More and more Singaporeans are starting blogs as millions of blog posts are posted on various platforms around the world on a monthly basis. The popularity of blogging is on the rise after a decade of people discovering what a blog is.
There are several business opportunities that can be accessed through blogging, which can be beneficial for both novice writers and established companies. Blogging can also give people the chance to share their expertise on certain subjects or their inner thoughts and perspectives.
Why more people are starting blogs:
People originally began blogging as a way to share personal details about their lives through online journals. Blogging has steadily evolved over the years to include both personal and professional objectives. Blogging publicly is a good way to promote personal and business brands.
Passion:
Individuals often want to share the things that they are passionate about. This provides an opportunity to connect with people who have similar interests.
Education:
Blogs can be used as platforms for educating people who are interested in certain topics or areas of expertise. The blogger also gets a chance to learn more about the topic by looking for other things that they can teach. For example, Money Kinetics shares financial and lifestyle article to educate their audience. One of the more popular posts about the best savings account, UOB One Account has helped freelancers find good savings account for themselves.
Exposure:
Regular blog content can be used by business owners to gain more exposure for their businesses. This increases traffic that can be converted into customers.
Authority:
Blogging establishes authority since people blog about niches they are familiar with and passionate about. As an authority in a particular field, recognition can lead to opportunities such as podcasts and interviews. An example would be Loan Authority where they have researched thoroughly about financial institutions to compile an accurate list of licensed moneylenders to help their readers. These authority sides are usually very specific.
SEO:
Content can be used to rank for certain keywords to attract the target audience to sites. Targeting certain keywords that attract customers and people who are seeking information can create new business opportunities.
Read more: 9 Things You Might Be Neglecting in Your SEO Practice
Benefits of blogging:
- Building trust through a properly managed online identity
- Gaining knowledge
- Enhancing writing skills
- Learning a new language
- Gaining technical expertise
- Connecting with other people
- More access to employment opportunities
- Starting a business
- Selling more products and services
Blogging – Ensuring perfection and success:
It is not difficult to start a blog; the biggest challenge is knowing how to create a perfect and successful blog.
Picking a niche:
People have various reasons for blogging. Some want to increase the amount of traffic that is driven to their business sites while others want to earn an income from blogging at home. Some seek to gain fame and amass several followers.
Regardless of what motivates a person to blog, picking the right niche is crucial for successful blogging. While it is helpful to be an expert or well-informed about a topic, many profitable and successful bloggers are passionate about what they do.
Blogging successful requires the desire to learn about the topics that are being posted. People need to be willing to read widely about their chosen niche, go through videos of trends that are relevant to the topic and identify original ways to share information regarding the topic with readers. Lacking passion for the niche makes these tasks tedious and this will affect the quality of writing.
Good blog content can be addictive as readers keep coming back for more. This requires the blogger to take a unique approach, which can be hard when there is no passion.
Practicality:
There are times when blogging requires much more than passion. Researching your niche is an important first step. A potentially successful niche is likely to be linked to several similar blog posts. A number of blogs within the niche that have a substantial number of followers are a good indicator of success for that niche.
Some people avoid niches that have a lot of competition because they think that they will not be able to come up with anything new for the topic. However, competition is healthy because it motivates people to work harder and become more resourceful. Competition compels individuals to become more creative. Bloggers often have strong and helpful networking systems that provide ideas and promote each other.
Technical considerations:
After determining how sustainable a niche is, the next step is to get technical with setting up the blog. This involves aspects such as:
- Purchasing a domain name
- Identifying a host for the domain
- Choosing a platform
- Coming up with a design for the blog
- Setting up the homepage
Valuable content:
One of the mistakes that some new bloggers end up making is creating blog posts that are too short. The reality is that very short posts will make it harder to give the readers valuable content. Time is precious and people want to be assured that anything they do is worth their time. Readers expect informative posts, something provocative, giveaways or content that can address their problems.
Writing a post should consist of:
- Thorough research about the topic
- Giving clear examples that can explain the points being made n the post
- Including imagery such as photos and videos that provide visual explanations
If the title of a post is thought-provoking enough to attract readers, the actual content should meet expectations. Failing to deliver what is anticipated from the title can end up turning readers away and followers are likely to diminish.
When selecting topics and posts, it is important to consider the issues that people deal with in their daily lives along with the concerns, questions, and comments that are expressed on the site. This makes it much easier to figure out what the readers actually want to see.
Since competition is already providing amazing content, this can be used to inspire creativity and uniqueness. Many bloggers have their own unique way of handling topics that have been talked about in other blogs.
Aside from creating long posts and attracting more followers, blogging also requires a determined effort to make all the posts valuable for most readers.
Distinct writing style:
It is always a good idea to seek inspiration from other blogs, but everyone needs to develop their own writing style that makes them stand out of the rest. A distinct writing style helps to make the blog more personal and build a connection with the reader.
People read different blogs because they want to varying forms of expression, information, and perspectives. Transforming visitors into followers who will stick around for a long time involves showing them something different or outstanding. The objective is to bring a new angle to the niche. Bloggers should focus on being original rather than competing with other bloggers.
Many readers can identify blog posts that are not being written from personal experience or knowledge. If the posts are solely for marketing purposes, the readers will not be able to get a sense of who the blogger is and this shows a lack of authenticity.
Different types of posts:
Writing similar posts repeatedly can make readers lose interest quickly and reduce the number of subscribers. Different posts will help to retain the reader’s interest. While creating different posts, it is important to maintain the distinct writing style while presenting information and tips in a variety of ways. Posts can range from tutorials to product reviews.
Posting regularly:
Good content should be posted as regularly as possible. Readers should look forward to the next post. Creating a schedule for regular posts can put pressure on the blogger but it is important to have deadlines for motivation and consistency.
Interacting with readers:
Engaging with readers is important instead of quietly reading their comments. Actively interacting with them is necessary for gaining more insight into what they like or do not like as well as what they want. Responding to their comments is a valuable step because it shows that you are listening to them. Aside from waiting for comments, it is also a good idea to begin discussions and encourage people to share their perspectives about posts.
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