their readers can comment and start up their own private discussions in the comment threads. The true masters of blog networking follow other blogs that have similar interests and attempt to engage their writers in civil conversation. This usually leads to an exchanging of ideas and sometimes even readers. There is a downside to this blogging practice, however. Comments are left to the discretion of the user and unmoderated comments can lead to spam. There are ways to avoid this such as requiring a login to post a comment but it can interrupt the flow of readers who simply want to leave a comment and be on their way. The benefits to reaching out socially to your audience far outweigh the negatives.
A Noble Profession Not Learned Overnight: Blogging
Blogging isn’t something you learn to do overnight. Starting a blog is a simple process, but keeping one running for any length of time will test your dedication. Creating new content can have you feeling burned out at times and even trying to follow multiple threads of discussion can leave you tired at the end of a long session. With dedication comes reward. Blogging is rewarding on many levels, both financially and intellectually. Sharing information about a topic with others who may not know as much as you offers the benefit of helping you grasp concepts easier while at the same time providing a useful resource for others.
Creating compelling content and interacting with users from other blogs helps to bring you closer to your readers and discover new points of view and new ideas. Blogging is a noble profession, and if done right it can be one of the most rewarding things any writer can find themselves undertaking.
Have you ever wondered…what will blog writing be like 100 years from now? Will we see space aliens eating blogs, bring new meaning to “digesting” what one reads? Will writers be telepathically transmitting stories to paper? Will paper even exist—it’s on the way out the door right now, isn’t it? What the heck WILL we see; lots of green and UFO activity?
Let’s go BACK in time to think about the future. Dial the clock back 100 years from today and it would be the year 1914. What was writing like back then? It certainly wasn’t as we know it today. In 1914, World War I began. A lot of writers were reporters and journalists who put themselves in the heat of the action as one of the greatest wars to engulf the world revved up. 1914 was also a year of significant events in literature.
Writing 100 years ago didn’t involve handy word processing programs like Microsoft Word and WordPerfect. Spelling and grammar check wasn’t computer automated, it was left up to writers and editors to sort out. The rules of grammar were much more stringently held to, and reading literary works published between 1900 and 1920 reveal an astonishing evolution of style and the interpretation of the so called rules. Blog writing, social media and online content marketing didn’t even exist yet. Oh yeah, and personal computers and handheld mobile devices, they were pure fiction!
If things have changed this much in 100 years, what can the next 100 years hold?
Speculating About the Future of Blog Writing
We’re not exactly talking about a scientific topic, now are we? But speculating can be fun nonetheless. In the past 25 years alone we have seen an unprecedented improvement in technology, all of which has contributed to blog writing as we know it today. For example:
Microsoft Word is arguably one of the most popular and used word processing programs in the industry. According to a Wikipedia history of Microsoft Word, the first version of the program was developed by Richard Brodie and Charles Simonyi in 1981. However, it wasn’t until the release of Windows 3.0 in 1990 that Word became a sizeable commercial success and started being used by the masses. Later, Word began to receive labels per Windows OS to match each OS. Today, we can purchase Microsoft Office 365 for home or business. The new suite includes Word and is integrated with the latest advancements in cloud technology, providing an interface, work station and even files that can be accessed from any device in any location so long as you have a log-in and an active Internet connection.
Before we had personal computers with word processing programs, we had something called a word processor. When I first started writing, I used a Brother Word Processor WP-230B—talk about a dinosaur! It could switch between a typewriter and word processing mode. It was pretty limited in capabilities compared to today’s computers, but it got the job done with better efficiency than handwriting or a traditional typewriter.
Enough reminiscing. Let’s talk about the future of blog writing, a huge topic as of late, particularly in the area of guest blogging.
Guest Blogging to See De-Evolution
In January of 2014, the blogging community held its collective breath as Google’s Matt Cutts declared the “decay and fall” of guest blogging while staples in the industry said guest blogging is not dead. There is truth in both opinions. Cutts’ is correct that spammy, bad quality guest blogging is dying. And as it should! The writing industry has always stood for quality, which is why bad quality writing on the Internet is ever so surely being replaced by high, editorial quality content.
It’s likely that in the following years we will see an increase in the quality of guest blogging as it returns to its roots. It will become more finely tuned, relevant, educational and engaging.
Blogging & SEO
In just the past 5 years we’ve seen amazing changes in the realm of search engine optimization. Keywords are going, going, gone as a hardcore staple, which opens up blogging and other types of online writing to better flow, higher quality and just plain good writing. In essence, online writing is returning to the true roots of literature: telling a story and telling it well.
The Future of Blogging Is Bright
Let’s talk about the origin of the blog. Back in the day, blog posts were something anyone could whip up. They were opinion tools, a means for anyone who had an opinion of any kind to blurt it out to whoever took an interest and decided to read. Today, the landscape of blogging has radically morphed. Blog platforms offer a myriad of tools and social channels all designed to help you create and communicate something. Blogs now support audio and video and the comment areas of can contain anything from intellectual discussions to bunkering down in the trenches in an attempt to defend a particular thought or idea.
Blog writing is, and has always been, about self-expression. Today, the blog is a content marketing tool leveraged by the freelancer, small to medium sized business owner, and the big corporations. In the business world, blogs are used to communicate informative, relevant information. They’re a means of sharing thoughts and ideas via social media and stirring up conversation.
However, it’s still a powerful tool for the would-be writers who write for the sake of writing and self-expression. Once you step into the world of content marketing, you can easily lose sight of these almost pure forms of blogging. They’re still out there. They’ve been there since the inception of blogging, and it’s my bet that 100 years from now they’ll still be here. The would-be writers and folks who blog for the pure self-expression of it are often the pioneers who push the technology right along, but without the recognition companies and businesses receive.
According to ViperChill.com, over 181 million people actively use a blog platform. A lot of people are using their blogs to make money. Blogs can be highly profitable, and this legitimate form of making money will likely continue to grow in leaps and bounds over the next several years as more and more people find success.
Technology and Blogging – Where Will Be In 100 Years?
Ever watch Star Trek? According to IMDB.com, the very first episode of what would become a multimillion dollar franchise and fan phenomena, aired in 1966. Right from the start, the program almost seemed to predict the future. I stumbled across this humorous infographic style graphic from MindSlapMedia.com while writing this blog:
I just had to share this because it demands appreciation, whether you like the show or not! In 1966, Captain Kirk was using a wireless handheld communication device that the masses got their hands on in 1973, the cellular flip phone. In 1987, Captain Picard was using a computerized pad that gave him Internet-like access at his fingertips. In 2010, we saw the release of the revolutionary iPad—and for those of us who even glanced at the Star Trek series, we instantly felt like we were taking a huge technological step forward.
In 1988, Star Trek: The Next Generation displayed a visual three way conference. What a concept! In 2008, we were able to video conference by using modern video technology in conjunction with the Internet. Finally, in 1998, Captain Sisko from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was using a head display that operated like a window. In 2013, Google released Google Glass.
Did Star Trek predict the future? The answer depends on who you ask. But here’s the KEY point to take away: if humanity can dream up a new form of technology, we have an unparalleled way of eventually creating it.
The Future of Blogging Is Limited Only By the Imagination
There’s no way to predict exactly what blog writing will be like 100 years from now. It’s safe to say that new and improved tools will be implemented as technology continues to advance. Who knows? 50 years from now we might be slapping a transmitter to our temple and thinking our blogs onto the computer screen. Keyboards might be a thing of the past as we use mental power to write, edit, post and share a blog!
Will aliens be reading our blogs in 100 years? You never know! For years we’ve joked about aliens receiving our radio signals and tuning in to our world from a galaxy far, far away. If they are, it’s a fair assumption they’re tapping into our Internet and perusing our blogs. Who knows, maybe they ARE eating blogs and digesting them in ways we never thought possible.
The truth is we have no idea just how blogging will evolve. But one thing is an absolute certainty: we write to tell stories. We write to express ourselves, share ideas, inspire, inform and even destroy. The core purposes of writing haven’t changed in the last 100 years, and it’s doubtful they’ll change in the next 100.
Years ago we said that the pen was mightier than the sword. Today, we use electronic means of writing over the good old fashioned pen and paper. Some of us (the very brave) use voice recognition software to talk out our writing before editing it over; not really use the keyboard much as it is. 100 years from now, we just might be using our noggins in place of the keyboard and mouse.
Regardless of how we blog, our reasons wll likely stay the same. After all, we haven’t changed why we write since cave paintings: we’re all writing by whatever means we have to tell a story, to record something that we hope stands the test of time, and is still here for people to read hundreds of years from now.
Applying today’s Blogging to the Future
When it comes to the content marketing world, we’re betting that the future of blogging revolves around catering to what the audience wants. Right now, audiences want informative material. They want to type a search phrase into a search engine about “21 angry bird toys to buy” and receive relevant information designed to educate them before they make a purchase. People also want good story telling. They want to know why your company does what it does. How did you get into the business? Why did you want to be better than everyone else, and “I wanted to turn a profit” isn’t a viable answer!
Stories drive traffic today. Look at any company on the Internet. Look at yours. Publish a blog that tells a story, a good relevant story to your company’s niche. Will it increase readership and gain new exposure to your business? Chances are it will. Don’t believe us? Just try it. It doesn’t take long to write a 500 to 1,000 word blog with a catchy title, share it over your social media channels and watch the influx of traffic. Go the extra mile to start a conversation, and you’ll likely make connections with a crowd of new people, all interested in your business because of the story you decided to share.
People want to connect with what they read. It’s a sure bet that as we set foot into the next 100 years of blog writing, we’re going to see content that is designed to make a connection. We’re going to see tools that make it easier to create strong connections. Who knows, in 100 years we might have holographic blogs that put us right in the middle of the action, visually sharing a story or teaching us something new (for you Star Trek lovers, it sounds like the “holodeck,” doesn’t it?). Technological advances will likely be limited only by the imagination, which means in 100 years blog writing could be unrecognizable when compared to our “archaic” means of blogging today!
So, what do you think blog writing will be like in 100 years? Will blogs be publicized throughout the cosmos? Will they be the most popular form of literature on our planet? Will UFOs be stopping by for the latest installment from their favorite blogger? How will the technology change? Share your ideas by leaving a comment, and let’s see what happens!
We’ve spent a lot of time predicting what 2014 will hold for small businesses and their online content strategies — from the evolving fate of SEO to key Social Media solutions and trends. While consulting (our well researched) crystal ball, we kept finding one theme over and over and over: Killer content is hands down one of the most crucial strategies for better search engine results.
Enter the Blog: Quality Content Crucial to Your Success
Blogging is a wonderful way to produce quality, industry-driven content that will win you dedicated followers and new sales. According to Social Media Examiner’s own 2014 social media predictions, this is the year to “finally start that blog.” They warn that small businesses without a big social media ad campaign budget may run the risk of getting lost in the shuffle unless they produce and share their own quality content for their niche.
And although blogging might not pop into your head first when someone says “social media”, we’d like to argue that blogs are both social and crucial to your social networking success. We love how Brian Clark puts it best: Blogs aren’t just social media, “Blogs pioneered social media.”
Here’s What Blogs are Not
Static: That’s right. We’re back to content quality already. Blogs share information, but don’t just present facts. One of the most common blog mistakes people make is confuse them with a well-crafted press release or product description. Blogs are less newsy, more inviting, emotional and entertaining. In fact, blogs should always encourage conversation.
Promotion-heavy documents: Just as blogs aren’t newsy in the traditional sense, they also aren’t sales documents. Although a blog post is a great way to create buzz about your new project, share one too many promotional posts and you’ll find your follower base dwindling. Pitches are one-sided and after a while will bore and alienate even your most avid readers.
Before you post ask:
What will my readers get out of this kind of content?
Why would they feel compelled to share it with their friends?
Will they want to continue the conversation in the comment section?
These questions should help you shift your focus from your agenda to your audience — where it belongs.
One-time Communications: The best way to kill a conversation? Don’t talk. It almost goes without saying that blogs that aren’t updated aren’t effective. But the opposite is also true. Business blogs that are regularly updated generate 67% more leads for their companies than their blog-less competitors. So get blogging! And don’t let time be a barrier. Remember there are many qualified business bloggers who are just a click away.
Just Words: That’s right, visual interest is also key to an engaging, social blog. Here are a few eye-catching options:
A Well-Placed Image: This is actually not an option. An image is a must. A well-chosen picture will make your blog appealing when people read the post or see it linked on a social platform. When selecting an image, make sure to use a picture that offers more than a pop of color. Instead, try to make a statement or offer extra insight on what the readers should expect.
Infographics: You can also let infographics do the talking from time to time. This captivating information-graphic mashup gives readers plenty to take in. From a visual presentation of stats to fun flow charts, infographics offer a valuable mix of content and visual oomph that will get people to your posts and keep them there longer. They are also fun to share, so you’ll be social before you know it.
Video: Online videos are popular — like over “188.2 million Americans watched 52.4 billion online content videos” in the month of December 2013 kind of popular. So up the chances that people will find and stay on your blog with the most popular type of online media.
7 Characteristics Successful Blogs Share
Ok, enough about what blogs aren’t. Let’s move on to the hallmarks of successful, social blogs. Here are the most important components to take your blog from one-sided conversation to a fun place to hang out and keep coming back to.
1. A Call to Action: You may never know who wants to join in the conversation unless you ask. At the end of each of your blogs, find a creative way to get your readers involved. Pose a question. Ask them to share their opinion. See if anyone has had experiences to prove or disprove your point. That’s right; blogs need to be a dynamic exchange of information. 2. Periodic Contests: To get things really going, you can run a comment contest from time to time. If your audience knows that every once in a while you give something back, they will eventually become your adoring audience.
Pick a Number: Let’s say you run a fitness center. With this low-maintenance approach, you’d ask people to post what workout they did that day in the comment section on your “20 Minute Workouts” post by 5 p.m. Later that evening, just use an online number generator to randomly pick a number. If the generator gives you the number 8, then the lucky 8th commenter will win the resistance band you featured in one of the arm workout sets.
Trivia Questions: You can also drum up comments by posing a question and getting people to guess the right answer. If you get more than one correct answer, make sure to go with the one with the oldest timestamp.
3. Sustained Conversation: If readers do answer your call to action and comment, make sure to comment back. Thank them. Answer their questions. Address their issues. You can also return the favor and comment on other bloggers’ posts who comment on yours. 4. Easy-to-Use Share Buttons: Optimize your content by making it easy to share. That way, you won’t be the only one sharing your post on Facebook or Twitter. You’ll get your blog’s fans in on the sharing action. If that’s not social, we don’t know what is. 5. Low-Engagement Social Actions: Similar to adding social share buttons, make it easy for people to like or +1 your posts and pin your images. They won’t have to type in anything, just click a button. And as we proved above, this will give your blog the social edge. 6. Subscription Encouragement: Make sure if people want more of your fabulous blogging content, they can get it easily. Along with those share buttons, include access to sign up for your RSS feed and email blasts. 7. Fun-to-Read Content: It is fitting that we leave you with a final reminder to post QUALITY content. Remember, posting a constant stream of fun, niche-centered posts will soon make you an authority on your industry. And soon, fans will come flocking to your blog to see what you have to say.
