It is not a secret: blogging is DYING. The growth of social media, like Instagram, took away the importance of having a blog. It is hard to find original bloggers nowadays, everyone can start an Instagram page. Taking the time and effort to design a website does not feel like it is worth it anymore. I am going to explain to you why it still is and how you can make people actually read your work.
Having a blog besides any other social media platform will give you a few important benefits:
- You can manage your online identity and build up trust.
- Your engagement will increase with your followers
- You can show more of you
- Brands are still looking for bloggers to write articles about their products
- Looking for a job? Show your blog, they will be impressed!
- It is a way of expressing yourself
- Share your knowledge, help each other out!
- You will learn a lot about designing, SEO, building a website, laws, photography….
- and so on
Since blogging isn’t that popular anymore, it gets harder and harder to gain supportive readers. In the next 10 steps, I will explain to you how to make a difference.
1 Focus on quality content
Always choose quality over quantity. People come back to your blog because they like your content. If they can see you have put a lot of hard work into your photo’s, texts and articles they will come back sooner. Sometimes great work takes a longer, be patient with this.
2 Share, share and share your work! Everywhere!
While searching for information about this topic I found this great page full of ideas about how you can promote your blog in 101 different ways: How to promote your blog 101 ways. I definitely recommend giving this site a visit. There are so many ideas you probably did not know yet.
3 Read and comment on popular blogs
It is very important to be out there. Comment on popular blogs within your country. You will receive more traffic to your website this way! Try to follow the same blogs and Instagram pages for a while and really connect with the fellow blogger.
4 Link to popular websites relevant to your topic
Linkbuilding is another way to gain more traffic to your website. In this way google things that you are an expert in your niche. You know what to do. You have found information and you want to share this with the world.
5 Blog regularly
If your visitors know that next week, the same day, the same time they can expect a great blog post from you again, they will more likely come back. You have made them curious to see more. This does not mean that you have to blog every day or every other day. Ones or twice a week is perfect.
6 Be open and real towards your readers
You are human, as human as your readers. So show some realness! Share your thoughts, fears and talk openly about your opinions. People like to see who is behind all the work. If you have experienced something that may help others, feel free to talk about it. Nobody is perfect and as humans, we know how vulnerable we are.
7 Find a need and fill it
What is missing in your nice? What are your readers looking for? Get to know your target audience and play with all the options you have. Try out new things and topics to see which ones are popular. I noticed on Instagram for example that my ‘dreamy’ pictures are always going way better than normal pictures of me. So I try to ‘create’ more ideas and I got way more success.
8 Sign in as a blogger at every agency you can find
This is so important! To be known as a blogger, you have to be active in the PR and business world. Yes, people can get to know you true Instagram or your blog, but signing up at agency’s can bring you closer to brands.
9 Give readers a reason to read your work: help them out with helpful posts or topics ( like this one )
I think this speaks for itself.
10 Make it very easy for people to subscribe
One of the easiest ways to gain more readers is to set them on a mailing list. If they want to sign up, they should not be searching for a long time on your website. It has to be easy, with one click and they are done! You can also set up a mailing list yourself.
