Writing a blog has many rewards both personal and financial, but before you can create a successful blog you need to learn a little bit about the blogging community. There are several common do’s and don’ts in blogging, and if you don’t learn them now you risk making a big mistake. These dos and don’ts tell you what to do and what to avoid when crafting the perfect blog.
# Do’s of Blogging…
Honesty
Be honest and truthful in your blog. People read blogs because they want something true, rather than fictionalized or “over-hyped.” The best blogs come straight from the heart, no matter how awkward or strange it sounds. Often these strange tidbits are exactly what your audience is looking for. That’s what sets your blog apart from the others.
Reward fellow bloggers
Share other posts from bloggers you like and continue to read their blogs as you develop your own niche and content. Sharing content is how bloggers get read. If you share someone’s post, they are more likely to share yours. This is how the blogging community works.
Write accurate and informative articles
Find useful, helpful tips for your readers and perform the research to make sure your tips and advice is factual. If you give someone help they will help you in return by sharing your post, linking to you from their social networking pages, and telling their friends.
Design a landing page
Make landing pages designed around good search terms. Landing pages attract visitors because they appear in search results, and they can bring in a source of revenue. You can use multivariate software to test which landing pages convert and which ones don’t to improve your income.
Be interactive
Stay involved in your community and reach out to other bloggers. As a change of pace, have one blogger from another site post on your site, and vice versa. This will broaden your audience by introducing you to a new set of potential readers. It also gives your current readers another perspective.
# Don’ts of Blogging…
Don’t Exaggerate
Exaggerate or claim things that are not true. Also avoid over-praising certain companies, events or people too much. If your blog is full of empty praise it won’t make for good reading. People hear too much over-hyping in today’s media, from exaggerated commercials to false-claims by news anchors, and they are sick of it.
Don’t try to fool readers
Oversell a product or yourself too much. Your readers will lose interest quickly if all you talk about is a certain product you want to promote. They will see right through you and think your blog is nothing more than a very long advertisement in blog clothing.
Don’t write anything
Wander too much or stray to different topics all the time. It is alright to cover a wide range of topics, but try to at least stay in a general niche. For instance, if you offer help and advice on relationships, you shouldn’t try to solve someone’s love-life problems. Have a general focus and stay on it to keep your reader’s interest and draw them to your site when they need help in that area.
Don’t hurry
Expect too much. Blogging will not make you wealthy right away but give it time and it will offer plenty of rewards.
Don’t write wrong
Write poorly or use bad grammar. Just because you are blogging doesn’t mean you can forget about grammatical mistakes. People notice poor grammar and will pick up on poor writing. You’ll lose authority and people will not trust your advice no matter how sound it is. If you have problems with writing, seek help. Hire an editor to review your posts if necessary.
Follow the dos and don’ts of blogging and you should be absolutely fine when running your own blog – you never know, it could become the next best thing!
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